


Black Lotus

by Sybaen



Category: RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Blood and Violence, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Manipulation, Romance, Suspense, Villains to Heroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:14:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 69
Words: 434,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22213885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sybaen/pseuds/Sybaen
Summary: A young girl's bright future is shattered before her very eyes. Alone in the world with only a strange new power and questionable morals, she sets out to gain the one thing she needs above all others; a place to truly belong. With more than one conflicting influence tugging at her heart, will she choose the path of the hero, or fall even further until she is consumed by her desires?
Relationships: Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Weiss Schnee/Original Character(s)
Comments: 99
Kudos: 127





	1. Birth of a Spider

"Olivia, darling! Did you set the table like I asked you?" Olivia's mother called from the kitchen.

Olivia balked from where she'd been lying on the ground reading her favorite comic. She hadn't yet. "Y-yes, mom!" she lied, hoping her mother wouldn't catch the stammer. She ran across the room to the home's dining area and frantically began pulling out bowls, scattering them on the table close to the four chairs that took up each side of the table. She ripped the silverware drawer open with a clatter, ' _I hope she didn't hear that!_ ' and grabbed a fistful of forks, spoons, and knives before placing them with a little more care than she had done for the plates. The excess silverware was unceremoniously tossed back into the drawer as it was slammed shut, the instant before her mother's head popped around the corner.

"What was that sound, darling?" her mother's sweet voice asked, fox ears perked to the side and a slight smirk to her lips. ' _You saw nothing!_ '

"Uh, just double checking that I put the forks back in the right spot," she lied again. By the knowing laugh her mother gave, Olivia didn't think it had worked.

"Well, go ahead and play outside. Your father and brother should be back soon from their little trip, and dinner will be ready in half an hour," her mother made a little shooing motion towards the front door as she said it.

Olivia huffed but did as she was told, ' _My comic books are_ _ **inside**_ _, thank you very much_ '. As her mother's head disappeared back into the kitchen, though, she quickly slipped the comic she had been reading into her hoodie's front pocket. ' _Alright it's not_ _ **my**_ _hoodie, but Copper didn't complain that I never gave it back._ ' Her big brother was nice like that. The black hoodie itself was overly sized on her, Copper was almost seventeen and she was only eleven, ' _But it's so comfy!_ '

The sleeves also hid her faunus trait, black veins that ran from above her wrist to just past her elbow. Not for the first time, Olivia thanked Oum that she could hide hers so easily, her parents and brother were not so lucky. They still weren't sure what kind of faunus she actually was, but as she got older Olivia had started noticing subtle changes around her, nearly imperceptible at first. She could always tell where her brother was during hide and seek, or get the jump on him when he was sneaking up to try and surprise her. Copper kept playing, though, because it made Olivia happy.

Olivia stepped outside and immediately headed for the tree swing a little distance away from the front of the house. Her mother would see the comic book if she stayed too close, and the tree swing was far away and angled well enough that she would be able to hide it. ' _I can play outside_ _ **and**_ _read my comic!_ ' Olivia knew that wasn't what her mother wanted, but ever since her brother had declared that he was going to Haven when he turned seventeen, Olivia had been enchanted by the stories. ' _ **My**_ _big brother is going to be a huntsman!_ '

Olivia sat on the swing and idly bent back and forth while holding her comic book. She didn't swing high, that would ruffle the pages, but she made it as convincing as she could all the same. A low cold wind blew across her back, through the trees around her. She shuddered into the hoodie, huddling her arms closer. Their little cottage out on the edge of Mistral was secluded from most of the rest of the city. It sat on a low hill, the forest surrounding it on all sides. Most didn't live out this far because of the Grimm, but her father had gone to Sanctum, and had sent her brother there as well when he was old enough.

' _Just two more years_!' Olivia hummed happily to herself. Her father had promised that she could go to Sanctum as well as soon as she was old enough. They needed to be able to protect themselves from the Grimm, ' _and the humans…_ ' Olivia still didn't understand why the humans hated them so much, maybe she never would. They were all people, weren't they? Olivia went back to reading her comic, the heroes in the stories didn't care if you had an extra set of ears or a tail or black veins on your forearms.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, but Olivia pretended like she didn't notice. The area around her was silent. There was no shuffling of leaves or grass, no whisper of clothes rubbing against itself, but she knew what awaited behind her if she turned around. Olivia felt the presence approaching, and quietly rolled up the comic to stick into her hoodie. _It_ was only five feet away now.

Olivia tipped back on the swing, letting herself fall completely backwards to the soft ground beneath and raised her hands, putting on her scariest face, "Raaah!" she yelled up at Copper. Her brother's face twisted in surprise as he stepped back from where he had been trying to sneak up on her.

"I really thought I had you that time!" Copper pretended to glare at her, but was having trouble keeping up the act due to the smile threatening to curl his lips.

Olivia put a hand to her face like the characters in the comics would, looking at Copper through the split between two of her fingers, " _Heh heh hehhh_ , you must learn to suppress your fear if you ever wish to catch me off guard, hero!" Olivia felt another presence out of sight ahead of her as it walked up the path, "Your master approaches…"

Olivia and Copper looked up to see their father carrying the packs that held all the supplies the two had bought in town, "No, it's fine. I'll carry everything myself," his gruff voice huffed, hiking the packs further up his shoulders. Copper gave her a sheepish look, tail going taut, and ran over to intercept, taking one of the packs from their father. Olivia got up from her position on the ground and ran to the front door ahead of them, calling out as she opened it, "They're home!", and holding it for them as they stepped inside the cottage.

"Good timing, dear," her mother poked her head out of the kitchen again as she heard father step inside, "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes, go ahead and leave the packs outside the kitchen." Her father nodded and laid the packs he'd been carrying down next to the kitchen doorway, stepping away to let Copper follow suit.

When Olivia noticed the extra bag he kept with him, sides poking out, she squealed in excitement, "Did you finish your weapon!?"

Copper turned back to her with a prideful grin, "Sure did. Wanna see?"

Olivia's face told him all he needed, as he slung the pack off his shoulder and pulled the strings open. Copper held a hand up as Olivia leaned forward, trying to get a peek. She glared at him for making her wait, but rocked back onto her heels again. Slowly, her brother withdrew a folded mass of bronze steel. Olivia could see the barrel set in the blade, visible in its collapsed form as he held the grip. With a swing of his hand out to his side the grip shifted into a handle position. The blade unfolded from within itself to create a shortsword.

"Lemme try!" Olivia shouted gleefully.

She struggled against Copper's hand as he held her back, "Woah there! This thing is dangerous, sis!" Olivia gave up and pouted an arms length away from the weapon. Problem was, it was _his_ arm's length, which meant it was still well out of her reach.

"Watch this," Copper's eyes lit up as the weapon did, electricity coursing around the edges of its double-sided blade.

Olivia's eyes grew wide as she looked at it, the sparks of light reflected in her eyes, "Ooooooh," she whispered in appreciation, "You'll beat up so many bad guys with that."

Copper stood up straighter as he accepted the admiration, then retracted the weapon back into its smaller form and put it back in the pack, "No playing with it, okay?"

"Not even for a minute?" Olivia sulked, eyes locked on the pack.

"Only if I'm there. I'm sure dad will let you shoot at some targets out back tomorrow if you behave," Copper smirked and ruffled her hair. Olivia cheered up at the idea, she'd never shot a gun before.

"Dinner's ready!" their mother's call grabbed both their attention as she walked out of the kitchen, a steaming pot in her hands that she set down on the table. She swept back into the kitchen then returned a moment later with a large bowl filled with bread for them to pass around. Their father held out her mom's chair for her, then scooted it in while Copper and Olivia took their usual places.

They all waited for her father to sit down. He picked up the ladle and spooned out a healthy amount for each of them in turn, starting with her mother, Copper, Olivia, and finally himself. They all dug in, her mother's cooking was fantastic, as always.

Olivia was staring over at her brother's pack between bites, thinking about the weapon concealed inside, when she froze. Her father noticed her expression at first, "Are you okay, sweetheart?" He gave her a troubled frown. Olivia's eyes whipped up towards the side of the house, eyes locked on to something that wasn't visible from where they were sitting.

"There are people outside… I can feel them," Olivia whispered. Her father's face hardened as he looked at the wall then towards the door. He quickly moved over to it. His chair fell back against the floor with a clatter as he locked the door and backed up a few feet to wait afterwards.

Her mother's ears swivelled on her head, seeming to pick up sounds outside now that those inside had all gone silent. She held her hand up so that father could see, ' _three_ '. Copper stood quietly and moved over to his pack, pulling out his weapon with only the slight whisper of the strings coming undone. Copper stepped up ten feet from the front door and raised his gun, waiting to see what would happen.

The voices could now be clearly heard outside the front door. Her father stood resolute and raised his voice to be heard outside, "Leave, and we can avoid any conflict!"

"Ah, but what if we want conflict?" a snarky man's voice replied after a moment. There was a metallic crashing sound against the outside of the door and Olivia watched as the door knob clattered to the floor on their side. The door slammed open, plowing into their father's chest as he moved to hold it shut. He stumbled back a pace and it swung wide, revealing the three bandit thugs outside.

Olivia screamed as two of the bandits and her brother opened fire at the same time. Blood splattered across the room as holes drilled through his chest. Olivia's eyes brimmed with tears as she was forced under the table by her mother. She was frantically trying to get Olivia out of the way of the bullets. Father roared in outrage, charging straight out the door into the group of bandits.

"You're going to be okay, Olivia. Just stay here. Stay put," her mother choked back tears, pushing her down onto the floor. The table cloth draped low over the edge of the table, obscuring most of the room from her eyes, and her from it, but she could still see Copper. Her brother's face turned towards her as their mother ran outside. He coughed up blood, clutching at his chest in a futile effort to stem the bleeding. ' _He's going to be alright… Big brother is so strong…_ ' Copper smiled at her, ' _See... I knew you'd be okay._ '

She was still telling herself that as his eyes went cold and still.

The sounds of fighting outside grew silent. ' _Mom and Dad took care of them, Copper. Now they'll take care of you._ ' She was about to pull herself out from under the table when she felt the two presences that remained standing outside. ' _That's… that's not Mom and Dad._ ' Olivia trembled, sitting back in place and waiting to see who would walk through the door.

"Damn bitch got Terrance," a deep voice she didn't recognize spoke, heavy boots stepping in through the front door. She couldn't see much more than the feet of the two men that walked into the house.

"His fault for not hearing her scream as she ran up behind him. Bastard was always dense as a rock," the second man replied.

The booted foot kicked into Copper's side, "Brat got me good with that first shot." Olivia heard the sound of his teeth sucking in before a bullet was dropped onto the floorboards. She whimpered and pulled her knees up against her chest. ' _What do I do?_ ", she barely contained a choked sob, instead stuffing her face between her knees to try and suppress it. Olivia rocked back and forth, finding some small comfort in the motion.

"Hey, look at the table."

"What about it?"

"How many people did we kill, dumbass?"

The men's footsteps slowed. Olivia could feel them searching the room for the fourth person. ' _Shhh, shhh, shhh,_ ' she tried to tell herself as she rocked. The footsteps drew closer, and with a sudden scraping of wood followed by a crash of the bowls that had been on top of it, the table was thrown on to its side, revealing Olivia as she held her knees against herself in a death grip.

Wide eyes stared up into the man's. Olivia's eyes were blurred from the tears, she couldn't tell what his expression was. She felt him step closer. Panic raced through Olivia as she realized she was about to die. This was the end. He would kill her like the rest of her family. ' _I-I don't wanna die!_ " Another step. A hand reaching down for her. His voice rumbled as he started to speak.

Olivia felt a change. It was indescribable, like she had suddenly sprouted more arms out of her back. Longer arms. Those arms shot forward into the man. Blood splashed down across Olivia as her eyes cleared. A hole had been ripped through the man's chest, bones and organs exposed as he stared at her wide eyed. His body grew slack. Olivia used these new… whatever they were, and _hurled_ his body across the room into the wall. He slammed into it, then slid to the ground, already dead.

"Shit! Shit! What the fuck!?" the second man yelled. He fumbled at his waist and pulled his gun out, aiming it at Olivia.

Olivia screamed and threw her hands up in front of herself, ' _No! Not like this!_ " The gun fired, six shots rang out through the air, deafening Olivia. Her breath hitched in her throat, ' _What?_ ' Olivia opened her eyes again, and saw the six rounds on the floor in front of her. She looked up to see the man's eyes wide, staring between Olivia and the gun he held. Another one of her invisible hands shot out at him, and as it pierced his chest, she could see it this time. The moment it made contact, it shimmered briefly in the air, '... _Spider legs?_ '

"N-no, please," the man's voice was quiet and hoarse, his hand raised towards her, his eyes pleading.

Olivia stood on shaking legs and stepped closer, "You… you…" her anger brimmed to the boiling point. Hands now trembling in fury instead of fear. The man continued trying to beg.

Olivia turned away and bent over Copper, closing his eyes in a silent moment that was being disturbed by the man's pleading behind her. She reached across Copper and picked up his weapon, still in gun form, ' _I'll make my first time count, okay?_ '

She turned back around, looking at the man that was still held up by her invisible appendage. Blood leaked from his body on to it, revealing part of its shape as his bloody hands held on to it. Olivia wiped away the tears in her eyes as she raised the gun. Her arms swayed as she aimed it, but she eventually got it on target.

Olivia pulled the trigger… and a hole appeared through the man's skull. Olivia dropped to her knees as she vomited at the sight and withdrew her appendage. It squelched out as the man was dropped to the floor in front of her. She felt the invisible limb, felt _them_ with her extra sense. The four of them started from her lower back, ten feet long, with three joints that let her curl them around her body in various ways. ' _They really are like spider legs,_ ' she thought to herself.

A sudden clapping sound caught her attention, her eyes swivelling up as a black and red clad figure stepped into the doorway. The woman wore a white mask that looked like a Grimm's, and had one hand on a dangerous looking weapon sheathed at her side.

"Well done, child. You have claimed your revenge," the woman said it lightly.

"Who are you!?" Olivia shouted uncertainly. Her body was limp after the entire ordeal. She could not bring herself to stand again so soon.

"Your savior," Olivia felt the woman _smirk_ beneath her mask. The tone was clear, even to her.

"Leave!"

"Come on, kid. You can't survive all the way out here on your own," the woman started walking closer to Olivia, "You're going to need a new mom-"

The woman's words were cut short with a gasp as two of Olivia's appendages struck, slamming into the woman's chest and throwing her back out the door. She used her two others to support herself back on to her feet, walking shakily after the woman. "I _have_ a mother!" Olivia screamed at her.

She froze as her eyes fell on her mother, blood pooled out from her body that lay stretched out across the ground. Her father's body right next to her, a dagger sticking out of his back. Olivia could see her mom's face, the scream that was still there, fixed and unmoving.

A cough brought her eyes back to the woman that was still standing, ' _Why did they not go through you like the other two?_ ' she thought it at first, then decided to ask.

"Why didn't that _kill_ you?"

The woman smirked, "Because I have aura, unlike them. You do too, now. Since you've unlocked your Semblance."

Olivia frowned, there were words in there that she just didn't recognize, ' _Aura, semblance?_ '

"Curious?" the woman's smile deepened, "If you come with me, I'll tell you everything you want to know. You can become strong, unlike the rest of your worthless family."

Olivia's eyes glared at the woman, "My family _is_ strong!", but a tiny voice in the back of her mind betrayed her, ' _was…_ ' She held back her tears through sheer determination.

The woman shook her head, "No. The weak _die_ , and the strong _survive_. You are strong."

Olivia had just about as much of this as she could take. She used the two appendages supporting her to launch herself forward at the woman. Olivia wanted her to shut up, to stop talking bad about her family, "What do _you_ know!?" she screamed in hatred. The other two invisible limbs streaked through the air at the woman.

The woman's eyes narrowed, her katana finally pulled free of its sheath. In a flash of red, she brought it up in front of herself and blocked one of the appendages, ' _the blood!_ ', before the second slammed into her again, knocking her back a few steps. Olivia could see a brief flicker over the woman's chest where her appendage had hit her, stopping mere inches away.

"Fine!" the woman growled suddenly. She backed up a few more steps, waiting to see if Olivia would follow her. She didn't, Olivia just wanted the woman to leave, to stop insulting her family. The woman slashed her sword through the air before resheathing it. Olivia's eyes stared in disbelief as a red hole appeared in the air.

"Don't say I never tried to help you," the woman muttered, then vanished as she stepped through the portal. It closed behind her.

Olivia collapsed to her knees, feeling the invisible appendages disappearing as the tension left her body. She finally allowed the tears to pour out, a flood of anguish and sorrow that threatened to consume her completely. She stayed there for hours, holding herself as she cried, until the night came, along with a chill that she already felt.

Olivia was all alone in the world.


	2. Thick as Thieves

Olivia crouched in an alleyway, watching her quarry as it travelled along the sidewalk ahead. Olivia’s food had run out a week ago, the small amount of money she had brought, four days ago. Now all she had were the clothes on her back, the weapon in her hands, and the strange invisible limbs that she could make appear and do things when she wanted them to. 

The first day in Mistral, Olivia had taken the time to see what they looked like as well as she could. She had bought paint to splash on them while they were out. They were definitely spider legs, four of them in all. The ends came to a very sharp point, the inside edge had barbs that she could hook to things, and they were _incredibly_ strong. Olivia had used them, practicing as best she could to learn this new power. Climbing a tree had been literal child’s play. It hadn’t tired her out in the slightest. She had panicked when she realized they would be exposed for anyone to see now because of the paint, but the instant she retracted them, the paint vanished with them. 

Olivia had used them to scale buildings around town at night. There were often doors up top, and even if they were locked, she could still get inside by forcing her way through without drawing too much attention. Olivia didn’t steal, not at first, but as the hunger set in she had no choice. Olivia was hungrier than she’d ever been in her life, and the person ahead of her had just left the market, carrying an entire bushel of apples under one arm. 

The woman was oblivious to Olivia’s presence. She continued walking down the street, idly looking left and ride as she winded down the road leading from the market back down into the residential district. Olivia felt a little guilt wrench at her chest, but it was overstepped by the hunger that ate at her stomach. She crept out of the alleyway, and approached the woman from behind. 

“Stop right there! Don’t turn around!” Olivia whispered, holding her brother’s weapon up, in gun form at the lady’s back. She had no intention of actually using it. People were just scared of guns, and not little girls. It was the only way these little muggings would work. 

The woman froze in place, the one hand not holding the bag raised in the air, “Please, don’t hurt me. I-I don’t have much money,” she stammered at the end. 

“I just want the food. Leave it and go home,” Olivia whispered again. She hoped it would help disguise her voice so that the grown up wouldn’t know they were being held up by an eleven year old. 

Still, Olivia had to yell “Don’t turn around!” as the woman’s head started to tilt her direction. At the squeak of her voice, though, she did turn around fully. Her eyes widened in surprise as she took in the bedraggled child, with a dirty oversized black hoodie and some kind of gun pointed directly at her. 

“H-hey, listen kid. Are you okay? Do you need to use a phone? We can call your par-” 

Olivia swung one of her extra legs, catching the woman against the chest with the blunt side, knocking her down with a sudden force she wasn’t expecting. The air from her lungs was huffed out as she went sliding across the ground. Olivia sprinted forward and grabbed the bag, taking a moment to put some of the apples back in that had spilled out. The woman was getting back on her feet, fear in her eyes. She couldn’t breath yet to scream. 

Olivia sprinted back into the alley, out of the woman’s sight, then used her extra appendages to pull herself up the side of the building. She had just managed to get over the wall when the woman burst around the corner. She ran down the alleyway to the next street, thinking that was where Olivia had gone. She watched the woman leave and sat down with a sigh, allowing her ‘ _semblance_ ’ to fade away. The word was still weird, but she had followed some boys to the arcade after they left Sanctum Academy and asked them if they knew what it was. They had told her what ‘ _aura_ ’ was as well. ‘ _None of it makes sense to me._ ’ The boys hadn’t been very good sources for the information. 

Olivia ate a few apples, and decided where to sleep for the night.

* * *

There were some abandoned buildings in the warehouse district. Olivia started there, she’d already gone into the area many times. With the rolling hills and twisting streets, though, she wasn’t always able to find her way back to places she’d already been. So, Olivia made it a habit of sleeping somewhere new each night. ‘ _They can’t track me down if I’m never in the same place, right?_ ’ That was the best reasoning she could give herself. All the buildings were _tall_ , and looked so much alike. It was easy to forget where to go when everywhere looked the same as where she’d already been. 

Olivia spotted a decently sized building. There were no lights on, and the street was abandoned at this time of the night. Bag of apples in hand, she crossed the street to the building. It was a warehouse, like most of the rest. One small door at the front of the building was only a few feet away from one massive door that could be slid open to let cargo containers inside. Olivia pressed her ear to the smaller door, listening intently. Silence. Her other sense wasn’t picking up on anything either. 

With one loud clang of metal that echoed down the street, Olivia stabbed a leg through where the door knob _had_ been, and swung it open. There were cargo containers in here. She ignored the snowflake symbols on the sides and found her way to a nice, secluded corner. After shuffling a few boxes around, she had made herself a hollow to lie down in. Olivia pulled her hood up and used her hand as a pillow while she tried to fall asleep.

It was nearly half an hour later when she awoke with a start. There were people here. She could sense them, in the warehouse with her. ‘ _Okay, okay, maybe I set off an alarm of something._ ’ Olivia moved into a crouch and left the bag of apples lying on the ground. She didn’t want to make any noise right now. Her faunus eyes could see easily enough in the warehouse despite the lack of lights or windows to let moonlight in. It was cold and grey. The world felt lifeless without light. 

A figure stepped around one of the containers. She got a glimpse of white over black, and a grimm mask before she dropped back down to hide. ‘ _It’s her!_ ’ Olivia’s initial shock and panic ebbed away after a few seconds, though. It wasn’t her. Those were White Fang masks. 

“I’m just saying, it’s weird, okay? I’m telling you the door was already broken open,” a man’s voice reached her. He sounded young, maybe in his late teens. ‘ _What are they doing here?_ ’

“You sure Carnel didn’t already go through that way?” another answered, both men.

“She said she was going around back. Unless her sense of direction is worse than mine, I don’t think so, Crim. And, the _way_ it was opened. It was like someone shoved their arm straight through it,” the younger of the two replied.

Crim sighed, “Well, maybe there’s another faunus in here with a grudge against the SDC, Reo.”

“Hey, if that’s the case, I’ll be the first to try and get them on our side. That steel looked like someone stabbed a pencil through a piece of paper,” Reo said, a tinge of admiration in his voice.

‘ _What should I do?_ ’ It sounded like these White Fang had another member somewhere around. ‘ _They’re probably planning on stealing from the place._ ’ Olivia paled from her hidden spot behind the boxes. You _don’t_ mess with the SDC. She’d seen scars from the brands used on faunus. ‘ _On people!_ ’ It wasn’t pretty. Olivia had no intentions in getting wrapped up in all that danger. She stepped back, content to just hide and wait for them to leave.

Olivia’s foot hit the bag of apples behind her, toppling it over.

She sensed both of them stop, listening intently from only twenty feet away. ‘ _Maybe neither of them has extra ears?_ ’ Olivia’s breath stilled completely. She knew from experience how good someone’s hearing was if they had _four_ ears.

“Who’s there?” one of the men asked, the older one called Crim, she thought. His presence drew closer. Olivia heard the whisper of cloth and a dry metal on metal sound. He had pulled his weapon out. 

“Speak up! If you come out now, we can just talk. Don’t make us find you,” Reo threatened. Olivia couldn’t think straight. Her entire mind was in a state of panic, ‘ _What do I do!?_ ’

The sound of a gun being cocked answered the question for her.

“Don’t shoot, please!” her voice squeaked out from behind the boxes. The footsteps of both men stopped in their approach.

“Show yourself!” Crim demanded.

Small eleven year old hands were the first things to appear over the top of the box, then the rest of her as she stepped out from behind the crates, “Please, I didn’t know this place belonged to the SDC. I just needed a place to sleep.

“ _You’re_ the one that broke the door open?” Reo asked incredulously, his eyes darting around, “No way, who’s with you?”

“It’s just me,” Olivia squeaked again.

“You’re a faunus, right kid?” Crim asked, putting his weapon away as he raised his hands in a calming gesture and walked forward. Olivia nodded hesitantly and pulled back the sleeves of her hoodie enough to show the black veins running up her arm. 

“Hey, I know another spider faunus,” Crim said when he saw her veins, “You’ve got a good sense of when people are around, right?”

Olivia nodded again, curious but still all around scared of the situation.

“It’s a sixth sense, vibrations in the air. She told me about it over drinks one time. It’s a really useful talent in our line of work. What do ya say, kid? Wanna come with us? Learn how to help fight against the humans?”

Olivia’s eyes went wide and she backed up half a step, “I-I um, no thank you.”

“It’s alright to be scared, but if you want to live a happy life, then you gotta help in the fight. The humans won’t leave you in peace, so why should you do the same for them?” 

“Hey, Crim?”

“One minute, Reo.”

“No, but Crim!”

“What!?” Crim turned on him with a shout, frustrated by his interruptions.

“If _she_ was the one that opened that door… then where’s _Carnel_?” there was a hint of worry in Reo’s voice, and Crim seemed to pick up on it as he drew his weapon again.

Crim turned back to Olivia for a moment, “Kid, do you feel her anywhere nearby?”

Olivia closed her eyes and let her sense stretch out across the surrounding area, focusing as she did. Her eyes shot open and she pointed towards the back of the building, “There’s six people out back.”

Reo and Crim both gave each other a worried look and moved the way she had pointed, back behind a stack of containers to the door on the other side. Crim _did_ have an extra set of ears, and pressed the side of his head up against the door. He turned back with a grimace, “They’re about to come in. Run back to the front and get out of here, kid.” Sure enough, as he finished speaking there was a rattling sound. Keys being searched through to find the correct one for the door between them and the humans. Olivia didn’t wait another second. She took off across the warehouse floor, around stacks of containers back to the front door. 

Olivia’s feet ground to a halt as she felt more people ahead of her. She threw herself behind a stack of crates as they neared the door. ‘ _Three of them,_ ’ she thought. The sound of gunfire rattled out from across the warehouse. The back door had finally been opened. There was a muffled curse, and the door closest to her was slammed open, three SDC guards slowly walked in, keeping an eye on their surroundings. ‘ _I can just let them pass. They won’t see me here._ ’ But then… ‘ _They’ll catch those other two from behind._ ’ Crim at least had been nice, had seemed concerned for her. Memories of the people that had been branded flashed through her mind. A feeling of determination overcame her desire to run, to escape. 

Olivia’s semblance sprouted from her back as she prepared herself. The invisible appendages rose up above the crates, she could feel their exact positions, as well as those of the three closing in on her position. ‘ _I.. I’ve gotta do this fast!_ ’ The gun shots from the back were beginning to die down, as the first two guards crossed in front of her. Olivia launched herself with her fourth appendage, closing the distance from her hiding place in a matter of seconds. The other three were poised to strike, to take out the guards the instant she was within range.

There was a startled cry from the one in the back, the only one to see her immediately after she burst from cover. The other two reacted quickly, turning their guns in Olivia’s direction. The one in the lead was closest, and he paid dearly for it as Olivia’s leg slammed into his chest. There was a cracking sound as a shimmer of color rippled across his body, and a muffled explosion of air out of his lungs. He was thrown back into the container behind him with a metallic thud that left a dent before he slumped to the ground. 

The second man got a couple shots off, but they bounced harmlessly off her aura. The second leg swiped into him from the side, knocking him back towards the door they had entered through. His gun went flying in the air above him, completely forgotten as he hit the floor in an uncontrolled roll and grabbed at his chest, groaning in pain from the devastating blow.

The third, a woman, started to empty her magazine at Olivia. Her appendages swivelled up, protecting her aura and body from the bullets that pinged off them harmlessly. With another burst of speed, she flung herself at the woman, both legs that were blocking slammed forward like a wall. She let out a strangled cry and flew back into the second man, rolling into him in a tangle of limbs. Olivia took a moment to smash their weapons before walking to the door.

“You won’t get away with this, kid,” the woman gasped, rolling on to her side to try and get a good look at Olivia. Her hood was still up from earlier, and she made sure to keep her face averted. 

“I-I didn’t want to,” Olivia whispered.

“You still _did it_ , and that’s all that matters to the law.”

Olivia whimpered. Her hood hadn’t been pulled up when she first entered. ‘ _I hope they don’t have cameras…_ ’

* * *

It seemed like she didn’t need to worry about whether the place had cameras or not. Olivia was three blocks away when she heard, _and felt_ , the earth shattering explosion. An enormous sparking fireball that arced into the sky from where the warehouse had been, followed by a thick cloud of black smoke. ‘ _I hope they got out okay…_ ’ Olivia didn’t just mean the faunus. She hardly liked the idea that she had helped someone commit murder...

Olivia decided against sleeping in the warehouse district from then on.

* * *

The line at the store was long, and Olivia was impatient. She had managed to score some cash the night before off a fat human that had probably never been threatened in his life. A little girl with a gun pointed at him and he’d turned into a blubbering mess. Olivia had almost felt sorry for him. Almost. There was still her own empty stomach to take into consideration, and compared to his own _rotund_ shape, she could deal with a tiny bit of guilt weighing her down. 

Olivia had _thought_ this line would go quick, but the human at the counter was having trouble finding his lien. ‘ _Okay so maybe I should have waited until_ **_after_ ** _he left._ ’ It had been so inviting, though. So easy. His wallet had been practically popping out of his pocket, begging to be swiped by any poor orphan girl that crossed his path. The weight of it in her hoodie pocket was a welcome one. ‘ _There might be even more in here than the fat man’s._ ’ The man eventually gave up and left deeper into the store to try and find his wallet. ‘ _Finally. Honestly, I’m hungry enough right now that I would have bought your stuff for you just to get out of here faster. And kept the change for myself, of course._ ’

A calendar posted up next to the cashier caught her eye as she moved forward a few feet with the rest of the queue. Olivia wasn’t really interested in what day of the year it was. They all blended together when you were struggling to live on the streets. What did interested her was how much time had passed since she started all this, though, ‘ _Oh, I’m twelve now._ ’

The thought had no real substance to it. Who would she even celebrate a birthday with? What was so remarkable about them in the first place? Olivia tried to think back to a year before, about what she would have been excited about back then. She came up dry. ‘ _A full belly is as exciting as it gets._ ’

Olivia’s hand basket was filled with premade sandwiches in durable plastic wrappers. At times like this she would buy in bulk, enough to last a week at least, then hoard them away in an abandoned house she had stumbled upon. The place wasn’t much, but it had a bed, moldy as it was. She’d also managed to get the refrigerator running, in a way. One stolen ice dust crystal in the bottom drawer put out enough cool air that her food wouldn’t go bad for a while. 

The man from earlier’s voice cut through her daydreaming, “Thought you could get away with it, did you!?” Olivia turned in alarm, already preparing to defend herself, but it wasn’t her that was getting yelled at. The man was standing in front of a couple other kids, about Olivia’s age. They looked like they’d been living rough. The girl’s orange hair was sticking out in places, her clothes an absolute mess. The boy had black hair with a little stripe of pink in it, and was standing in front of the girl defensively.

“We didn’t take your money,” the boy said, trying to draw himself up to an imposing height that was simply impossible at his age.

“Right, two gutter rats just _happen_ to be waving around a fistful of bills after my wallet goes missing. What’d you do? Ditch it and just take the money?” the man seethed in rage, staring down at them with his hands on his hips. Other people were being drawn in to the scene, watching from the sidelines as they whispered to those nearest them.

“ _Oh how awful, who let those kids in?_ ”

“ _Someone should call security. I don’t want my purse getting stolen._ ”

The two kids were looking around at the assembled crowd in fear. Their shoulders hunched, looking like they wanted to run but had no means of escaping. The boy spoke up again, “N-no! We earned this money fair and square! I’m telling you, we didn’t steal it!”

The man scoffed, “Earned it? At what, the ripe old age of ten? Just give it back and I’ll forget this ever happened.” The whispering of the crowd increased as the security guard finally appeared through the massive throng.

“Alright, what’s goin’ on here?” he leveled an eye at the man, then at the children, who balked under his gaze. The girl stepped back into the display behind her, rattling it in place but not knocking it over. 

To his credit, the boy faltered only a little, keeping his eyes locked with the security guard as he spoke, “This man is accusing us of stealing from him. We did not. This is our money.”

“Said they _earned_ it. Couple of children. Do you believe that!?”

The security guard’s gaze swept back and forth between the three of them before he sighed, “Look kids, just give him his money back. I don’t know if you’re from around these parts, but theft is kinda frowned upon here. I’ll overlook this, but you gotta give him his money. Now.” The last word was demanding. An adult that knows full well he’s talking to children and wants to make his authority known. Olivia’s hackles raised. She’d heard too many adults try to use that voice when she was mugging them. They thought they held power over her life, just because they were older. 

To her surprise, the girl stepped up past the boy, despite his protests, and held out a wad of lien that made Olivia whistle. ‘ _There’s a lot in this wallet, but that much? Not a chance._ ’ The man also seemed to realize it as he looked at the tight wad of lien the girl held out. A flicker of greed behind his eyes betrayed his thoughts though, as he reached out and pried it from the girl’s fingers. She stared at the floor as it happened, a few tears already starting to stream down her face. 

The man stood up straight and headed for the exit.

Olivia dropped her basket full of sandwiches and followed, hunger forgotten.

She slipped back behind a group of people when the man’s eyes darted back. He stepped out of the store and turned right. Olivia kept up with the group that was also leaving, then shot past them as they started to falter. ‘ _You are_ **_not_ ** _getting away._ ’ The man’s back was all she saw as he turned into the alleyway between the store and another building. Olivia ran to catch up then peeked into the alley. The man had stopped to count the lien in his hand. She took one final look around and nodded. No one should hear what happened next.

Olivia crept up behind him and let her invisible appendages unfurl around her. She winced as her foot kicked a can across the ground. She’d been too focused on the man. He flinched and spun around, holding the lien to his chest, then breathed out a sigh, “What do you want, kid?”

A sweet smile played across Olivia’s lips as she looked at him, eyes beaming. She’d put on this act plenty of times in the past, “I just had a question~”

The man frowned and shrugged, “Go on.”

“Did you want the lien back that I stole, too?”

The look of anger and confusion that began to make its way on to the man’s face was cut unceremoniously short as one of her limbs collided with his chest. He was lifted off his feet backwards and pinned against the wall, the limb grinding against his throat to keep him from screaming for help. 

Olivia bent down and picked up the wad of lien he had dropped, stuffing it in her hoodie pocket next to his wallet, “Now, the next time you think about shaking down some children, I want you to remember this. Remember how you were pinned against a wall. Defenseless. At the mercy of a child that could rip you limb from limb if she chose. Really _think_ about that.” Olivia ended it with another concussive blow to the man’s head with one of her other appendages. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head, and she let him slump to the ground in a heap

When Olivia turned the corner, she saw the kids outside the front of the store. The boy was standing behind the girl, rubbing her shoulders as she sat on the edge of the sidewalk, bawling into her hands. Olivia quietly walked up in front of them. The boy noticed her immediately, uncertainty on his face.

Olivia didn’t focus on him, though, and bent her head down to look at the orange haired girl, “Hey, buck up kiddo. I heard some good samaritan taught that punk a lesson for you.” As the girl’s tear streaked eyes looked up at her, she punctuated her words by pulling the wad of lien out of her hoodie pocket, holding it out to the girl. 

The girl’s hands hesitated, but when Olivia simply pressed it into her palm, she gave one final sob and threw her arms around Olivia. She looked over the girl’s shoulder as she picked her up and started rocking her back and forth through the air. The boy just smiled and nodded his head in thanks before he spoke.

“My name is Ren, and that girl holding you in a death grip is Nora. Nice to meet you…?”

“Olivia!” she choked out. The girl really _was_ squeezing hard. ‘Nora’ dropped her the next moment, though. Olivia patted Nora’s shoulder comfortingly, a realization flashing through her mind.

“So... if you guys go back in now, I doubt they’re going to let you buy anything. Want me to get your stuff for you?”

The two shared a look. Ren turned back to her first, “We would hate to impose.”

“Nah, no problem. Take it as thanks for giving me an excuse to beat on that guy,” Olivia held up her hands as if to stop their protests, “So, watcha want?”

“If you’re sure…” Ren began. 

It opened the floodgates next to him that was Nora. The girl listed off a rapid fire series of foods and drinks. Olivia couldn’t help but noticed she mentioned ‘pancakes’ about six times. 

“Noraaaa,” Ren said quietly. The girl hushed up and smiled, stepping back next to Ren who shook his head, “Just something for the road. We’re headed to a small town outside Mistral tomorrow.”

Olivia nodded and went back into the store. She bought her sandwiches and about a weeks worth of food that she thought would last on the road. Olivia realized as she placed the mountain of food down on the counter that it would be tough for them to travel with it all. She excused herself and ran to grab a backpack for them. It left her with only a handful of lien, but Olivia didn’t care. After a year worth of only looking out for herself, there was a lightness to her step, and a smile on her face for the good deed she was doing. ‘ _Pity I can’t_ **_afford_ ** _to get used to this._ ’

The two were still waiting outside a little way off. Olivia proudly handed the bag to Nora, “There’s pancake mix in there too, along with a heating pad that’s powered by fire dust. You’ll be able to make them anywhere, as long as you have water with you.”

Both of their faces were locked in shock as they opened the bag and gazed at the horde of food and items Olivia had bought them. When those eyes turned up to her, she just shrugged, “You said you guys were leaving tomorrow?”

“Y-yeah,” Ren replied. Olivia could hear his voice trying not to choke up.

“Well then, why don’t you stay at my place tonight? It’s not much, but nobody goes there, so you don’t have to worry about people. You’ll at least be better rested for your trip tomorrow.” 

Even Nora was looking like this was all too much to ask of her. As she opened her mouth to protest, Olivia just grabbed her hand and dragged her along behind, setting off across the city to the residential district. They had no choice but to follow. 

* * *

“Alright, so there’s the bathroom. There’s the living room, the couch is actually pretty comfy. There’s the kitchen, you should put your pack in the fridge. It’s got ice dust in the bottom that keeps it all cool. Aaaand there’s my bedroom,” Olivia gave them the grand tour of her little shack. Most of the places she listed were little more than areas with old stuff in them. 

“Thank you, Olivia,” Ren stated.

“Yeah, thank youuuu~!” Nora pulled her into the second hug of the day. They both sounded genuinely appreciative, and Olivia couldn’t help but smile back at them. The little group made their way to the couch after they dropped their food off in the fridge. Olivia snagged out three of the sandwiches she had bought and handed them out. The three of them plopped down on the couch and dug in. Olivia was quickly reminded of just how hungry she had been before the day’s events had transpired, and ate with abandon. 

Olivia felt the presence of three people outside her door before there was a knock on it. Her mind flashed to a familiar scene, blood, and cold dead eyes. It was all she ever dreamed about. Olivia turned a smile to Ren and Nora, trying to sooth their frightened expressions, and excused herself to go see who it was. As she approached the door, her semblance activated. Olivia brought two legs in front of her, and left the other two poised over her shoulders. The first set ready to defend, the other two…

There was a knock on the door again before she reached it, “Who’s there?”

“Just some friendly neighborhood faunus hoping for a place to crash for the night. We saw you three sneaking into this place with that heavy pack around your shoulders. Whaddya say, feel like sharing?” the voice was low and nasally. Olivia didn’t recognize it in the slightest. 

“Sorry, only three allowed. You can leave on your own two feet, or in a casket, your choice,” Olivia threatened back. She wasn’t about to let her good for the day get ripped out from under her feet on the home stretch. 

“Ahhh, come on. Is that any way to treat a few friends?” the second voice was deeper, someone larger in size.

“I already have enough friends, which is exactly zero. Just the way I like it.”

There was a much heavier pounding on the door, and Olivia’s patience snapped. She flung the door open, the big brute in front of it looked shocked at first, fist still raised to pound on the door. That quickly turned to pain as he screamed. Olivia pierced clean through his shoulder, shoving him back in the same motion so that she could step outside and close the door behind her. She already felt Ren and Nora running in her direction, desperately wanting to help. Olivia didn’t need it. Not for this trash. The end of one appendage curled around the door knob, holding it in place to keep her hands free as Ren tried to pull it open.

The other two thugs were staring wide eyed at the hole through their friend’s body. Olivia decided to drive the point home, and lifted him off the ground by it. Blood ran down the appendage, revealing it, if they had eyes for anything other than the man screaming in agony.

“Now. As I said. On your feet. Or in a _casket_. Your choice,” Olivia let all of her frustration seep into her voice. The two on their feet looked at each other, looked at their friend, and fled. Olivia laughed over his pain-filled groans.

“Some friends you’ve got. Didn’t even stick around to carry you home,” Olivia mocked. The man could only whimper in response. ‘ _Pathetic._ ’ Olivia pulled him back towards herself, then hurled him down the street. The man rolled across the ground a few times, crying out in pain as he did, before getting up with one last look back at her. Olivia narrowed her eyes. 

He ran, literal tail tucked between his legs.

Olivia let out a long sigh. The two were still banging against the door behind her, trying to get out to help her. Olivia gave out a light chuckle, “Guy’s, I’m fine,” and let her semblance disappear. The door burst open and their eyes frantically swept the street in front of her. Olivia raised her hands in a ‘what can you do’ motion, topping it off with a shrug. 

“What the… we thought you were in trouble for sure!” Nora shouted in disbelief, still looking past her to try and find the three thugs that had disturbed their peace.

“Nothing I couldn’t handle. Let’s go back inside, eh?” Olivia steered them back into the decrepit house and pushed the door closed again, locking it. 

Ren seemed more doubtful now, his eyes looking closely at Olivia, but she simply smiled in return and sat back down on the couch, patting it invitingly, “So, tell me. How are two kids hoping to travel outside the cities when they’re infested with Grimm?”

Nora sat down excitedly, ready to share. Ren sat down more slowly, but when it appeared that Olivia wasn’t any danger to them, let the tension leave his body. “Oh, can I tell her Ren? Can I? Can I?”

“Sure, Nora.”

“Ren has a superpower!” Nora exclaimed, head nodding up and down as if Olivia was going to proclaim it nonsense at any moment. Instead, she spared Ren an eye as he closed his eyes a fraction of an inch.

“It’s called a semblance, Nora.”

“But ‘ _superpower_ ’ sounds so much cooler!”

“And what ‘superpower’ would make you comfortable enough walking between cities?” Olivia continued to press for information. She wasn’t planning anything. She was just genuinely curious. 

“I can hide us from the Grimm,” Ren replied. As he said it, he reached a hand out to Olivia. She hesitated a moment, then touch hers to it. Immediately, an intense sense of calm overrode every other emotion in her body. The tension left her shoulders, and she slumped down further into the couch cushions.

“Oh, yeah. That’s the good stuff,” Olivia mumbled. The feeling slowly ebbed away as Ren’s hand left hers, but a fraction of it remained. Olivia felt safe, for the first time in a long time, and for some reason, a bit sleepy. She yawned heavily, arms raising above her head to release the final tidbit of pent up anxiety. It drained from her body and left nothing but a warm fuzziness in its place. Olivia was suddenly _very_ tired. 

“I’m gonna go to bed. I’m glad I met you two. Don’t leave tomorrow without saying goodbye, okay?” Olivia mumbled again, heading to the bedroom. She grabbed the thin blanket and curled into it, the pressure from all sides adding another level of security. She was asleep in moments.

The nightmares did not claim her that night.

* * *

“Wow, it's like the first time you used it on me,” Nora said lightly. The door to Olivia’s room was still open, the girl had been so tired she hadn’t even bothered to shut it. 

“It is quite draining to have so many pent up emotions let go of all at once,” Ren replied in the same quiet tone as Nora, “I thought it would be… safest, if I did that for her.”

“Safest? What do you mean, Ren? She’s been nothing but nice to us,” Nora asked quietly, but she knew the answer.

“Nora. You heard those screams, and you saw the blood on the ground. Olivia may be playing nice with us, but she’s dangerous. Very dangerous.”

“Isn’t it good to have someone dangerous on your side?”

“Perhaps, but I didn’t want to take any risks. She should be asleep like that for the rest of the night. Let’s try and get some rest too. We have a long day tomorrow.”

“We’re still going to say goodbye though, right?”

“...Yes. We can still do that.”

“Goodnight, Ren~!”

“Goodnight, Nora.”

* * *

Olivia woke up feeling the most well rested she had in a long time. She stayed in bed for another half hour, enjoying the warmth of her blanket, thin as it was. A knock on her open door announced Nora’s presence. Olivia had known she was standing there for the past thirty seconds, but was content to wait until she announced herself. She didn’t think the girl had a bad bone in her body. Olivia rolled over, eyes finally cracking open. 

“Wake up, sleepy head! Me and Ren are heading out soon!” Nora smiled at her. The pack Olivia had bought for them was around the girl’s shoulders. Olivia couldn’t see Ren, but she felt him just outside the front door.

Olivia extricated herself from her blanket with some reluctance. She hadn’t undressed, and was still in her clothes from the night before. Olivia hopped to the floor and stretched, listening to her back pop in several places, “Ah, that is _so_ much better.”

The two stepped out into the morning sun. Ren was already outside, leaned up next to the door, another pack around his shoulders. He turned to them both and gave a small smile. Olivia was starting to feel like the boy just couldn’t show emotions. ‘ _Maybe his semblance keeps him from_ ** _having_** _strong emotions?_ ’ Olivia shivered. She didn’t know if she would like that long term. 

“Well, it was nice meeting you two,” Olivia said, giving each of them a hug in turn. 

“You too!” Nora cheered, hugging her in a third and final death grip. 

“Good luck on your travels. If you’re ever in Mistral again, try and find me. I’m sure there’s nowhere to go but _up_ from here,” Olivia rapt a knuckle against the decrepit building.

“We’ll certainly do that,” Ren replied. It sounded sincere, and Olivia smiled more brightly because of it. She really _would_ like to see these two again.

“Every pancake I eat, I’ll think of you!” Nora gleefully announced, patting her backpack. 

Olivia gave them one final wave, smiling as they left, off to some grand adventure.

' _Now then, I have a bed to get back to._ '


	3. Mistakes

Olivia was having a great day. After saying goodbye to Ren and Nora, she had spent another few hours curled up in bed enjoying the comfort of the sheets. A growl from her stomach had announced her hunger, and instead of grabbing one of the sandwiches from her fridge, she decided to treat herself. The sandwiches could wait. Olivia wanted to go out and pretend to be just another person for a few hours while she enjoyed a meal.

She left her little corner of the slums, up into the city proper. Olivia didn't come up here often. It was a large place, plenty of shops and businesses full of people that were around at all times of the day, and she was afraid of being recognized in the crowd. ' _I'm not up to anything today, though. They'll leave me alone…_ ' she reassured herself as she made the climb.

Olivia paused in an alleyway, watching the mass of people going about their day in the district. Her eyes swept above their heads, looking for a place or a sign that would point her towards food. There were plenty of well lit and colorful signs along the street, and Olivia noted with a small smile that many of them were indeed places to get a bite to eat. She stepped hesitantly through the crowd, but when there was no shouts of ' _Hey, stop that girl!_ ', she started to relax. Olivia's shoulders slumped back down as she returned to her usual demeanor, casually uncaring, and set off towards the smell of food.

Olivia idly wiped a sleeve across her mouth as it started to water. She could smell them. ' _Burgers…_ ' How long had it been since she'd had one? It felt like forever. Her body followed the scent of its own accord to one of the small shops that lined the street. Olivia waited in line, stomach rumbling while looking up at all the different variations. It was a little confusing, but they at least came with helpful pictures along with numbers. She set herself on one of them, and when her turn came, said it with determination to the old man behind the counter.

"Number 4… the Bacon Ultimate Deluxe, eh?" the man eyed her up and down, "I don't think you've got the stomach for it, little lady." The man smiled as he said it, obviously teasing her, but Olivia huffed and tossed the necessary lien down on the counter.

" _And_ an order of large fries, please."

Ten minutes later, Olivia was starting to think the old guy had been right. He presented her with the tray, stacked tall with the biggest burger she'd ever seen in her life, and a side of fries. Olivia managed a weak smile, lacking all the confidence that she had displayed earlier, and left to sit at one of the tables outside the shop. Still, once she had dug into it, Olivia couldn't help but grin in satisfaction. It was _delicious_. She managed to get half way through it and finish her fries before her stomach began to protest with each bite. ' _Uuughhh_ ' Olivia hadn't been this stuffed for literal years.

As she approached the counter, the old man was already holding out a small foam container and waving it in her direction. He smiled down at her as she sheepishly took it from him and set the plastic tray back on the counter, "Thank you for the meal." Olivia wasn't even certain the man would hear her, but it seemed as if he understood the sentiment either way, and gave her a happy but brief nod before turning back to another customer trying to make their order.

Olivia held the small box with her leftovers in one hand and her other hand against her stomach as she wandered around the busy streets. She was content to walk off the food for the time being before heading back home. ' _Going back downhill while feeling like this?_ ' Recipe for disaster, she was certain. After walking the length of a few streets and seeing the sights, her eyes caught on to a much more brightly colored building, several signs were lit up along its exterior, promising fun and games inside.

She made her way over to it and peeked inside. The building was jam packed with kids of all ages crowding around the various games. Olivia's sixth sense was going haywire. There were too many people to account for, and she spent the first few minutes just watching from the entrance, getting used to the sensation. Eventually the panic racing through her heart started to lower, and with a deep breath, she plunged into the mob.

The children running past in every which direction kept Olivia on her toes as she tried to just look at all the games they had to offer. It was her first time in an arcade, but her brother had told her about it once before. She wasn't sure if it had been this _exact_ arcade he talked about, but after looking around and seeing some outfits belonging to students that went to the local combat school, she thought it must be. Olivia observed them all for a while. The kids would use their lien to pay for the games, and then it would dispense tickets depending on how well they'd done. They would then spend the tickets at one of the counters in the store to buy from the myriad of toys on full display.

Toys were of very little interest to Olivia, but she was feeling good today. After meeting Ren and Nora, and getting both the best sleep and best food she'd had in the past year, Olivia was ready to have a little fun as well. She spotted one game that wasn't currently in use, "Grimm Invasion Defense Force III". Olivia had no idea what the three slashes were for, ' _Isn't that a White Fang thing?_ ', but decided to spend some of her lien and play. She picked up the brightly lit plastic gun as the game started, but when the Grimm appeared on screen and began slowly lumbering towards her, she got the idea.

Olivia was on her third playthrough when a group of older kids, combat school students from their uniforms, approached her and began loudly talking to one another while she was trying to focus. They looked about the age her brother had been. Olivia didn't mind their voices too much, this place was already louder than anywhere she'd been before. It was their school weapons they'd brought into the arcade with them that kept her from being able to ignore them completely. As they were talking, the leader of the group leaned over next to her and placed some lien on the edge of the game's screen. Olivia ignored it. She didn't know what he was doing, but she wasn't going to try and steal it either even if he did leave it right there for the taking.

Bits of their conversation bled through Olivia's focus.

"Did you hear a twelve year old won the Regionals this year? A twelve year old!"

"Yeah, some girl named Pyrrha Nikos. Girls phenomenal."

"I coulda taken her."

"Bragging about winning a fight against a twelve year old girl? How pathetic is that?"

"It's not the same thing, she won the Regionals. She's _literally_ the best."

Olivia continued trying to ignore them as she finished the game again. She reached into her pocket and pulled out another bit of lien to feed into it. A hand on her wrist stopped her before she could insert it.

"Hey kid, watcha doin'? I called next," the older boy said dryly, pulling her hand away from the game.

Olivia looked at him in confusion and with a little bit of annoyance at how he'd grabbed her, "But I'm playing."

The boy looked uncertainly between Olivia and his friends. They laughed, egging him on, "So _I'm_ the one that's pathetic for wanting to fight against a twelve year old champion, but _you're_ going to back down from one that doesn't even know _how_ to fight?" one of the boys teased. The others laughed along with him, and the one holding Olivia's wrist turned red in the face.

He turned back to her. "Listen kid, when someone puts money down on the game, that means they want a turn," the boy pointed at the lien he'd put next to the screen, "Like I said, I called next. It's just common courtesy, ya know?"

"And is grabbing people you don't know common courtesy, too?" Olivia said with a glare, ripping her wrist out of his grip. It was surprisingly strong, but Olivia didn't think he was really trying to hurt her. Still, as she pulled away, Olivia rubbed at her wrist, trying to sooth it. Her anger spiked again.

"Yeah, Jace. What's wrong with you?" another boy mocked, poking 'Jace' in the back as he said it, "A huntsman in training with no manners. How will you _ever_ win the ladies?"

Olivia was annoyed at the older boy, and decided to join in insulting him, "I could take a scrawny teen like you any day of the week."

His group of friends burst into laughter as Jace turned an even deeper shade of red. His eyes took in Olivia, his voice taking on a threatening tone while he tried to intimidate her, "Do you wanna back that up?"

"I'll have to if _you_ don't back up," Olivia threatened back, standing her ground. She just wanted to go back to her game.

"Oooooooooooooh~!" the other boys were loving it.

It seemed like Jace had reached the end of his rope. His temper flared, "You wanna prove that? Come out back so I can teach you a lesson, little girl. I don't know where your parents are, but they must be pretty shit at it if _you're_ the result."

The mention of her parents had been the final straw. "Sure, but when _I_ win, you go play somewhere else, _little boy_ ," Olivia stepped past him towards the back of the building where she'd seen another exit. He followed, his friends jeering at him the entire way.

Olivia pushed the exit door open forcefully with a little assistance from her semblance. The metal door slammed into the brick wall outside with a loud cracking sound. Olivia ignored it as she stepped out into the empty alleyway. ' _I can't show off my semblance the same here, there's too many spectators._ ' She couldn't exactly expect to beat the older boy _without_ it, though. Olivia thought about it and decided to try the next best thing.

She brought the top two legs down across her shoulders, then down along her arms. One on each side. As far as she could tell, hits on her extra legs didn't count as part of her actual body, and didn't lower her aura. Olivia experimentally moved her hands around. The sharp point ended right before her knuckles. She didn't want to stab him, and with a few practice jabs, she realized that working her extra legs and arms in tandem gave her a much stronger punch than she would have normally.

Hit by inspiration, she replicated what she was doing with the lower two legs by putting them against the back of her actual legs. With those she allowed the point to grind down into the ground a little. It gave her a lot more support in her footing. Olivia experimented again, and pushed off with both of her right legs, real and semblance, at the same time. ' _So much faster!_ ' It made her feel a lot lighter, too.

"Aw, look. She's warming up!" one of the boys mocked. The rest laughed along with him. None of them noticed the large crack in the brick wall where the metal door had hit it.

Olivia rolled her neck like she'd seen people do in the movies and raised her hand, making a ' _come at me_ ' motion with her fingers. Jace rolled his eyes in response, and put up the mockery of a guard before stepping towards her. ' _He really shouldn't have insulted my parents._ '

Olivia didn't wait for him to cross the distance. With a sudden burst of strength through her dual legs pushing off the ground, she dashed in one step across the ten feet between them and threw a wild haymaker.

Jace was surprised at her speed and reacted instinctively. His hands raising into a more proper stance that had been drilled into him for years on end, and threw a straight jab. Olivia was no fighter, her only thought was to try and put power behind her punch with the long wind up. The quick jab to the face caught her completely off guard, partly due to its speed. The second thing that surprised her was the _power_ behind it. She was flung backwards, all forward momentum sent recoiling in the other direction.

"Dude! What the hell is wrong with you?" one of the boys yelled, shocked by the display of force. They each began to berate him as Olivia slowly stood up. Her aura had protected her from the blow, and it seemed Jace had realized that as well. He ignored the other boys, and one by one they noticed that Olivia looked completely fine after the hit.

"A twelve year old with aura, huh?" Jace remarked, sticking to his trained stance.

Olivia shrugged, "Wouldn't exactly be a fair fight otherwise, right?"

' _It still wouldn't be a fair fight, for_ _ **you**_ _, if I could cut loose here._ ' Olivia bent down and got herself ready. She had learned from her previous mistake. ' _I already have enough power because of my legs. Better to get faster hits in._ ' Olivia brought her hands up to try and mimic the way Jace was holding his. She knew it wasn't perfect, but it was close enough.

Olivia flew forward again, this time with her arms up in front of her. She threw a right jab at Jace's chest. He quickly sidestepped, bringing up his left hand to push her punch to the side and redirected her momentum past him. Olivia could only watch in shock as his knee came straight up into her stomach. It slammed against her aura, still protected from the blow thankfully, but Olivia could _feel_ the chunk it had taken out of her defense.

She pushed off with her left foot to turn, and brought up her left hand this time, aiming for his gut. Jace tried to use both of his hands to force her hand down and away from him again, but this time she made her extra limb more rigid. Jace's hand connected with the invisible force that laid on top of her arm. Unbending and unyielding, his mistake allowed her to finish the blow to his gut. He doubled over from the impact and stumbled back, clutching at where he'd been hit.

The choir behind Jace had gone silent as their fight continued, looking uncertainly between one another as Olivia actually managed to get a good hit in. ' _Yeah, that's right. This little kids got some moves!_ '

Jace recovered and regarded her more warily than before. He took the initiative this time, moving into her guard with a flurry of attacks, both punches and kicks, that took her by surprise. Olivia brought up her arms, and used the back of them that were protected by her extra legs. She blocked as well as she could, but he was quick, and tricky with his attacks. Jace would throw a punch, only for it to turn out to be a feint to draw attention away from one of his other limbs which would then score a hit on her. All of the ones she did manage to block were stopped dead, courtesy of her semblance, but she was having trouble keeping up. Moving two sets of legs and arms at the same time with each other was hard, and this was her first time even trying it.

With one final jab to her chest, Olivia was knocked back off her feet. Her aura sparked around her entire body, a flash of pink and black that was gone the next instant. She breathed heavily as she remained lying on the ground, numbly aware that her extra legs had disappeared with her aura. Olivia flinched and closed her eyes as a hand came down into her field of vision, but when no attack came, she opened them again to see that Jace was holding it down for her. Olivia grabbed a hold and let herself be shakily pulled back on to her feet.

"Hey, you got promise, kid. That was a good fight," Jace remarked, giving her a reassuring pat on the back. Olivia looked down at herself. She was a mess. Her brother's hoodie was torn on one of the sleeves when she'd tried to replicate Jace's redirect technique. It had been completely unsuccessful. Olivia noticed Jace's eyes widen, and looked to see what he was staring at.

The ripped sleeve had exposed the black veins on her arm. Olivia yelped and brought her other hand up, closing off the tear as best she could. She gave the boy one fearful glance before taking off down the alleyway, back into the crowds that soon hid her from sight. Olivia was so busy looking behind herself that she didn't notice the large man she ran into until she was already off her feet, knocked to the ground.

" _You!?_ " the large man yelled in surprise and anger. One of his meaty hands reached down and grabbed her by the forearm. Olivia looked up in shock and recognized his face, the fat man she had mugged only two nights ago. Olivia tried to lash out, to send the man flying back into the crowd away from her, but nothing happened. ' _My semblance is gone!_ ' she realized in horror. Olivia shifted to trying to rip her hand free, but the man kept a firm grip. All she had was the strength of a twelve year old to try and fight against the fully grown man.

"None of that! We're going straight to the police!" the fat man dragged her across the ground, despite anything Olivia could try to do, and through the crowd. She felt him pull her forward roughly one last time and drop her down in front of him, "Arrest this girl! She mugged me two nights ago. It was armed robbery!"

Olivia looked up into the face of the two officers she had been thrown down in front of, pure dread in her eyes. They gave each other a look, and dragged her away.

* * *

Jace watched from the crowd as the girl, ' _the faunus_ ', that had fought him was taken away in cuffs. ' _She could have gotten away if she had her aura…_ ' Jace felt the guilt weighing down on him, and decided to give his uncle a call.

* * *

Olivia trembled for reasons other than the bumpy road she was being driven down. Her aura still hadn't returned, and despite not having the extra appendages at her disposal, she could still _feel_ them. Could still feel as if they were there, ready to be used. They just couldn't manifest without her aura. It was that fact, and how defenseless she was, that were making her queasy.

They were taking her to jail. She'd be locked up, like a rat in a cage. They had removed her hoodie to check for weapons and found her faunus trait plain to the eye. Olivia pounded her arm against the side of the car in frustration. She was in the back of a van, legs chained to the floor beneath her. The fat man had insisted he come with them and was sitting in the front of the vehicle. Olivia could feel his presence there. They were having a conversation, as far as she could tell, although the fat man was talking more than the two officers. All Olivia could distinguish was a deep, distinct cadence that belonged to him. None of his words were intelligible.

' _Come onnnn, come on!_ ' Olivia tried desperately to make her semblance form, to reappear. She was still exhausted from the fight. ' _Why did I even do that?_ ' Olivia already understood her mistake, though. She had gotten cocky after mugging people for over a year and encountering little resistance. Putting herself into a compromising position against someone who's strengths she didn't know had been a dumb, irrational move.

The van came to a halt, front doors opening and closing with a slam before the officers opened the back door. Olivia shouted the instant the opened, "He's lying! I've never seen him in my life!" She let her fear come to the forefront of her expression, hoping that they would take it as the genuine truth.

"Nice try, kid. He already told us everything," one of the officers scoffed and undid the chains around her ankles. They each grabbed her by a forearm and pulled her bodily out of the van. They were parked right outside a large brick building, ' _Mistral Detainment Center_ ' was written across the front in big block letters. Olivia struggled against them but couldn't break free. They kept a hold of her as they entered, heading through the front area and directly to the back where the cells were. The fat man was following along, happily watching her torment as she was thrown into one of the cells.

The officers left to go file their paperwork, leaving Olivia in her cage, and the fat man standing just outside it, "I wonder if you knew who I was before you stole from me?" The man stated the question out loud, not really expecting an answer from Olivia, "Of course not. What does a little faunus brat like you know?"

"I know you cried like a baby when you were held up by a twelve year old," Olivia seethed. She was already in jail, what more could he do?

The man laughed lightly. There was no humor in it.

"Well, I've given my friends in Atlas a call. They'll be sending a Manta to come pick you up tomorrow morning," he gave Olivia a devilish smile. It only widened when she looked back in confusion, "You're going to be serving an… alternate sentence. In the Schnee Mines."

' _No!_ ' Memories of branded faunus flashed through her head as she recoiled back against the back wall and slumped to the ground, as far from the fat man as she could get.

The man laughed heartily, elated at the terror in her eyes, "Maybe think of that the next time you want to steal from humans, you filthy faunus bitch!" The man turned around after that and walked off, leaving Olivia quivering on the ground in the corner of her cell, knees pulled up against her chest. ' _Come onnn, come on!_ ' Tears rolled down Olivia's cheeks as her semblance once again failed to appear.

* * *

Olivia's hatred for these humans grew by the second. After they had started on their paperwork, the two officers had also gone over other incidents to try and find any matching her description. According to the human she was currently glaring at, she was a ' _piece of faunus trash that should have been left in whatever gutter she crawled out of_ '', among other things. She had stayed in the corner, sitting with her knees against her chest. Olivia no longer trembled from fear, though. Her aura had returned a few hours ago, and along with it, her semblance. She trembled with barely suppressed rage. The appendages were already out, waiting for the first person foolish enough to approach and taunt her to her face instead of just shouting insults from a distance.

' _I'll rip them to pieces._ '

The iron bars that surrounded her would be easy enough to break out of. Olivia's issue was that for most of the day, the room between her and the door was filled with armed policemen. There were too many angles to get shot from, and she knew that if her aura dropped again in a situation like that, then she wouldn't get a second chance. She would be killed.

It was getting late now. Several of the officers and workers had already left. Olivia could just barely see a clock on the wall from where she sat, ' _10:32_ '. It seemed like their work day was coming to a close. Olivia stood as another wave of them left, their shifts ending. The one that had insulted her the most was still at his desk, twenty steps away from where she was being held. ' _Good…_ '

Olivia focused on her sixth sense. ' _Seven…_ ' There were only seven people left in the building that she could feel. She liked those odds. Olivia just needed to start it off by getting rid of one instantly. Her eyes settled on the racist at his desk.

"E-Excuse me?" Olivia called out to him weakly.

"No, I won't let you out. If you need to use the bathroom then do it in the corner like the dirty animal you are," the man grinned maliciously before turning back to his desk.

"I-I just had a request?" She kept her voice sounding timid, afraid.

The man stood up in a huff from his desk, realizing Olivia wasn't going to leave him alone. He walked up in front of her cell and glared down at her, "And what might _that_ be?"

"Do you know where I can find my hoodie?" The man's face turned into one of confusion right as Olivia prepared to spear him through the chest.

At that exact instant, the front of the building exploded. Both of their heads whipped to the side, distracted by the sound of it. A smoke screen of dust had been blown into the air when the wall exploded. There was silence for a few seconds, aside from the shuffling of the officers as they stood from their desks. Gunfire rang out, bullets whistled through the air and cut them down like the dogs they were. Round after round of bullets flew randomly through the dust cloud, hitting everything in their wake.

Olivia and the man were off to the side, in a small hallway that held the cells and protected from the gunfire by the brick wall. He reached for his gun, attention entirely diverted from Olivia. Her leg jabbed out between the bars, closelining him for a moment before she curled it and pulled back. He was choke slammed against her bars, back to her, held a foot off the ground. His heels drummed against the bars frantically, hand reaching for the gun at his waist.

Her hand reached out and grabbed his gun before he could. Olivia positioned herself so that he would be a human shield if anyone came around the corner firing randomly. All of the officers were dead or moaning on the ground, blood pooling out from wounds that were certainly lethal. ' _Good riddance._ '

The dust cleared as a group of White Fang stepped through, looking around at their handiwork. A gasp from the man Olivia held pulled the White Fang's attention in their direction. The man that Olivia held was hopelessly clawing at the invisible thing that held him in place. Olivia let it wrap around him tighter, one of the barbs pierced slowly into his chest, earning her a delightful groan from the man.

"There you are, kid!" a familiar voice yelled out. One of the White Fang members was waving at her as he walked towards them. Olivia couldn't quite place the voice, but if they were White Fang…

"Are you the one from the warehouse?" Olivia asked incredulously, "I thought you got blown up!"

"What? Naaah, we did that on purpose. Hell of a light show, eh?" Crim smirked as he walked towards her. He did spare a curious glance to the officer being held up against the bars, off the ground.

"Don't worry. I've got him. How have you been?"

Crim rubbed a hand against the back of his neck, "Ah, you know. Making the world a better place, one dead human at a time. What's the story with this one?" he pointed his thumb at the man.

"He hasn't answered my question yet," Olivia said darkly. She dug the barb further into the man's shoulder and wrapped another appendage lower across his chest. She eased up on the one around his throat, and he gasped for breath raggedly as his eyes darted back and forth in fear.

"Please, I'll do whatever you want!"

"There's only one thing I want from you, like I asked before... Where's. My. _Hoodie_?"

"It's in the storage room! Bottom shelf! That's where we keep all confiscated items!" the man whimpered as more blood poured down his chest from his wound, "Are you going to let me-"

Olivia didn't wait for him to finish. She speared an appendage through his back, leaving a gaping hole in his chest, and dropped him to the floor. She then positioned them between the two bars directly in front of her, and with a small amount of effort on her part, bent them open.

Olivia stepped out of the cell and gave a smile to the shocked expression on the man's face.

"So. You wanted me to join the White Fang, right?"


	4. Revenge

Olivia bundled her arms into her hoodie pockets as a chilling breeze rippled along silent streets past what would be her new home. They were back in the warehouse district, along the edge that led into the slums. The portion of the slums that these warehouses ran along were heavily populated by faunus, pushed to the fringes of the city where they would be 'out of the way' of the humans. It was the perfect place to have a secret White Fang hideout. There were no humans to report suspicious activity.

Crim opened the door ahead of her and stepped inside, " _Welcome_ to the White Fang," he smiled back at Olivia and waved his hand for her to head in past him. She obliged, and walked past. She could feel dozens inside, several in this room alone. What greeted her eyes first was a large open area. There were couches off in a corner, all facing a television, with several faunus lounging around. A little way from that was a small kitchen, one that actually worked unlike hers from the looks of it. There were quite a few weapons and crates of dust ammunition scattered around the center of the room. A few members were there at one of the tables, doing maintenance on the guns and packing magazines. Off to the far left corner was an open floor space with weapons lining the walls. Not guns, but swords, staves, axes. Olivia didn't know the names of many of them. On the mat, looking like he was training…

"Jace? That was your name, right?" Olivia struggled for a few seconds to recall what the other boys had called him.

"That's me! Glad my uncle could help you out," Jace replied, pausing in his workout to look over and smile at her. There was a sincerity to it that made Olivia's shoulders relax. She hadn't even noticed she was tense.

"I recognized you from the description he gave me," Crim said from behind her. They both stepped to the side to allow the other faunus to enter the building as well. They deposited their weapons and headed off to mingle or feed themselves. Several disappeared into back rooms or up the stairs.

"That was a year ago. You either just have really good memory, or… I should be worried about a stalker," Olivia smiled to show she was messing with him.

Crim grinned before his face turned a little more serious, "We were making sure that you were out of the building when we found the guards near the front door. You could have just let them pass and got yourself out safely, but you risked yourself to stop them from flanking us. Thank you."

Olivia shrugged, "And now you've saved me from a trip to the Schnee Mines, so I'd say we're even."

"You looked like you had at least one of them under control," Crim smirked, "What was that you did, by the way?"

Olivia paused and tipped her head to the side while she thought it out. ' _Can I tell him the truth? I don't think he's going to turn against me or anything. It is a nice secret to keep, though…_ ' Olivia decided to just tell him the truth. He'd already seen it in action, the cat was out of the bag.

"My semblance creates invisible spider legs. I was holding him against the bars with them."

"And the hole through his chest…?" Crim was looking at her with a measure of respect, now.

"One quick jab, yeah," Olivia tried to keep her face from cringing. The man had made her mad, and they were threatening her with slavery. That didn't make the guts that spilled out any more appealing. ' _Thank Oum I don't feel as if I'm actually touching them._ ' Olivia did shiver at that mental image.

"You didn't use anything like that in our fight," Jace remarked, also giving her a look, "You would have had a better chance if you did."

"I didn't exactly want to give away my greatest secret to a bunch of huntsman in training," Olivia began, "I _did_ use them though. I've never tried it before, but I was coating my arms and legs with my semblance to try to punch harder and move faster. It was… _hard_ … to control."

Jace laughed, "You did look like you were _really_ concentrating during our fight."

Crim was looking thoughtful as he finally let the door close and stepped further into the room next to them, "You have a good point. It could be the ace up your sleeve. You should think about learning how to fight that way, and only reveal them when you absolutely have to, or when you're certain the secret won't get spread afterwards."

Olivia recognized the implication, ' _When you know you're going to kill whoever you're fighting._ '

"You could train with Jace!" Crim's eyes lit up as he looked at his nephew, a twisted smile on his lips, "He's trained the most at hand to hand."

Jace's eyes met Olivia's, and he nodded, "I wouldn't mind. You did show promise before, I wasn't lying about that, and if it helps you keep your secret..." he shrugged, "Two birds, as they say."

"Don't you have classes, though?" Olivia asked, a little confused. He had been wearing a student uniform and hanging out with those other students at the arcade.

He shook his head, "Today was the last day of regular combat school. I have three months before I join Haven Academy for my first semester there." ' _I was right, he is the same age as my brother had been._ '

Olivia looked around the room, "You're not a part of the White Fang? Or are you going in as a spy?"

"A little of both…" Jace gave a hard stare at his uncle, "I wanted to join, but Uncle Crim didn't want me to. Said I should try and make something more of myself," he shook his head in exasperation, "I eventually talked him into letting me pass information off to them at the very least. Not much to really give, since the school doesn't exactly hold any sway over the SDC or the police, but I'll help any way I can."

Crim looked annoyed that his nephew had managed to even get that much out of him. He looked between the two of them and gestured over his shoulder, towards the couches that had just been vacated. It was late, and many of those in the room were starting to head to their rooms. Olivia accepted gratefully. It had been a long day, and her legs were immediately thankful when she sunk down into the couch. ' _This is so much softer than mine…_ ' Olivia sighed and leaned against the arm rest.

"So, kid. I hate to ask, but it's a requirement for the group. Anyone we need to be worried about by taking you in?" Crim asked seriously from the couch across from her.

Olivia thought it over. The fat man had definitely sounded like he _thought_ he was important, at the very least, "The man I ran into after our fight," she glanced at Jace to make it clear who she meant, "was someone that I mugged a couple nights before then. He said he'd pulled some strings with friends in Atlas to get me sent to the mines, and asked me if I had known who he was before I mugged him."

"Can you describe him for me?" Crim looked troubled by the news.

"Fat, bald… wore expensive clothing, which is why I mugged him. The police took him at his word over mine before they even knew I was a faunus," Olivia thought it over again, but that really was all the details she could remember, "He was a coward too, I guess."

"Did you get a look at him, Jace?" Crim turned to his nephew.

Jace nodded, "Pretty much what she said. Expensive clothes and everything. I did notice a gold medallion hanging from his neck, like a chair in a circle."

Crim winced, "So he was a member of the Mistral Council," he sighed, "He'll definitely hear about the detainment center getting attacked and wonder what happened to the faunus being held there." Crim looked at Olivia, "How mad was he?"

Olivia hesitated, but decided the truth was the best way to go. If she withheld information and got all of them killed because they had taken her in… "He was pretty mad. I did… taunt him a bit more, before he left. That _may_ have included calling him a cry baby in front of a bunch of police officers."

Crim nodded, "So, we focus our next mission on him before he gets any bright ideas to start upping searches for a black haired, pink eyed faunus girl."

Olivia felt a lump in her throat, "How are we going to narrow it down? How many members are there on this 'council'?"

"Seven, including the Headmaster at Haven. We can get pictures of all of them, though. It's in the public records," Crim pulled out his Scroll and navigated through a few websites before pulling up an official looking webpage. He held it out to Olivia, who took it and swiped down the images until she found the man.

"That one," she pointed to his portrait, "Beryl Verdigris".

Crim took the Scroll back from her and look over the man's information, "Alright. I'll let Widow know when she gets back. She can find out where he lives and do a little recon before we move in."

"Widow?" Olivia asked curiously.

Crim brightened, "She's the other spider faunus I told you about. That isn't her _real_ name, she gave it to herself when she joined. Stealthiest damn person you'll ever meet." Crim's expression darkened a little, "That reminds me. There's a second question we have to know before we can make this official. What's your story? Why is a twelve year old living on the streets?"

Olivia sat back as both Crim and Jace sat forward, expectantly waiting for her answer. Olivia decided to just give them the short version, "My family lived outside the city. My brother and father were both trained at the combat school, so they didn't have much trouble protecting us from the Grimm," Olivia's eyes teared up slightly and she glanced at Jace, "My brother was going to join Haven, too. He never got the chance, though."

They both waited patiently for her to continue, "We were attacked by three… well... four, bandits. They killed my brother and parents, and I unlocked my semblance when I thought I was going to die with them. After I killed the two that were left, this woman… I think she was with them, congratulated me on it and offered to take me in. I said no, and she left through a red portal."

Crim's eyes widened at the last tidbit of information, "What was she wearing?"

"Black and red armor, and a brutal looking Grimm mask. Bigger and more detailed than the type you all use."

Crim's eyes were downcast as he pondered what she'd said. He muttered out his reply after a few moments had passed, " _Raven Branwen._ "

"Who?" Jace asked from next to him.

"She's the leader of the Branwen Tribe, a group of bandits that roam the continent, attacking smaller towns and travelers. We've lost a lot of supplies in their raids," he stared into Olivia's eyes, "She's dangerous. Those bandits would have been her men. Don't try to get revenge. Raven is one of the strongest people I've ever encountered. She doesn't care what happens to the people she steals from. I've seen entire _towns_ get overrun by Grimm after one of their raids. They _don't_ stick around to help."

"That's horrible," Olivia choked out. She was suddenly _very_ glad she hadn't stopped to listen to the woman all those months ago. ' _What would I have turned into?_ ' The words the woman had spoken to her came back, ' _The weak die, and the strong survive._ ' It was a terrible philosophy, but at the same time... " _It's kept her safe… Her very name inspires fear. Gaining strength at least wouldn't be a bad idea. I don't have to use it the way_ _ **she**_ _does._ '

Olivia nodded to herself, "I'm sure she doesn't even remember me by now," she spared an eye to Jace, "I'm not going to try and hunt her down or anything, but I _would_ appreciate training. I need to get stronger. It's the only way to protect myself so things like today never happen again."

Jace smiled, "Of course. We should start with the basics, then once you have those down you can start learning how to incorporate your extra legs into it. How strong _are_ they, by the way?"

Olivia activated her semblance and gave them each a meaningful look, "I'm holding one out to each of you. Grab on." When they had both hesitantly reached out in front of themselves and taken a hold of one of her extra legs, she lifted them into the air, unmoving from her own spot on the couch, "I really don't even _feel_ your weight on them right now," Olivia chuckled slightly, remembering back to the occasion at the warehouse, "And it _was_ me that tore through that warehouse door."

She set them down. They both looked at her, impressed, and Jace laughed lightly, "Now I'm _really_ glad you didn't use them in our fight. I was thinking that one punch you hit me with was how strong they were, but if you can pick both of us up that easily?" he shook his head, "You'll be an absolute power house soon enough."

Olivia beamed back at the compliment, happy with herself, ' _It really is a strong semblance._ ' She looked at them both with curiosity, "What are your semblances?"

They gave each other a look and nodded. "I can expel my aura outwards in short bursts. That's what I did the first time I punched you," Jace smirked. Olivia remembered the straight jab she'd taken to the face, and the sheer power that had been behind it.

' _I can project my thoughts into other people's minds,'_ Olivia heard Crim's voice even though his mouth hadn't moved.

' _Uhhh, can you hear me too?_ '

Crim grinned mischievously, "No, I can't read your mind."

Olivia reeled back, "But that's just what I was-!"

Crim's laugh cut her off, "That's what _everyone_ thinks the first time they find out," his laughter slowly ebbed down, "As long as I've seen the person's face before and have an idea of their general location, I can speak to them telepathically. It makes ordering these guys around so much easier. No radios to be overheard by the guards unless someone needs to talk back to me."

Crim's expression sobered, "Just keep in mind, you're among friends here. Everyone that joins the White Fang has some unfortunate experience in their past that drove them to it. _You aren't alone_. Not here."

Olivia decided not to pry into their 'experience'. She was the one that needed to prove herself, and she could hardly expect them to share something so personal. Her eyes scanned the room instead, "So, where am I sleeping?"

Crim chuckled and pointed up the stairs, "Last room on the right. We're starting to run out of space, but we have a few rooms left over. Do you have anything stashed away somewhere?"

Olivia nodded, "I kept my brother's weapon. It's at the house I was staying at. I'll go get it tomorrow, if that's alright?"

"I'll have Jace go with you. Not that I don't trust you to take care of yourself after all this time alone, but he's good for backup," Crim looked her up and down, "and we can find something more fitting for you than that hoodie."

Olivia's finger idly twisted one of the drawstrings for the hood, "I'd, uh- like to keep wearing it. It was my brother's…"

Crim held his hands up, "Say no more. You won't be able to wear it when you're on missions, but feel free when you're on your own time," his eyes caught on to the tear in the sleeve, "We can have July patch that for you as well. She used to be a seamstress."

Olivia nodded thankfully, "Well, unless there's some secret third question… Mind if I turn in for the night?"

Jace stood up in agreement, "It's late. I should be getting home as well. I'll be back tomorrow morning to pick you up, then once we're back from our little trip we can start training."

Olivia smiled and gave him a miniature salute, "Looking forward to it. Have a goodnight."

Jace and Crim both reciprocated the sentiment as she walked up the stairs. She gave one last wave as she was lost to their sight and headed for the room that would be hers. It was a cozy little room, about fifteen feet across in either direction. It was lightly furnished with the essentials, a bed, dresser, and a nightstand. Olivia jumped into bed and pulled the thick blanket around herself, ' _Oh yeah, much better. This one isn't even moldy._ '

For the second night in a row, Olivia had a peaceful night's rest.

* * *

"Look, I'm not saying you _should_ do it. I'm just saying it would be _cool_ ," Jace explained himself. They were walking from the hideout to the house Olivia had been squatting in, and Jace had told her about the ideas he'd come up with since last night.

"I am _not_ wielding six guns. I would look like such a weirdo."

"Uh, yeah. A weirdo with a lot of firepower. No one would dare call you that," Jace scoffed.

"Not to my _face_ ," Olivia laughed, "Besides, that defeats the entire purpose of trying to keep them a secret, remember?" Olivia adopted a deeper voice, like she was pretending to be someone older, " _Say kid, watcha doing with all those guns? Don't ya know you only have two arms?_ "

"And that's when you shoot them," Jace replied simply. The grin spreading across his face betrayed the joke.

"I'm not really a fan of using guns in the first place. I feel restricted if my hands aren't free," Olivia said after the moment had passed, "I only used my brother's til now because people aren't afraid of a twelve year old. Hard to mug people without attacking them if they just get all sappy and call you cute."

"You should still _have_ a gun to use. What are you gonna do if they shoot at _you_ from a distance?"

Olivia tapped the back of his head with one of her appendages, "These babies are completely bullet-proof. I don't even lose aura when I block with them. So, I close the distance, and get back into _my_ preferred range while _they_ waste their ammo."

"And if they have explosive ammunition, or too many bullets to block all at once?"

Olivia pondered the question, "Then I dodge? What else can you do against an explosive, anyway?"

Jace laughed, "Good point. I guess if you're keeping your semblance a secret, it might even make them more confident when it looks like they're getting free shots on you."

Olivia nodded happily. She hadn't thought of it that way, but it was a nice idea. ' _As long as I can keep it a secret, no one will be any wiser._ ' "Plus that means I can go anywhere I want without worrying about being searched."

They had just walked to within thirty feet of Olivia's old house when she grabbed Jace, pulling him to the side behind another building, "Someone's inside," she whispered fiercely. She focused, letting her sixth sense ebb out while she concentrated, "Three someone's. Hold on… I recognize them from…" Memories of the large faunus man and his two thug friends swam through her mind, "Oh, he is _dead._ "

"Wait, who is? Who's in there?" Jace whispered back, a little panic tinging his voice.

"Some thugs that tried to disturb a good time. They were trying to force their way in while I had guests, and I didn't take kindly to it," Olivia spared a glance to Jace, "If they came back, they're probably ready for me."

"Are you sure you want to go in there?"

Olivia laughed lightly, "No. I don't want to walk into an ambush. How about we bring them out to us?" She grinned at Jace's confused expression and stepped out from behind the building they were at. She walked closer to her own, keeping her sixth sense sharply attuned to the three people that were inside. There was one waiting on each side of the door. ' _Perfect._ '

Olivia stepped up directly in front of the door. She could _feel_ them tensing up inside. ' _Good thing this place is so rundown. It'll work in my favor for once._ ' Olivia gestured for Jace to get ready, and with one last moment to orient her appendages, _pierced_ them through the wood. Each wrapped around one of the two that had been waiting next to the door. Her other two slammed into the door itself. She used the blunt side of her appendage to send the door flying forward into the third person on the other side. With one backwards heave, Olivia dragged the two _through_ the wall and on to the ground. Their weapons clattered across the porch. They were too stunned to keep a grip on them.

Pain bloomed across Olivia's chest as shots started pinging off her. She quickly pulled the other two appendages back to defend herself, bullets now bouncing off with no effect. Olivia glared through the open doorway, into the dark interior, at the large man from the previous day, ' _Shoot at me with my brother's gun, will ya?_ ' She uncoiled the two that were already on the ground, they wouldn't be trying anything soon, and stepped into the house. The large man was frantically firing at her, terror clear in his eyes.

Olivia spared him a smirk, " _This_ was your big idea? You're a disgrace to faunus everywhere."

"Fuck you!" the man yelled in panic. He hadn't even noticed yet that the gun was out of ammo, giving him only a small ' _click_ ' each time he pulled the trigger. Olivia spotted the bulge sticking up from underneath his shirt, a few bandages poked out from the neck line. She gave him a devilish laugh, then stabbed him through the same spot, pinning him to the wall behind him.

"It seems like you didn't _learn_ from last time. And I was _so_ insistent, too. Are you just that dumb?" Olivia tilted her head as she asked the question. He was too busy yelling in pain and struggling to pull himself free. Olivia slapped the gun out of his hand with another appendage and pulled it closer to herself so that she could pick it up with her actual hands.

"Please! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I get it now! I won't show myself around here ever again! Just let me go!" tears streaked down the man's face. Olivia ignored his pleas, looking over her weapon to make sure it wasn't damaged.

Satisfied, she spotted the extra magazines on his waist and reclaimed those as well. Olivia began to reload as she spoke, "You know. The first time I ever shot a gun was with this one?" she spared him an evil grin as she finished reloading, "That guy was begging for mercy, too."

His eyes went even wider as his face paled, "No, please! Don't do it! I'll never come back!"

Olivia was aiming it at his chest when a hand grabbed her by the shoulder. Jace didn't pull her back, but his fingers clenched tightly. He spoke to her in a calm, soft tone, "Just let them go. You have your gun back. Be the bigger person, here."

"And were _they_ just going to 'let me go'?" Olivia turned her eyes to him in annoyance, "Were those police just going to ' _let me go'!?_ I _tried_ being nice. It ended with me behind bars and with a one way ticket to _hell_. I was thinking about it all morning before you got there. _What_ could I have done differently? What would have kept me _out_ of that situation?" Olivia leveled the gun at the large man's chest in front of her, the double meaning she spoke was clear to everyone in the room. "I shouldn't have left him alive."

"No! Please! We weren't gonna kill ya, I swear! We just wanted to mess you up a bit and trash the place!" the man continued to beg, hands struggling futilely against the spider leg. The tip of it was stained red with his blood. His hands were slipping as he tried to push against it.

"If you do this, I _won't_ train you. I'm not going to teach someone that enjoys hurting others."

Olivia whipped around on him, arms shaking, "You think I _enjoy_ this!? I'm _scared_! I'm terrified of what might happen if I let him go!"

Jace let his hand relax on her shoulder as he spoke, voice still calm, "Then you'll have _friends_ there to protect you. What is he," Jace gestured to the large man crying in pain, "going to do against the _White Fang_?"

Olivia's body trembled as she stared at the man. No one spoke. With one final, long sigh, she retracted her appendage. The man collapsed to the floor in a heap before struggling on to his feet. He barrelled between them and out the door, this time being the one to leave his friends behind. Olivia just shook her head as she started to calm down, "I really hope I don't end up regretting that."

"You won't," Jace said with a smile. There was a slight tremble to his voice as he spoke again, "Now, let's get to training, eh?"

Olivia nodded and grabbed a few other things that she didn't want to leave behind, letting her semblance vanish as she did. The blood on them disappeared, but the pool on the floor had already started to stain into the wood.

' _I hope you're right, Jace._ '


	5. A Walk in the Park

"Good! Again!" Jace commanded Olivia. Her arms trembled from the exertion. She'd been running drills like this for half an hour straight, and her body was slick with sweat. Her hair was even lankier than usual. Olivia gritted her teeth and repeated the form that Jace was drilling into her this time. A series of jabs, knees, and kicks, all of which Jace blocked with the pads he was holding.

"Good! Again!"

A series of jabs, knees, and kicks.

"Good! Again!"

Olivia finally collapsed mid kick, her leg simply giving out beneath her, and rolled on to her back on the floor. Her breath gasped out raggedly, even her thoughts came slowly, ' _I think... I'm ready… to just use my semblance… Who need's secrets…?_ '

"Alright, take ten. We'll pick up with a new set once you've caught your breath," Jace turned to a nearby table and tossed her a water bottle from it. She was too weak to catch it before it smacked her in the chest.

"You're… a… monster…" Olivia said between gasps for breath. The bastard just grinned in response and turned back to his own workout. ' _Where does he get the stamina!?_ ' Olivia drank greedily from the bottle, not caring that some of it dribbled down her chin. It was the best water she'd ever tasted. ' _Or I'm just that damn thirsty._ ' Olivia would put her lien on the second option.

Olivia felt something strange through her sixth sense as she was lying there. A tingle that sent a sliver of warning down through her _bones_. "Someone's here!" she whispered to Jace hurriedly, pointing towards the front door. Jace's eyes narrowed when he heard the tremor in Olivia's voice. He wordlessly got the attention of a few others who grabbed up weapons, aiming them at the front door.

Everyone waited in silence, a tension in the air that could be unleashed at the drop of a hat. Olivia felt herself shiver from the fear clutching at her throat, ' _What is this feeling!?_ '

Three slow knocks echoed through the room, coming from the front door. The tension evaporated, White Fang putting their weapons down and going back to what they'd been doing before. Olivia's gaze whipped around the room in confusion, ' _What are you all doing!?_ " The door opened, and a red haired woman stepped through that Olivia didn't recognize. She recoiled when she saw the woman's eyes were staring straight at her, too. A smile crossed the woman's face.

"I take it you're the young spider faunus I've heard so much about?" the woman stepped through the door and closed it behind herself. Olivia flinched when it closed, ' _Between me and the escape!_ '

The woman seemed to notice Olivia's blatant fear and slowed her approach, holding her hands up, "Calm down, little spider. There's no threat here. I take it you've never met another spider faunus before?" Olivia just shook her head timidly in response. The woman sighed, "Your sixth sense is just warning you that there's a 'bigger' spider nearby," she smirked, "I promise I'm not going to gobble you up. I'm Widow, by the way."

Olivia tried to force herself to calm down. She could still feel her heart beating rapidly, but the tremors had stopped. She stood and tentatively held her hand out, waiting for a handshake. Widow grinned and took it slowly, letting Olivia get used to the contact as they shook hands. Her senses protested, screaming at her to let go, to run, to hide in the darkest corner she could find and wait for _it_ to leave. Olivia grit her teeth and continued the contact. After ten seconds, she didn't feel like hiding. After fifteen, she didn't feel like running. And after thirty seconds, she finally let go, sighing with relief as her senses calmed down. Her heart no longer raced in some mad attempt to beat itself out of her chest.

"That was intense," Olivia choked out, still breathing hard.

Widow nodded, "Exposure therapy _is_ the best way to get over it. The first time is the worst, especially if you've grown up so long without meeting another yet, but you'll _always_ notice another spider faunus more distinctly than anyone else. Your senses recognize that someone else _knows_ you're there the same way you do for them, and warns you as best it can."

Olivia shivered one last time and smiled, "Nice to meet you."

"And you as well," Widow smiled again, "I found Beryl's home. He's holed up pretty tight, but I think we can get a few key people in. Were you wanting to come along?"

"Yes," Olivia said immediately. Beryl had threatened her with slavery, and was now a threat to her very existence.

"Good! Also, do you mind putting those away?" Widow pointed above them both. Olivia gave her a look of confusion before she realized her appendages were all poised above, ready to strike down at Widow at a moment's notice. She let them retract in embarrassment, rubbing a hand against the back of her head.

A thought came to mind, "How did you know?"

Widow just gestured at her entire body with a smirk, "Spider faunus, remember? I can sense them just as well as you can."

"Oh, right," Olivia nodded in understanding. ' _Obviously. Stop asking stupid questions._ '

"You ready to get back to it?" Jace asked from behind her.

Olivia turned back to him with a weak smile, "Right now?" Jace grinned maliciously.

Widow watched from the sidelines as they got back to it. Jace taught her a new series of strikes that ended with a kick to the knee. It was designed to put someone on the defensive, make them put the weight on that knee, and then debilitate them with one clean strike to it that would break their leg. ' _Now we're talking._ ' They'd just been doing body blows up until that point, but Olivia understood why. You couldn't break someone's leg like that until they were out of aura. Better to learn how to get them to that point in the first place. They began their drills again.

"You're learning hand to hand? Why? I could _feel_ the power in that semblance of yours. Why use weaker attacks?" Widow asked from her place, leaning against the wall.

Olivia paused and cocked her head at Jace, "Mind if I show her?"

He grimaced, but lifted his hands back up, pads firmly held in place, "Alright. Just one set, though."

Olivia's semblance activated again, the appendages draping across her arms and legs in the way she had been practicing. Her elbows and shoulders each rested directly in one of the joints, the last bit of it curled down over the front of her fist. If Olivia wanted to, she could bend the last joint back up and use her appendage to stab whatever she was punching. The appendages also curled perfectly on to the back of Olivia's legs. The final tip of it buried into the ground right behind her heel. It turned out, with a day's worth of practice whenever she _wasn't_ running drills with Jace, the feeling had come much more naturally. The contours of the extra legs had been mismatched before, with Olivia trying to keep the end behind her fist, instead of wrapped in front of it as it was now.

Widow's eyes widened, and she nodded in approval with a smirk on her face, "Keeping it a secret, eh?"

Olivia waited for Jace to say he was ready, then launched into the set they had been practicing before with devastating strength and speed. Each blow earned her a wince from Jace, his hands struggled to keep up with the assault. She finished the set with a powerful kick, knocking him back a few steps even though he'd been braced for it. Jace pulled back immediately and waved his hands through the air, trying to shake them off, "No more! It's a good thing I have aura, otherwise you'd be snapping my wrists through the pads."

Widow clapped after the display, "Marvelous. You're making me _jealous_ , little spider."

Olivia let her appendages retract and accepted the praise, turning back to her while Jace continued to shake his hands off, "What's your semblance?"

Two swords were pulled off the rack next to Widow as she lifted them up. She gave Olivia a smirk, then smacked them together roughly. Metal slamming against metal, and yet… silence, "My semblance allows me to cancel out noise within an area. Noise I make, noise things make, noise _you_ make."

Olivia tried to whistle in appreciation and couldn't even hear her own breath coming out, "Okay, that's awesome." Her voice was finally audible after she stopped trying to whistle.

Widow bowed her head, also accepting the praise. She turned back to Jace, "Hey kid, when's Crim getting in?"

Jace finally gestured for Olivia to restart the sets they had been doing, this time without her semblance, and spoke as he blocked, "He left to get some more supplies. Pretty sure he expected you to be in today, so he's prepping for the mission."

"Speak of the devil," Widow muttered. Olivia paused in confusion and tried to sense Crim. It took another ten seconds before she could feel him approaching the front door.

"How'd you sense him from so far away?" Olivia turned back to Widow as she asked.

"Your sense will get stronger as you get older. More accurate, too. Another reason why it's more difficult to meet other spider faunus later in life. Your sense for them gets stronger, but you haven't been exposed yet," She waved her hand towards the front of the building, "I paused at the door when I first got here because I could _feel_ everyone pointing their guns at me. You'll also be able to tell who's a faunus and who isn't, no matter how visible their 'parts' are, among other things. I could fight with my eyes closed if I wanted to."

Olivia brightened at the news. By no means was she unhappy about her sixth sense, but the fact that it would get even better in time? ' _Fantastic._ '

The door finally opened as Crim stepped in, holding a large wooden crate under his other arm. He spotted their little group and smiled as he headed over to them, "Alright, first thing's first," he set the crate down and popped the top, pulling out a bagged uniform and tossing it to Olivia, "Go see if that fits."

Olivia quickly obliged. She came back down a few minutes later, making some final adjustments as she did. Olivia stood in front of them and did a slow turn. Black short sleeve shirt, black pants with a white vest fitted snug to her by a black belt around her midsection. Her hands were covered by fingerless gloves that reached all the way up her forearm, just far enough to cover her black veins. A pair of steel bracers around her forearms as well, helping to hold the gloves in place. Finally, soft toed boots with steel shin plates. To top it all off, the mask. It was larger than the rest, actually covering her entire face including her mouth.

Widow put her fingers together and wolf-whistled.

"I'm twelve."

"Just showing my appreciation. Get your mind out of the gutter, little spider," Widow smirked.

"It suits you. I should know, I had to order it specifically _for_ you. We didn't already have outfits that would fit a kid," Crim shrugged, "Glad it turned out so well."

Jace sighed and shook his head, "I'm just plain jealous."

Olivia rolled her shoulders. Her arms and legs still felt free, like they did when she wore her hoodie, but the additional weight on her arms and legs was a little off putting, "Let's keep going. I need to get used to wearing it when I fight."

Jace nodded, and they continued their training session.

* * *

Olivia crouched down behind the car in the driveway as her senses told her the guard was about to round the corner. She positioned herself against it, low and quiet, and stepped around the edge. She kept the bulk of the car between the two of them.

' _Take him out when his back is turned. Widow will make it quiet,_ ' Crim's thoughts whispered through her mind. She nodded. He was behind her with Widow, the two keeping watch as she made her approach. Olivia rounded the back of the car, right as the guard walked past it. He was wide open, exposed and completely unaware that she was there. She unleashed her semblance and poised them to strike, doubt suddenly creeping into the forefront of her mind, ' _Am I going to kill him?_ '

Realizing she was waiting too long, Olivia decided to just knock him unconscious. With one horizontal swipe of an appendage, his head was knocked to the side. He slumped silently to the ground, courtesy of Widow's semblance. Olivia grabbed him under his armpits and dragged him back to the others, making sure to stay low in case someone peeked out a window.

' _What are you doing?_ ' Crim's voice whispered through her mind as she pulled the unconscious man next to them. Olivia mimed throwing his body into one of the nearby bushes, and when Crim just continued giving her a confused look she decided to just do it. She picked his body up with her appendages, drifted him over top of a nearby bush, and dropped him.

Crim shook his head, ' _I mean why didn't you kill him?_ '

Olivia paused in thought, she had no idea how to gesture in a way that meant ' _because I don't have anything against him personally_ ' so she just whispered it instead.

Crim sighed and shared a look with Widow, ' _You don't need to have a personal vendetta to end someone's life. You need to be more pragmatic. What if he wakes up while we're still in the middle of our mission?_ ' Crim stood and walked to stand over the man, pulling his sword out as he did, ' _Should we take the time to tie up every guard we knock out? Then they'll have time to notice he's missing. There's a very simple solution._ ' Crim punctuated his next words by stabbing down into the unconscious guard's chest, ' _Remove the variables._ '

Olivia staggered back at just how callously he had murdered the man, whispering fiercely, "That's… How can you be so calm about it!?"

' _I've had many allies, comrades, and friends die because someone wasn't willing to do what needed to be done to keep them alive. That's why I refused to let Jace become a member of the White Fang. I love the kid, but he has a bleeding heart. He can't do what's necessary,_ " Crim looked Olivia up and down, ' _Can you?_ '

' _Could I…?_ ' Olivia had to ask herself. She had killed three people so far in her life, two in self-defense, one because she really wanted to, and almost a fourth if Jace hadn't talked her out of it. ' _Leaving that brute alive_ _ **was**_ _a risk, no matter what Jace says._ ' Olivia looked at the guard that had died before he could even realize it. ' _If we left him alive… He really could have given us all away. Then we would have been inside, surrounded. Outmanned and outgunned, in unfamiliar territory._ _ **They**_ _certainly wouldn't hesitate to kill_ _ **us**_ …'

"I can," Olivia confirmed. There was no tremble in her voice, nor flicker of her eyes that might show her as lacking resolve. She paused, though, a thought coming to mind, "Don't tell Jace. He'll stop training me if he finds out about this." The other two nodded their acceptance.

' _Well then, let us continue,_ ' Crim returned to his place along the wall, ' _By Widow's count, there are ten guards stationed on the grounds at any one point in time. With that one gone, that makes nine left. They tend to sweep back and forth through the house, trading places as they go, so another should be on his way soon. We need to close the distance to where he should be coming from, and get him before he gets suspicious. Sound good?_ '

When they had both nodded, Crim snuck out from behind the wall up to the car Olivia had been at before and waved for them to follow. The side of the building they were on had an open car port of sorts. There were four different vehicles, three parked inside, and the one they now hid behind that had been left out in the driveway. From their position, they could either go into the garage and try to pick the lock on the door, or they could go along the right side of the garage towards the front door.

It was the front door they now hurried towards. They leaned back against the wall to the left of it, hidden from the light of the open windows above. ' _Keep waiting,_ ' Crim commanded. Olivia was starting to get worried, but complied nonetheless. After another thirty seconds she felt a presence approach. The door swung open, another guard stepping out. From their position, the door was between them and the guard until he had closed it. Widow quickly vaulted on to the steps next to him as they came within sight. The man's eyes widened, lips opening to scream for help. No sound came, and a moment later Widow's knife was protruding from his chest.

She wiped the blood from her knife onto his coat then let him fall backwards off the other side of the front steps, into the shadows of the wall opposite them. Olivia and Crim hopped up onto the steps as well. Widow slowly cracked it open, eyes peering inside closely. Olivia's senses were telling her no one was close by, and it seemed like Widow agreed. She led them into a large open area. There was a set of stairs off to the right that curled up along the wall to the floor above. It was there that they went, ascending silently towards their true goal.

They arrived at the top and Widow placed a hand on either of their shoulders. Olivia waited, just around the corner to the hallway they needed to go down. She felt the man's presence soon after, heading down the hall in their direction to come downstairs. Crim pushed her forward, ' _Now's your chance. If you fail here, at least we can make a break for it. Do or die._ '

Olivia didn't think he would literally kill her. It was just an expression, after all, but even still she mentally prepared herself, ' _If you don't do this, then they'll hunt us down. Hunt_ _ **me**_ _down. Especially after we've already killed two of his guards!_ ' Olivia poised her appendages, ready to strike. A guard stepped around the corner. His eyes went wide as he caught sight of the three of them. His hand dropped to his side, reaching for his gun...

Olivia speared him through the chest and dragged him back from the front of the hallway.

Body dealt with for the moment, Widow once again took the lead and headed into the hallway. It was long, but as they made their way down it, Olivia was glad to notice the lack of guards in the upstairs area. They were in the clear, just the Council member left to take care of and they would be home free.

Their progress slowed, and after a dozen more feet, Olivia realized why. There were five people in the room ahead, not one. ' _Does he have guests over?_ _Maybe that fourth car in the driveway wasn't his…_ ' Widow seemed to be having the same idea. She turned back to Crim and held up five fingers, spread out so that he wouldn't think she was just telling him to wait there. They shared a nod and continued forward, eventually standing directly outside the door.

' _Widow and I will each take two. You run in immediately after we do and single out Beryl. He's your kill. Once they're all dead, we'll go out the way we came. We have to do this quick, there's no telling when someone might find that guard on the stairs._ '

Olivia nodded quietly and stepped back, waiting for them to make the first move. It seemed like a few more words passed between Crim and Widow. They each gave her one last look, and flung the door open. Widow entered first, soundlessly. The men inside were playing poker. They began to silently shout, standing up from the table and reaching for weapons.

Crim and Widow closed the gap in a flash and were on them. Two were dropped instantly. They didn't have enough time to defend themselves. Olivia followed suit, her eyes locked on to the fat man on the opposite side of the table from her. Beryl saw her making her quick approach and stumbled up on to his feet before throwing the table up, trying to put a barrier between himself and Olivia.

Olivia brought down one of her appendages and used it to vault herself high through the air. She twisted midair, feet turning into the fall so that she stopped behind the man, only a few feet away. Beryl spun in place, scream on his lips but with no sound escaping, as Olivia drove all four of her appendages through him at once. His body went limp instantly as he was lifted off the floor, arms swaying to the side, and head dropped to his chest. ' _I'm almost sad I didn't get to hear him scream._ '

The other two 'fights' were over mere moments later.

' _Well done. I'm proud of you,_ ' Crim smiled at her as they began to leave. Widow raised both her hands up, and gave her a silent double high five as she whispered, "Good job, little spider." Olivia's face glowed under their praise.

' _That was easier than I thought it would be…_ '

Who knows? Maybe she could get used to this whole killing people thing.


	6. A Different Lesson

Olivia rolled out of bed with a groan and stretched, arching her back with her arms high above. She let out a little squeak of pleasure as a rippling series of pops came from her spine. She slowly got dressed in her little room at the top of the stairs and stepped out, walking downstairs with blurry eyes into the kitchen.

"G'morning, July," Olivia gave the older woman a sleepy wave as she opened up one of the cupboards and reached into it to grab a box of cereal. July had taught her the basics of sowing in her free time over the last month or so. Many of the members that stayed there had also taught her some of the necessary skills she was missing out on. It was truly telling how many of them were professionals in something _other_ than being terrorists. ' _Normal people driven to the brink._ '

They had all adopted her into the fold with open arms, and Olivia had started to see them as a sort of family. A few of them had shared their stories with her when she had gotten to know them. July's son had been killed in a hit and run right in front of her eyes. When she identified the man as an elected official, the police had quietly swept it all under the rug.

The woman gave her a small wave and a smile back, though, in the middle of making her own breakfast as well. Olivia looked down at all the patched tears and seams in her hoodie. She hated to accept it and was putting it off, but she would _need_ to get other clothes soon. Olivia had firmly decided to at least keep the hoodie as a memento, like Copper's weapon. She'd tried practicing with it, but every time she held it the memories just came surging back. It wasn't meant for her. It wasn't meant for killing. It had been created by her brother so that he could _protect_ her and their family. The idea of using it in her grisly acts made her more sick to her stomach than the actual killing did.

Olivia's missions had continued along with Jace's training sessions. They had waited two weeks for the police presence to die down after killing the Council member. All officers had been on high alert, so they had just waited it all out. After that, Crim brought her along on smaller missions to not stir up too much fuss. Stealing from Schnee warehouses, robbing stores that refused to serve faunus. She had killed a few more people over the last month, two guards and a police officer that she had spotted beating a faunus. The last had been a simple act of aggression. Killing the guards had been… 'pragmatic', as Crim called it.

Olivia had come to terms with her lot in life, ' _A fighter for equality._ ' She smirked to herself between bites, ' _I'm a weapon, and a damn good one._ ' Olivia had become one of their primary ways of entry into warehouses, when Widow was off on one of her away missions, anyway. A cute face on a small girl with no visible weapons, arms held up to cover her face, as if in tears, while stumbling towards you? Olivia had felt sorry for them after they showed her concern. When she brought it up to Crim, he had just told her to try it once without her hoodie. One look at her arms to see she was a faunus had swiftly swung that pity to pure disgust.

Her guilt had vanished along with their pity.

Olivia was both surprised, and thankful that the nightmares hadn't ever returned. Perhaps it was the confidence she felt in herself that kept them at bay now. Olivia smiled at the few people that had also woken up this early. Perhaps... it was because she had reclaimed some of what was lost. Olivia grinned as the front door opened and Jace stepped inside. She quickly washed her bowl out and placed it back on the rack, then ran across the room to where he was setting down some large bags.

"So, what's the surprise~?" Olivia cooed. Jace had been taunting her for a week straight now, telling her that they were going to do something special today.

"Patience, Olly," Jace smirked at the flash of annoyance she showed, "What, that nickname doesn't work either?"

"Why are you so insistent on giving me some pet name?" Olivia grinded her teeth.

"Widow gets to call you 'little spider' all the time and you don't seem to mind that," Jace turned back to what he had been doing, "Besides, don't you need a code name or something? Are you just going to go by Olivia on missions. Won't that give away your secret identity?"

Olivia rolled her eyes, "Do I even _need_ a secret identity? What do I do besides live here _at the base_ , or go on missions?"

Jace glanced back at her, "Are you really expecting to spend your entire life doing this? What about when you retire? What if you _get what you want_? Are you going to try and integrate back into society with the same name as a known White Fang member?"

Olivia paused before speaking again, ' _I hadn't even thought of what comes after_.' Instead she stammered out, "Crim doesn't bother changing his name, either!"

Jace stopped what he was doing and turned around with the flattest look she'd ever seen on him, "Do you really think ' _Crim_ ' is his actual name?" he rolled his eyes, "C'mon, Olivia. It's a shortened version of _his_ code name."

' _This is the first time I'm hearing about this,_ ' Olivia chastised herself. An entire month and she hadn't bothered to learn some of the simplest things, "So what's it short for?"

Jace grimaced and turned away a little, "The Crimson Terror." At Olivia's snort he turned back quickly, " _Don't_ tell him I told you that. He didn't actually choose it for himself. A news van caught him on camera killing a bunch of police a few years ago and the video got leaked to the public somehow. _They_ started calling him that. It kind of just stuck afterwards when new recruits kept calling him it, so he embraced it and shortened it down to just 'Crim'."

Olivia shivered, ' _If I get stuck with some ridiculous name like that…_ ' she turned back to Jace, a series expression on her face now, "Okay, come up with something good," a panicked thought struck her, ' _What if they already came up with a name for me in their investigations!?_ ' What would they call her, ' _Little Black Riding Hood!? Spider Child!? Oh Oum, noooo!_ '

Jace chuckled and finished up what he had been doing, standing up to regard Olivia, "Alright. Are you ready for your surprise?"

All thought on code names was swept out of Olivia's head, "I've _been_ ready since the first time you mentioned it. What are we _doing_?"

Jace opened the bags, and her eyes went wide, " _We're going on a picnic._ "

* * *

"Come on! Not much further!" Jace called from ahead of her.

Olivia huffed in exhaustion as she pulled herself up the steep slope. They had been walking for hours since getting dropped off at the edge of the city. Up and down forested hills into the depths of the wilderness for their little 'picnic'. Olivia had started guessing he had different intentions in mind after the fifteen minute mark. After an hour, she was ready to kill him. Now? She just wanted to go home and take a cold shower, "How much further!?"

"Almost there!" Jace yelled back for the thousandth time. Olivia could feel the smile on his face, even if he was turned away from her. Olivia shrugged the two packs he had made her carry the entire time further up her shoulders, trying to secure them so they _wouldn't jostle around so much!_ Olivia settled for silently cursing Jace's ancestors.

Jace stopped at the crest of the hill and looked back down on her, a smug look across his face that elicited a growl from Olivia. ' _I might not be a wolf faunus, but I'll still tear your stupid face off._ ' Jace has also refused to let her use her semblance to make the trip easier, ' _Then what's the point?_ ' he had asked.

Olivia collapsed the last ten feet and dragged herself across the ground to his feet, punctuating each word as she pulled herself forward, "No more… Can't take it... Gonna die… Will haunt you…"

"We're here!" Jace cheered, ignoring her and holding his arms wide. Olivia gave him a cold stare, this looked like every single hillside they had crossed over on the way here. Tall, steep, and surrounded by trees on all sides. Regardless, she hefted the packs off her back and rolled over, staring up into the blue sky above. ' _If it could just rain…_ ", but there wasn't a cloud in sight.

"Now, I bet you're wondering why it is that I brought you out here," Jace looked at Olivia for confirmation, ' _Do you even need to bother?_ ' He coughed, recovering from the flat stare she had leveled at him, "And if you could spare a moment, I'll show you exactly what this is all about."

Olivia watched with curiosity as he unzipped one of the packs. He'd shown their contents to her before they left. There really _was_ food inside. Jace pulled something out that he kept hidden from her, fiddling with it for a few seconds before finally turning back, object held behind him, "Now, my uncle was kind enough to point out to me that you're next mission is going to involve robbing a shipment of Dust off a train. It will be your first mission outside of the city, so… I realized you would need training of a… different sort."

"What do you-" Olivia froze as Jace pulled his hand back in front of himself, and upended a bottle of syrup across Olivia's chest.

Neither spoke. Olivia was too shocked, and Jace was waiting for her reaction.

"You…. you…." Olivia's face twisted in fury, "You bastard!" Deep furrows were plunged into the ground as she heaved herself to her feet and in his direction, propelling herself with all four legs at once into a vicious tackle that knocked him flat on his back, "If this stuff doesn't come out Jace, I'm going to tear you to pieces and use your skin to make a new hoodie!"

A howl from the treeline below stopped Olivia dead in her tracks, fist raised above Jace as he held his hands up to protect himself. She rolled off and shakily to her feet, looking down the hill in the direction of the noise.

"Right on schedule," Jace said happily from his place on the ground. He sat back up and began rummaging through the packs again, pulling out a plate and some containers of food, "Be a dear and take care of them while I have lunch, okay?"

"Did I hit your head too hard or something!? There's Grimm out there you idiot!" Olivia eyes darted between him and the forest beneath. None had yet appeared, but as she waited, a second howl echoed the first, then a third, and a fourth.

"Mhm," Jace mumbled between a mouthful of food before swallowing, "This is your chance to finally get some training against them. Humans aren't the only enemy the faunus have, and if you have missions outside the city, you'll run into Grimm eventually."

Olivia's eyes widened in fear as the first beowolf stepped out of the treeline, head held high as it sniffed the air, then locked eyes on her from a distance. It's head shot back up, another howl punctuating the air, a dozen answering the call. The creature's fur was black, with bone white protrusions coming off of its face and back. It began to charge up the hill at them at full speed.

"Are you just going to sit there!?"

"Uh huh. They're being drawn to you, both because of your emotions, and because that syrup I poured on you attracts them. _Sweets_ , who knew?" Jace's expression grew serious, "They're more frightening than some human opponents, but they're also a _lot dumber_. Better you get over your fear here under my supervision with no human enemies in sight, than to wait until you're stuck between a gun and a beowolf."

Olivia's semblance unfurled as she turned back to the Grimm, standing her ground near the top of the hill. It's progress was slowed at least, due to the incline, but that made it no less terrifying. Olivia's mind flashed to images of those claws tearing her to pieces, those jaws closing over her body and biting her in half. Her resolution firmed, ' _I won't die here!_ '

"That's the spirit!"

Olivia was too busy staring down the beowolf to realize she'd yelled that last thought out loud. It finished crossing the distance between them, head low in a snarl that shook Olivia to her bones. She flinched her head away and brought her appendages in front of herself to block without looking. When a few moments had passed and she didn't feel anything hit her, she hesitantly turned her eyes back to the creature in front of her.

It was suspended on two appendages, black blood leaking out of its body in gushing waves that covered the invisible limbs. Its body was already starting to turn to black ash and fade away. ' _That was… easier than I thought it would be…_ ' Jace smirked as Olivia turned to face the next beowolf that had just begun charging up the hill on the other side. It arrived sooner than the other had. Olivia didn't take her eyes off it this time, she waited until it was within range and struck, appendages spearing through it with even more ease than they had for some of the humans she had fought.

More blood leaked out over her invisible limbs, making them now much more visible as the black ichor covered them. Olivia turned back to Jace in confusion. He seemed to interpret her expression and laughed lightheartedly, "Grimm don't have aura, so it's as easy to stab them as it is a regular person, like that big guy that was in your old house. Their best defenses are the bones on their body. Try striking some of those to feel the difference."

A third beowolf was already upon them as he finished speaking. Olivia jumped into action and swug one appendage between them right as the beowolf was swinging its claws towards her chest. The arm was battered to the side with ease, knocking the beowolf off balance. Olivia struck this time, intentionally going for its face right where the bone mask rested. There was a cracking sound as her appendage pierced through still, but she had noticed the difference. The black fur was comparable to a regular person. The bone was more like trying to pierce through a metal door. Both of which Olivia was still extremely capable of.

Jace let out a low whistle as she stepped back and withdrew her appendage from the Grimm's head, letting it tumble down the hill as it turned to black ash. They kept coming, and Olivia stopped them dead in their tracks every single time. Jace would yell advice here and there, tell her to try things out instead of just ending the fights in one blow, "You never know when you might get swarmed and won't have the chance to just calmly take on one at a time." The bastard just sat with his food the entire time, keeping an eye on her, like someone enjoying a show while they ate.

Olivia collapsed on her back next to him, breathing heavily as her adrenaline had worn off. The two dozen or so beowolves that eventually made their way up the hill had been a challenge against her stamina, more than anything. After the long trek here, followed by the fight, she didn't even have the energy to let put away her extra legs, and just laid down on them, letting them curl around her sides. ' _Ugh, I'm glad they don't get stained for good._ ' Each one was entirely soaked in black Grimm blood.

Jace's eyebrows shot up in surprise at something. He quickly pulled out his scroll and stood above Olivia before snapping a picture. The sound and flash drew Olivia's attention, "What was that?"

"You'll see later. Hungry?"

A loud rumble from her stomach as she noticed the smell of the food was all the response Jace needed. He piled a plate with it and handed the plate to her as she sat up. Olivia used her semblance legs to prop herself up as if she had an actual chair rest and sighed in contentment. ' _Ah, the perks of being me._ '

"Did it work?" Jace asked after she had been left to eat for a few minutes. The breeze rolling across the top of the hill was _nice_ , and the food he had brought was delicious.

"Did what work?" she asked past a mouthful, keeping enough of her decency to at least cover her mouth as she spoke.

"My master plan, of course. Feel like you could take on any Grimm that came your way right about now, eh?" Jace grinned smugly.

Olivia nodded, "That was a lot easier than I would have expected. We're always told that they're so powerful…"

"Well most people don't have four additional limbs that are each over ten feet long and have the strength of a Goliath behind them," Jace laughed as he said it.

Olivia shrugged, "I guess. Almost a shame I don't intend on dedicating my life to killing the things. I could probably make a lot of lien protecting towns or going on kill quests."

Jace shuffled awkwardly for a few moments before looking back up at her, "Actually… I wanted to talk to you about that." When Olivia was silent, he pressed on, "Like I was saying earlier, you're not going to be in the White Fang forever. Or at least… you shouldn't let it consume your _entire_ life. You're twelve for Oum's sake! You have so much time ahead of you, do you really want to spend it _all_ killing humans?"

When Olivia's breath caught, Jace glanced back up at her, expression darkening, "Oh yeah. I overheard some of the others talking about some of your _exploits_. I know you were all trying to keep me in the dark… I _kept_ training you, though, even after I found out. If I stopped now, you would just end up an easier target for some human out there to take their revenge on! I don't want that to happen to you… You're like…"

"Like what?" Olivia asked quietly. Jace had stopped speaking completely after that. His eyes turned towards hers, and her heart dropped at the sadness behind them. His eyes clouded over as he began his story.

"On my sixth birthday, my mother and father asked me what I wanted to do for my special day. There was a movie that I really wanted to see. They promised me we would go later, after dinner, but I didn't want to wait that long. So they changed their plans, and we headed to the theater for the matinee. I don't even remember what movie it was we were going to see… We never got the chance to watch it," Jace paused to collect himself, a hitch in his throat, "We were crossing the street when a Schnee Transport vehicle popped a tire. It lost control and overturned on the street, headed right for us. My father had been holding my hand when we crossed… He had time to push me out of the way… The truck was already there, already about to hit them, but he still went back for my mother. The explosion… all three of them died…"

"All three?" Olivia placed a hand on Jace's back, trying to comfort him. She knew he didn't even feel it though. Tears rolled down his face as he looked at Olivia.

"My father… my mother… and my baby sister she was carrying…"

Olivia froze, horrified at the implication.

"...When I saw you getting taken away by those police… you're... you're about how old she would have been, ya know?"

Olivia sat back on her heels, dumbstruck by the admittance.

"I…", Olivia placed her hand back on his shoulder to get his attention, to make sure he would see the truth she was about to speak, "No one could ever replace my brother. Copper was kind. He was gentle. Yet he was also strong and resilient. We spent hours reading over comics together, or playing dumb games… Hearing that he was going to apply at Haven was the happiest I'd ever been for him, but at the time… It was also the saddest I'd ever been for myself. He would be gone for months at a time. I wouldn't be able to see him. It would just be me reading comics, me playing those dumb games… It was the loneliest I had ever felt, and he wasn't even _gone_ yet. I think he noticed. He knew me well enough that he could tell I was sad. So he played with me more, bought me more comics to keep my company, promised that he would be back after every semester so that we could spend that time together again… I think it… It made it easier, when he died. I didn't feel guilty. I didn't feel like there was time we had wasted, like there was more time we could have spent together…"

Jace had shifted to staring at the ground in front of him, Olivia lightly tipped his chin back up to look at her.

"So when I met you, I can't say I felt the same as you did… You were this punk at the arcade that was getting in the way of the best day I'd had in a long time. Then I got captured… and your uncle saved me, because of _you_. And after that, you kept helping me. Kept spending time with me. It wasn't reading comics, it wasn't playing dumb games… but I was still loving every minute of it," Olivia let out a light laugh, "All the people there have treated me so well. They've taught me new things, taken care of me…" She bumped her shoulder into his and wrapped an arm around him, " _Especially_ you. I'm glad to say that I see them all as my new family… and I would be _honored_ to be your sister, Jace."

Jace turned to look her in the eyes. His lips quivered into a smile, and slowly, they drew each other into a tight hug. Olivia draped her extra legs around them both like a cage, wanting to protect this moment from _anything_ that might disturb it.

After a few minutes, Jace finally sat back with a small laugh, "I guess that makes the arcade incident our first sibling fight. I'm glad I won."

Olivia punched him on the shoulder lightly, "Only because I _let_ you."

"You keep telling yourself that, champ," Jace grinned and wiped the tear stains off his face, his face regained some of its composure, "I want you to think about applying for Sanctum next year. You're almost thirteen, right? You should get out of this life while you still can."

"But, the others…"

"Do you really think they wouldn't be happy for you? Do you think _July_ wants to see another kid die? The last half an hour should be proof enough," he gestured around at where all the Grimm's bodies had long since vanished, "You have _so much_ potential for _helping_ people. You aren't a _weapon_ , Olivia. You're a person that deserves to get what's best for them, just like anyone else."

Olivia was startled by how closely Jace's words echoed the ones she had been thinking earlier. ' _Not a weapon?_ ' She turned to gaze out across what had so recently been a battlefield, "I'll… I'll think about it. I don't know yet. I… I did want to go to Sanctum. That feels like a lifetime ago..."

"It isn't. It's _this_ life. It's always _been_ this life," he stared into her eyes seriously and sighed, "I'm... okay with just a 'maybe' for now, though."

They shared a smile and both looked around.

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

"Yeah, let's get the hell out of here. I'm using my semblance on the way back, though, and _you_ can carry the bags."

They made the two hour trip back to the city, chatting along the way. Jace shared more information about the Grimm. Their names, what they looked like, what attacks they preferred, as well as weaknesses and habits they all seemed to share. It was with great relief that they finally opened the door to the hideout and stumbled over to the couches. They ignored Crim's attempts to get their attention and collapsed on to the deliciously comfortable foam pads.

"Where have you two been?" Crim asked, following along to stand behind them at the couches.

"Bonding," Olivia replied simply, head burying itself into the softness beneath her.

"Figuring out Olivia's code name," Jace replied after her, flipping over to pull his scroll from his pocket. Crim looked down on him with some curiosity while he messed around with it for a minute, pulling up a couple different pictures to put them side by side. Jace finally held it up for them both to see. The first image was of Olivia, spider legs blackened with Grimm blood to the point where not a single spot on them was invisible. She was lying on her back in the grass, arms and legs outstretched, with the spider legs filling the gaps and curled up towards the middle. The only color aside from black were her eyes, two spots of brilliant pink in the depths of it all. The second picture was a black flower, petals bent up like Olivia's blackened limbs, and in the center of it, a pink glow from the nectar within.

"The Black Lotus. A beautiful flower with black petals that can be ground up to create one of the most dangerous poisons known to man. Yet in its purest form, contains a nectar that will cure almost any other poison," Jace finished reading the description beneath the image and looked up at Olivia along with his uncle.

She shrugged in defeat, "Better than ' _The Crimson Terror_ ', I guess."

Jace stared at her in horror as his uncle's head whipped back around to stare at him.

"Why would you do this!?" Jace whispered in shock.

Olivia gave him one last smirk before rolling back over into the softness of her couch, "What else are little sisters for?"

The tongue lashing that followed was all the revenge Olivia needed for the syrup staining her hoodie.


	7. Borrowed Time

Olivia waited behind the container she was using for cover. A patrol was passing, two guards, guns at their hips, that would certainly shoot on sight if they saw her here. Olivia sunk into the shadows and waited for them to pass. This wasn't a kill mission. She needed to get into the main office and acquire the SDC's shipment plans without arousing suspicion. After the little trip with Jace two months ago, Olivia had made her intentions clear to Crim. She wasn't going to kill anymore. She wanted to be a better person, and to go to Sanctum.

As Jace had guessed, no one in the White Fang had held it against her. They'd all been happy, several of them ecstatic even. They had redoubled their efforts to teach her things. The training with Jace had gotten even more intense, and Widow had started stopping by more often, later in the day, to teach her more of her craft. How to _become_ a shadow. Olivia may not have Widow's semblance, but there were things she could do with her own that others could not duplicate. It had been Widow that suggested she go on this mission alone. "She can handle it." Olivia had basked in the praise. It would likely be her last mission. Her letter from Sanctum had arrived in the mail earlier that day.

Olivia used her appendages to heft her higher than she could have reached otherwise, climbing up the stack of containers to the top. From here, she could see the entire room. No one thought to look up. The patrol that had passed her was one of many, as was this stack of cargo containers she had chosen to climb. None of their vantage points were high enough to see her as she slipped across the top of the containers, jumping from stack to stack silently on her way to the opposite side of the building. What she was looking for was a second story office, one that overlooked the rest of the enormous warehouse. She spotted it quickly enough, in the direction she was already headed. More patrols passed her by.

Olivia stopped at the edge of the final stack of containers. The room she was looking at was built into the side of the building, window open to overlook the rest of the warehouse. She would need to drop down to ground level to access it through the stairs. It was her best chance at entry without leaving a trace. If the SDC believed their shipment records were compromised, they would change them in a heartbeat.

With one last check of her senses to confirm no one was nearby, Olivia dropped back down to the ground like a ghost and made her way to the bottom of the stairs. Widow's training was working overtime. She felt outwards again with her senses for anyone nearby, towards the top. Satisfied, she ascended. The stairs curled along the side of the building, thankfully blocked off from prying eyes by the wall they were inclosed in. Olivia stepped up to the steel door at the top, locked behind a keypad that would required a keycard. She pulled out the one that Widow had swiped a few days before and inserted it. The small beep in response made Olivia tense, but it was too quiet for any of the humans to have heard.

The door swung open freely now, and Olivia walked inside, keeping low to avoid being spotted through the windows that lined the front. A long console stretched across the wall beneath the window, the one used to control all of the cranes that moved the dust containers from place to place. It was there that she went, to the screen in the center of it. The screen hummed to life, lighting up and displaying the Schnee logo across the front of it. Olivia inserted the keycard into the slot on the console. The screen changed, Olivia didn't bother to read the name it displayed and just waited for the files to appear. The desktop opened, and she quickly scanned the folders on it. ' _Records, Personnel, Procedures,_ ' Olivia's eyes lit up on, ' _Transportation_ ', and she brought her finger up to choose it.

Her senses suddenly alerted her to someone coming up the stairs, still at the bottom for the moment but certainly approaching. ' _No, two people._ ' Olivia pulled out the keycard, screen going back to just the image of the company logo, and searched the room. It was relatively empty, except for the console and the table in the center of the room. It didn't have legs, but was packed with drawers and shelves that she could use to try and cut off line of sight. Olivia moved behind it right as the door opened, admitting the two guards that stepped inside.

"Man, did you hear that _Cotton_ got to go on the raid? I was sure they would pick me!" one of the guards exclaimed as he stepped in, walking up to the console. Olivia edged her body behind the table as well as she could, keeping it between herself and the two guards.

" _Whaaat?_ That guy is an idiot! I guess they didn't need many of us, though. Did you hear they hired seven pro huntsman to lead the raid?" ' _A raid?_ ' Olivia didn't like the sound of that.

"Seven!?" Damn it, I really wish I could have been there to see them in action. Those White Fang killed half my squad. Probably would have gotten me too if I'd been on duty that night."

"How'd they even find their hideout?" ' _Shit! This sounds really bad! Screw the mission! If this is what I think it is, then I need to get back to the hideout. Right. Now!_ '

Olivia surged up from behind the table towards the two, slamming the both of them against the console in front of them, two appendages for each. They shouted in fear and surprise, bodies contorted awkwardly as they reached for their weapons. Olivia dragged them back and flung them across the floor before jabbing an appendage down on top of their chests. When their hands once again frantically reached for their weapons, she pinned those hands to the floor as well. All they could do was look up at her in terror as she stood above them both.

" _Where_ and _when_ is this raid?" Olivia said it in the most neutral tone she could, slowly pressing down on their chests so that they could feel the sharp point against their flesh.

They looked between each other, eyes wide. The expression on one firmed, "We aren't telling you any-!"

Olivia pierced down through his chest, sinking her appendage half a foot into the floor beneath him. He gave one final gasp before his eyes went dull, body limp. She hurled him against the wall to her left, blood splattering across the room as he tumbled back to the ground. Olivia turned her attention to the other that was now looking at her, completely horrified. ' _Good._ '

"That'll be you in a second if you don't tell me what I want to know. Now!"

The guard threw his free hand up, "Th-there's an attack planned on a Wh-White Fang hideout near the slums! Some faunus told us where they were! The company hired a bunch of huntsman for it! It-It's tonight!"

Olivia paled, ' _Tonight!?_ ' She ripped her scroll from her pocket and dialed Crim's number. The call connected, ringing into the silence left over between her and the guard. It kept ringing.

"Come on Crim, pick up!" There was no answer. Olivia was trying to dial Jace's number when she felt more guards running up the stairs. She turned back to the guard she had pinned, "Congratulations. You answered my questions. You may live." The tension in his body lowered for a moment, right before Olivia's appendage slammed against the side of his head, knocking him unconscious. ' _You friends between me and the exit, however…?_ '

The first to the door was the first to die. Olivia could sense him directly on the other side, inserting his keycard. She didn't bother waiting. With one heave, she stabbed through the metal door and through the man's chest, then whipped him back and forth to shake him off as she withdrew the appendage back into the room.

The guards on the other side screamed in outrage and panic at the sudden death of their comrade. Gun fire blasted into the door as they tried to fire through the hole. Olivia wasn't dumb enough to stand in the way of it. With three of her appendages, she cracked them like a whip against the door all at once. It was ripped off its hinges and sent flying into the guards, knocking them all down the stairs in a tangled heap.

Olivia flew down the stairs after them, in a dead sprint. One stumbled to his feet near the bottom, and was cut down before he could reclaim his gun. Her appendage slashed across his throat with its edge. Blood poured down his chest as he toppled backwards out of her way. Another reached for her foot to grab her, so Olivia cut his arm off. His screams were the last thing she heard as she ran out of the building, attention set on only one thing.

_Get back to base._

* * *

Olivia blew through the deserted streets in the dark of the night, path set on one destination. Her breath came out ragged with every other step. She had attached an appendage to each leg, and was using their strength to increase her speed to heights she had not known she could reach. Even still, the Schnee warehouse had been on the opposite side of the district from where they were. The twisting, winding roads between all the unmarked warehouses was slowing her progress as well. She had never been good at finding her way through them.

Eyes darting from side to side, she finally spotted a familiar road and turned down it. ' _I'm close!_ ' A flash of red and blue lights caught her attention. Olivia tensed her ears. She could not hear any fighting. No steel against steel, no gunshots. ' _Am I too late!?_ '

Olivia felt a familiar presence off to her right, on top of the building across the street from the base. ' _Widow!_ ' She quickly scaled the building, out of sight of the police parked in front of the hideout. With one final heave, she landed on top of the roof, rolling back to her feet to see Widow. She stood at the edge of the building, overlooking the hideout.

"We were too late, little spider," Widow said sadly, turning back to Olivia with a somber expression.

"No, no we can still fight!" Olivia whispered, moving to also peek over the edge at the scene below. There was no fighting. There was no shouting. The bodies of White Fang and huntsman alike were strewn across the street. Smoke billowed up from the building itself, a fire somewhere inside that no one was in a rush to put out. The remaining SDC and huntsman were retrieving the bodies of their own fallen. Olivia could see her friends, her family, her comrades.

' _Jace!_ '

Olivia fell to her knees at the sight of her… her _brother_. His chest had been slashed open, blood pooling beneath him. Crim lay next to him, neck twisted in a way that it was never meant to be. She spotted July… her eyes darted to each body. They were all dead. Every single one.

She flinched as Widow's hand fell on her shoulder, and looked up into the older woman's eyes. Olivia could see the pain behind them, but also sympathy. Sympathy for Olivia. "This is not the end, Olivia. We can come back from this. We will make them regret the day they ever took up arms against the White Fang," Widow whispered it to her with certainty, a cold steel forming behind her eyes that bore into Olivia's own.

Olivia looked down once again, her eyes now taking in the huntsman. She etched every single face she saw into her memory. She would not forget them. Never.

"Let's go, Olivia. There's nothing we can do here."

' _Olivia? No. That was a dead girl's name. One that had been living off borrowed time from the moment her semblance activated. One that had been_ _ **wasting**_ _that time by not doing what needed to be done. She was looking down on the proof of that. How naive she had been, to think anything could ever change between the faunus and the humans._ _ **Fighting**_ _for equality?'_

' _...She would kill for peace._ '

"Lotus," she whispered, still refusing to stand. Her eyes burned with a deep hatred that would not be quenched until blood was spilled.

"What?" Widow asked, turning back around.

"Olivia died with them... Call me Lotus."

"...As you wish, little spider."

A smile that Olivia would never see curled across Widow's lips.


	8. Into the Cluster

"Why are we meeting with a _human_?" Lotus demanded. They were walking through the slums in the rain, on their way to see some woman that Widow said was good for information.

Widow rolled her eyes, "You want to get revenge, don't you? Do you know the names of the huntsmen that you _want_ said revenge on? Do you know where they _live_?"

Lotus shook her head in response, leveling a glare at everyone they passed.

Widow sighed, "Then we need someone who _does_. Whether or not she's a human means nothing. She has her uses, little spider," she regarded Lotus for a moment, "Just calm down. You'll stir up all kinds of trouble if you go around with that look on your face."

With a very visible effort, Lotus let her shoulders slump back down, eyes relaxing a hair in their constant scan of their surroundings. Widow gave her one look and turned away, "Good enough. We're here."

It was a tall two story building they stood outside of, brick along the bottom half that turned into plaster above. A man stood posted outside the front door, leaning back against the wall. He regarded them closely as they approached, taking in the daggers on Widow's hips and the child with no visible weapons. He stepped between them and the door as they arrived, holding his hand up cautiously, "State your business."

"We come seeking information," Widow said simply.

After a short pause, the man seemed to be satisfied with her response, and stepped aside. Widow led the two of them into the large open room. Stairs on the left wrapped along the wall to a second level that was little more than a balcony for a few more tables to look out the windows. There were eight patrons, all sporting the same purple color on various garments they wore. Widow pointed with a nod of her head, drawing Lotus's eyes to a table situated at the back right corner. A larger blond woman sat smoking at it, two armed guards at her sides.

"Well, what have we here? A couple of customers, looking to do a little business?" the large woman asked aloud as they approached. Her henchmen took in the two of them and dropped their hands to their weapons. Lotus slowed, but Widow kept the same gait, eventually pulling back the chair across from the woman and sitting down in it. ' _Do we have nothing to fear from them?_ ' Lotus looked around the room again. They were all armed, now that she looked closer. Her sense was telling her that their auras were low, though. Hardly better than regular people. It was another one of the 'tricks' that Widow had taught her, feeling out how strong someone else's aura was. Hers and Widow's were strong. These people? ' _They're weak._ ' Lotus regained her confidence and stepped up behind her companion, a smirk across her face that echoed Widow's.

"I'm Little Miss Malachite, the leader of these band of miscreants… but I'm sure you already knew that if you're here," she gave them both a smirk in return, "What can I do for you, ladies?"

"We're here for information. Seven huntsmen attacked a White Fang hideout three days ago. Four are still alive. We want their names, and locations," Widow replied evenly.

"Hmmm," Malachite's reply was slow, drawn out, "Well, that sounds easy enough. I charge one thousand lien per name and address, whenever its a huntsmen. Not that I care for them, but neither am I too keen on the Grimm. If you're going to be killing them, then that's the price for what you desire."

Lotus glanced down at Widow, ' _We don't have that kind of lien,_ ' her face spoke, even though her mouth did not. Malachite caught the look and frowned, "If you can't pay, then we have no business here."

Widow smiled and leaned forward. The two guards grabbed their weapons more firmly, drawing them an inch of out their sheaths, "Oh, I'm certain we could come to another arrangement. As you guessed, we want to kill these huntsmen. Ending the lives of another is of no concern to us, so if you happened to have someone that you wanted taken care of…?" Widow let her sentence trail off as if it was a question that was too obvious to bother asking.

Malachite looked at both of them with a considering look, "You," she glanced at Widow, "I can believe capable. The child…?" she also let her question hang in the air.

Widow laughed lightly and turned to Lotus, and then glanced around the room, "Perhaps a demonstration? Your best against her. If it isn't over in five seconds then we'll leave."

Malachite seemed amused by the offer and turned to one of her guards, "Be careful not to hurt the little dear too much." The guard grinned and stepped to the center of the room. A few others cleared a space and sat back to watch. All eyes turned towards Lotus as she walked calmly to the center. The man was grinning from across the ten foot space between them when Lotus turned back to Widow, "Death, or humiliation?"

Widow's lips flashed in a smile, "Humiliation. We wouldn't want to strain the relationship with our new friends now, would we?"

The man's smile faded as Lotus removed the sash from around her waist and wrapped it around her eyes, effectively blinding herself. She couldn't see anything of the room anymore, but she _felt_ all of it. All of their eyes going wide. The twitch on Malachite's lips before she raised the glass to her mouth to cover the reaction. The man tensing across from her, his muscles getting ready to propel himself forward. Lotus calmly adopted the hand to hand stance that Jace had taught her, and wrapped her appendages down along her arms and legs. ' _Five seconds?_ ' Widow was being rude.

The clink of Malachite's glass seemed to start the fight. The man rushed at her, charging across the space. Lotus flexed the appendages on her legs, and snapped forward in an instant. Her fist met the man's sword as he raised it in a desperate attempt to block. The steel snapped in half under the strength of her attack as it blew past, slammed into his chest, and sent him flying into the wall across the room with a sickening thud. Lotus felt his aura fail after hitting the wall. He would be fine when he woke up. She sighed and removed the sash from around her eyes to put it around her waist.

Lotus couldn't bring herself to feel satisfied by the shocked expression on Malachite or her henchman's faces. That had been too easy to feel pride over. Widow smirked from her seat and turned back to Malachite, "Well, we are after huntsmen. Could there have been _any_ other way that might have ended?"

Malachite coughed and turned her eyes back to Widow, "I suppose not. I'll find the huntsmen you're looking for. In the meantime, speak with Maca over there," she pointed to a woman that was still staring aghast at Lotus, "She'll provide you with a name and location to fulfill your end of the bargain. Once that's done, I'll see what I can dredge up. Deal?"

Widow nodded her head once in confirmation and stood, getting Maca's attention, "Shall we?" The girl quivered under Widow's and Lotus's combined stares before heading behind the bar. She pulled out a folder and set it down on the table.

"Alright, one target worth four huntsmen, eh?" Her eyes focused on the pages she turned, each a profile with information beneath. There were a lot of people. After a couple minutes, she finally settled on one of them and turned it around to slide across the counter to Widow, "Biscotti, the Chief of Police. He's been sending his officers deeper and deeper into the slums to try and sniff us out."

Widow silently read over the information before sliding the folder back, "Simple enough. We'll take care of him tonight, and let you concentrate sooner on the task at hand."

Maca's eyebrows shot up, "Tonight? Aren't you going to scope the place out first?"

"Who says I haven't?" Widow winked and turned back to Malachite, giving the woman a final nod. She headed for the front door, and Lotus followed close behind. All eyes followed them as they left. Once they had put some distance between themselves and the door guard, Lotus decided to speak up.

"You've already scoped out the Chief of Police's house?"

Widow laughed and gave her a secretive smile, "Nope."

"Then…."

"I scoped out the _Precinct_. We'll hit him there to prove a point."

* * *

"Shouldn't we be in more of a hurry?" Lotus asked, taking another bite out of the burger that Widow had bought her. They were sitting outside a small food shack a little after dark, "Wouldn't it be best to strike when he's, ya know, actually there?"

"Oh, silly spider. He will be there. It's Monday," Widow replied, as if that solved everything. She sipped her drink through the straw and waited for Lotus's response.

"And the day of the week is important because…?"

"It's _important_ because our dear Mr. Biscotti goes home _late_ on Mondays. Long after the majority of officers and workers have left the Precinct, he'll be there, filing away paperwork that he didn't bother to do over the weekend," Widow bit into her burger with a self-satisfied grin.

"So instead of sitting on a dusty old rooftop waiting for him to be alone…"

"We're enjoying a nice meal, only three or so miles from where we need to go," Widow finished.

They continued eating in silence for a while, and Lotus let her mind wander. Inevitably, she ended up thinking about all of her comrades. She listed them off in her head. All the names she would avenge. Lotus reached one name on the list and paused in annoyance, "Do you know what Crim's real name was?"

Widow raised one eyebrow at her, "Does it matter? What importance is there in a dead name, one cast aside while still alive?"

Lotus frowned, "I was… curious, I guess. I have all their names jumbling around in my head. It's all I can think about sometimes, so I just… wanted to know what he was really called. ' _The Crimson Terror_ ' doesn't exactly blend well with the rest…"

Widow smirked, "I didn't know you found out his real name. Did Jace tell you?" At a nod from Lotus her smile grew, "Little brat always was bad at keeping secrets." Her expression softened as she regarded the girl in front of her, "His name… His name _was_ Clay."

Lotus rolled the name around on her tongue, testing it out, and nodded. Another thought rose to the surface as she watched Widow take another bite. "What was yours…?"

Widow froze in place, then slowly set the burger down on her plate. She looked at Lotus with a considering frown before finally shrugging, "No point in hiding it, really. Once upon a lifetime... my name was Garnet." She waved offhandedly at her deep red hair as she said it, "But that was a _long_ time ago, little spider. It was… It was the name of someone _weak_. Garnet couldn't save herself. Couldn't save the people she cared for... So I left her behind and took up the name Widow instead, as a reminder to _never_ go back. I will do _whatever it takes_ to make the humans pay."

Lotus nodded in understanding. She shared the sentiment. Even if it had taken her too long to come to terms with the truth. They ate in silence, watching as the general throng of humans dispersed over time. The shop closed behind them, and Widow finally stood.

"Let's go."

It was only twenty minutes at a casual walk to get to the Precinct, between the Shopping and Residential Districts. The Precinct was a tall building that overshadowed all those that surrounded it. If they climbed on to a nearby building to try and get a vantage point, they would certainly be spotted from one of the many windows. They stayed in the shadows of the alleyway and watched. The parking lot was beginning to thin out. Now off duty police officers were headed home, taking their police issued vehicles with them. There were around twenty still in the parking lot when they began to make their way towards it, but Widow assured her that was the norm.

"There's always at least ten officers on hand at any time. A few of the others will be dispatchers, a couple others are maintenance, and the rest are just there for show to make the place look more populated than it actually is," Widow explained. Together they shifted from shadow to shadow, using the vehicles as cover as they crossed the parking lot in short bursts. Lotus could already see the key slot on the front of the building as they approached.

"How are we going to get in?"

Widow gave her a mischievous smile, "There's a poor lost girl outside that wandered to the police station, because her mummy and dada told her she could always trust the police to help her find her way home~"

Lotus glared at her as they finally reached the door. Widow crouched down into the bushes nearby, and waved at her to do what needed to be done. Lotus huffed and bit her lip hard, eliciting at least a few tears to her eyes. She walked over to the door and started knocking, holding a hand up to her mouth to hide the bleeding until her aura could fix the cut, and to help with the act. She stared up into the camera, letting her eyes go wide and turned back to the door to knock again, this time more forcefully.

Through the glass pane she could see an officer cautiously turn the corner and look for whatever was making the noise. His eyes fell on the small child with tears in her eyes, and he quickly strode across the remaining space. The officer pulled up his keycard from where it had been laying against his chest on a lanyard, and slotted it into the console on his side. There was a buzz, and the door unlocked. The officer pushed the door open and stepped in front of her, looking down with pity in his eyes.

That turned to pained shock as Lotus stabbed him through the chest. She caught the door to hold it open for Widow, and waited for the woman to get past her and grab the man's keycard before tossing his body into the bushes they had just vacated. ' _Fool._ '

"Now, little spider. Tell me how many humans you can sense in the building?" Widow gave her an approving smile and closed the door as Lotus walked inside. She let her semblance deactivate to get rid of the blood covering the limb she had used, then brought it right back.

Lotus stood in the center of the small lounge area and concentrated, "I can feel… at least two more on this level, and one on the floor above us. Beyond that…"

Widow smiled, "You're getting better, at least. I wouldn't have expected you to feel the one on the second floor yet, and _definitely_ not any above that. Not from _here_ , anyway."

The way she put focus on that word made her frown. Lotus opened her eyes back up and noticed the familiar smirk that Widow always had when she knew something you didn't. "Alright, I'll bite. Where would be better?"

"Let me _show_ you," Widow replied, then began walking down one of the hallways. She brought them both to the stairwell and used her semblance to open the thick metal door silently. They stepped halfway up the first set of stairs and stopped, "Try again."

Lotus concentrated again, closing her eyes and feeling outwards with her sixth sense. ' _The two from before… one above…_ ' Her eyes opened in surprise, staring straight into Widow's smug face. "I can feel all of them from here."

Widow nodded happily, "What we sense is basically a more finely tuned version of sound. They are both vibrations through the air that your body perceives," she rapt a knuckle against the hard walls that surrounded them in the stairwell, "The harder the surface, the further it travels, and the more hard surfaces…" she gestured around them to the echo chamber they were standing in. "Always go for a location like this if you _really_ need to know where people are. Even my semblance can't totally dampen it."

Lotus nodded her understanding, "So, I would assume the Chief is on the top floor with those five other people, right?"

They started going up each flight of stairs as they spoke.

"Correct. He's also in the furthest corner from our entry point. We'll have to get past all five of those other officers to get to him."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Lotus scoffed.

"These ones will at least have their auras unlocked," Widow pointed out as they continued to climb.

"So did the one that opened the door."

"True enough. He was exceptionally weak, though. Overconfidence breeds recklessness, little spider," Widow chastised, "We'll see when we're close enough to feel their aura levels."

Together they ascended the last few flights of stairs to the door that would lead them into the main office. Widow paused and closed her eyes, concentrating beyond the metal door, "I'll get a better sense of their aura levels once we crack the door open. There's no one nearby." With another use of her semblance, Widow pulled the large metal door ajar and focused again, "Three are of average strength, still less than either of us. Three are exceptional, including the Chief himself," her eyes opened and glanced at Lotus as she considered their chances, "We need to kill at least one of the stronger ones before the true fight starts."

At a nod from Lotus, they quietly hefted the door open the rest of the way and entered the room, footsteps obscured already by the soft carpet beneath them. The room was full of cubicles, and Lotus could feel the officers spread out among them, going about their paperwork or filing things on to their computer systems. There were three among the cubicles to their left, and two to their right, with the police Chief in a closed off office on the right behind the other two. They stealthily entered a row of cubicles.

"There is one strong aura on the left, and two on the right," Widow whispered as she took in their surroundings again, "the one on the left is further apart than the others. We'll have a better chance of killing him before anyone can respond. _If_ we are noticed, I want you to engage the other two on the left side. Take them out as quickly as you can. I'll keep the Chief and the other two busy until you can join me."

Thanks to Widow's semblance masking the area around them, the two were entirely silent as they made their way through the rows of cubicles, heads down and with their senses on high alert for anyone that might feel the need to stand or walk around. They remained at their desks, though, and after a minute, the two assassins were positioned behind their first target.

Lotus could feel his exact position. She didn't need to turn the corner to see what her appendages were doing, or where they were. She raised two of them above the cubicle walls, and the other two around its side. With one last moment to prepare herself, she lashed downwards with the two that had been above. They slammed down on to his shoulders and forced him to the ground out of his chair. Widow's semblance kept the resulting clatter and scuffle from being heard, as Lotus repeatedly rammed all four appendages against his aura. The man was defenseless, and incapable of pulling himself out of the hold.

After the eighth strike, she finally broke his aura and pierced down through his chest into the floor beneath. ' _Eight?_ ' That was by far the most it had ever taken. Without turning the corner, Lotus felt his body go completely still, last breath escaping his lungs even as his blood soaked into the carpet beneath him.

They both breathed out a sigh of relief that they had managed to get the first down without anyone noticing. Widow pointed down another row, towards their second target, "We may as well get rid of the other two weaker ones on this side while we're at it."

Lotus let her semblance vanish then reappear to remove the blood that stained them. ' _Never know when a human might suddenly realize they have a sense of smell._ ' The two continued their grisly task, and managed to take down both of the others in a similar fashion before crossing the room back to where the two others and the police chief were. They had gotten halfway back across the room when they felt the Chief step out of his office.

"Spruce! I know you can see my emails! Send me that report I asked for!" Biscotti yelled across the office. The two assassins froze, ' _Welp, there goes our cover._ ' The Police Chief frowned, looking out across the cubicles, "Spruce…?" The other two nearby noticed the commotion and also stood. Biscotti raised his voice again in uncertainty, "Officer Stone, Officer Sage…?" Silence was his only reply, "What is going on here!?"

Widow whispered to Lotus, "Change of plans. Just kill them all."

Lotus grinned, ' _Might as well make this more entertaining, right?_ ' She flexed her appendages in preparation for a leap. The snap of her extra legs propelled her towards the ceiling. She flipped midair, piercing her appendages through it and holding her regular feet up against the ceiling as if she was crouched against it, upside down. Clinging to the surface somehow felt more natural than she would have thought. Three faces stared up at her in shock and fear. Lotus didn't bother waiting for them to recover, but instead launched herself at them in a flurry of invisible limbs.

Shots bounced off both aura and appendage as the 'exceptional aura' man recovered, whipping out his pistol and firing shots at her. Lotus spared an extra appendage on his side, putting three between herself and him, and dedicated her focus to the weaker man still struggling to pull his gun from its holster. ' _A bullet will do the same damage no matter who shoots it._ ' Lotus kept a barrier of limbs between herself and the exceptional man and used her last available to jab at the other repeatedly. ' _One, two, three!_ ' Lotus counted the blows she slammed into his aura before the final one stabbed through his abdomen and out his back in a burst of blood and gore.

Widow had already engaged Biscotti, leaving Lotus free to take on the exceptional man. His eyes were wide as she turned back to him. He was reaching down to change out another magazine for his pistol when Lotus decided it would be best to stop that. From behind her shield of invisible limbs, she hurled the man that was still on her fourth leg. The limp body slammed straight into the other man, knocking him back a few paces and interrupting his reload. Lotus used that limb to then launch herself forward at him, other three raised to strike.

The man recovered quickly and threw himself to the side, likely realizing that _something_ was about to collide with him that he couldn't see. He shifted his gun's form mid-roll and came back up to his feet with a sword in hand, edges aflame with the fire dust that powered it. Only then did Lotus notice the scaled tail protruding from behind him. She paused in her attack.

Cold fury twisted her face as she realized that a faunus was helping the police, "Traitor! Why are you working with the _humans_!?"

The man's eyes narrowed, but he seemed keen on delaying his own death long enough to answer, "Because humans are not the only ones capable of committing crimes." He nodded back towards the body that had been thrown into him, Lotus's previous kill. The sounds of combat rang out from behind her, but she knew Widow could hold her own.

"The faunus are only _retaliating_ against the humans for what they've done to us for hundreds of years!" Lotus launched back into the fight, but was holding herself back still. ' _Why!? Why would a faunus take the side of the humans!?_ '

"The men you killed hadn't done anything to the faunus! They had sworn themselves to upholding the law, for both man and beast! You're too blinded by revenge to see it!" the reptile faunus yelled, desperately trying to block Lotus's attacks. He was doing better than she would have expected, likely due to his own increased senses, but her attacks were overwhelming. Already she had hit him with four blows, dropping his aura level by half.

"Humans kill faunus! They don't care to judge them by their own deeds!" Lotus's attacks continued with increased vigor, "Jace didn't deserve to die!"

"Neither did the man behind you! He was _my_ partner! I knew him better than you ever will! the man screamed it at her, now pressed back to the breaking point. His aura was shattered, and each blow that got by was leaving gouges in his flesh. His body was trembling with the effort, but still he kept trying to block, kept trying to dodge, kept trying to survive.

Lotus's attacks eased up again, ' _Partner?_ ' she scoffed, but there was a seed of doubt now planted in her heart, "A human and a faunus working together? It would never work!"

"It was working!" tears reached the man's eyes, his body moments away from giving in, "He was my best friend!" The faunus's eyes grew wild, hatred searing its way across his face, "And you took that away from me!" In one final act of desperation and anger, he ripped his ammo belt off, dust rounds lining the length of it, and ignited his sword one last time. It slashed across the belt, cutting its way through all of the dust ammunition it held.

The resulting explosion blew Lotus back against the far wall, lightning, ice, and fire arced through the air in a concussive blast that annihilated the surrounding cubicles. The faunus was caught up in his own explosion, and died instantly with no aura to protect himself. Lotus felt her own flicker. She was close to losing it, losing access to the limbs she needed to stay alive in a situation like this. Her eyes whipped to the side, towards Widow's fight with Biscotti in time to see her take a blow to the chest. Widow's aura broke.

There was no time for rational thought. Lotus screamed in rage and launched herself once more into the fray. Her appendages created an impenetrable wall between Biscotti and Widow, blocking off his next attack that had been aimed for her throat. The sword glanced off her limbs instead, and Biscotti had time for his eyes to widen before all four wrapped around him in a death grip. His aura shattered in only a few moments as Lotus sawed the edges across his entire body. With one final twist they sank through, slicing both flesh and bone. Blood and gore gushed out from between the appendages like a waterfall.

Lotus threw his body through the glass window back into his office, where he collided with the desk and lay still, a bloody mess of blood and exposed bones. She didn't care. She had eyes only for Widow.

"Are you okay!?"

Widow breathed heavily, "It's… about time… we got out of here…" She sheathed her daggers and strode towards the stairwell, "The others will have heard that explosion."

Lotus nodded and took the lead, bounding down the stairs four at a time. The door to the third floor opened as she got there, ' _Weak._ ' One appendage was sufficient to end the life of the maintenance worker that stepped through. Lotus felt a stab of guilt, ' _Did he have a family? Friends that will miss him the way I miss my comrades?_ ' She shook herself, now was not the time for second guessing. Still, when the bottom door opened and another maintenance worker stepped out, eyes opening in fear, she only knocked him unconscious in her passing.

The two assassins left the building in a dead sprint, crossing the parking lot with none of the stealth they had on the way in. In thirty seconds they were out of the parking lot and back into the shadows of the alleyway. They dipped into hiding as police cars began arriving, sirens wailing and lights flashing as they came to a screeching halt in front of the Precinct.

"Let's not stick around long enough for them to find us," Widow huffed out one final ragged breath and stood back up. They left the way they had come. The sirens grew quiet in the distance.

After a few minutes of silence, Lotus brought up the thought that was refusing to leave her in peace, "One of them was a faunus."

Widow growled low in her throat, "A traitor. Think nothing of it, little spider. Some faunus are misguided into believing the humans could ever be something besides our enemies."

Lotus nodded, but deep down, the seed of doubt was beginning to sprout. ' _What had their names been?_ ' Ren… and Nora. They had been… ' _I didn't know them long enough to call them friends… but… I liked them. I liked those humans. Would they have cared if they knew I was a faunus?_ ' Somehow, she doubted either would have held it against her.

The seed blossomed.

' _Is what we're doing… right?_ '


	9. Scars

Lotus slept in late.

She was having nightmares again.

' _A man leaning down, hand outstretched. Her appendage, piercing through his chest. Her blurry eyes cleared to reveal his face. He ignored the hole in his chest. His hand was reaching out in sympathy. Trying to help her with that hand. An offer of kindness, not a threat on her life. The faces changed. Now it was the man she had shot. The guards she had tricked. The policemen she had killed. Over and over, each time a new face appeared, her appendage struck. No matter how badly she wanted it to stop, to leave them alive, to WAKE UP_!'

Lotus sat bolt upright and blinked away the dredges of sleep as the specifics of the nightmare retreated from memory. She breathed a sigh of relief now that it was over. It had been weeks since they were able to leave the safehouse that Malachite had put them up in. Lotus let her eyes drift around the small room that she was sharing with Widow. It was a mess. The older spider faunus had gone stir crazy while being cooped up, and began to drink to pass the time. Both empty and half empty bottles lay strewn about the floor and on top of the furniture.

The death of Biscotti had the opposite effect of what they'd intended. The police presence had increased ten fold along the edges of the slums, with convoys regularly driving through to stop and search random faunus in an effort to find Lotus and Widow. They had been forced to leave in a hurry due to the explosion. The Precinct cameras that they would have normally destroyed afterwards had been left unharmed, and along with it, perfect recordings of the two spider faunus. Random street cameras along the Residential District had spotted them making their way into the slums, but couldn't track them further in.

Lotus cringed at the memory of the first news report they'd seen. The police had shared her description, along with the image off Jace's scroll that they had apparently confiscated after the raid. 'The Black Lotus' was the name they had gone with, to match the images provided by the scroll. ' _Well, so much for ever having a normal life._ '

Widow had assured her that the searches wouldn't last forever. The police would give up in due time, leaving them free to return to their task. With a little more caution thrown in, of course. Lotus looked at the red haired woman. She was stretched out across her bed, one arm draped over the side, still partially holding a half filled bottle of some cheap alcohol. Even after two weeks, Lotus hadn't worked up the courage to talk to her about her dreams. About her doubts. The woman was dead set on her crusade, and Lotus was afraid to share her fears. ' _What if she rejects me?_ ' Lotus shivered. She didn't want that to happen. Widow was the only family she had left.

"Are you just going to stare at me all morning, or do you want to make us breakfast?" Widow mumbled from her place on the bed. Her hand let go of the bottle she was holding as she rolled over. Widow placed a hand against her eyes and began to massage her forehead with a groan, "And close the window shades while you're at it."

Lotus looked over to the window, "They _are_ closed." Widow moaned and flipped over, burying her face in the pillow and making a shooing motion towards the door followed by a muffled reply, "Something light. My stomach can't take much."

Lotus quietly left their small room and walked into the kitchen, ' _What's good for a hangover?_ ' She didn't have much experience cooking, and none with drinking. Her mother had taught her some of the basics when she was younger, but her mind had always been more focused on her comics. None of it had stuck. ' _Eggs?_ ' It was pretty much the only thing she could reliably make without burning it. That and toast. Lotus nodded to herself and got to work making breakfast for the two of them.

The aroma of cooked eggs and buttered toast must have wafted into the room from the nearby kitchen. Widow came out ten minutes later when the food was just about ready. Her hand was still up massaging her temple, unsuccessfully trying to nurse her pounding headache.

"Mmmhm, good choice, little spider," Widow took the plate offered to her and unceremoniously scooped the egg on top of her toast, choosing to eat both at once. Lotus poured her a glass of cold water as well and slid it across. Widow nodded her thanks and dug in. Lotus was more reserved. Her nightmares had taken away her appetite, so she rarely ate so early in the morning anymore. Still, she nibbled at it, if only to keep herself from feeling too hungry later in the day.

"Alright, spit it out. What's wrong?" Widow said between bites, letting her eyes drift up from her plate to focus on Lotus.

"Huh? N-Nothing... "

"You're a bad liar… and you thrash in your sleep, little spider. Even in the depths of inebriation, my senses will pick up that much movement," Widow gave Lotus a worried frown.

' _Should I just tell her? Widow wouldn't reject me… I'm her only family left too, right…?_ '

"I've been… having nightmares."

When it seemed like that was all Lotus was going to say, Widow made an exasperated 'go on' gesture with her hand.

"I keep seeing the faces of the people I've killed. I'm just… having doubts about what we're doing. Did they all really deserve it? How can I be sure? It's all I've been able to think about lately, stuck in here like we are…" Lotus waited for the woman's disdain, but Widow didn't offer any.

Instead, Widow turned her head away in thought, eyes going distant. She finally turned back and set her food down onto the plate. Widow dusted the crumbs off her hands and gave Lotus a warm, but hesitant smile when she turned back. There was a tremble on her lips as Widow stood from where she had been sitting and moved to the same side of the table as Lotus. Her hands fell down to her sides, gripping the lower hem of her shirt tightly.

Widow started hesitantly, slowly. There was shame in her eyes, a look of memories that she couldn't bare to share with the young faunus, "I… I didn't want you to see this. I had doubts, once upon a time, too. I thought the humans could be forgiven..." Widow raised her shirt, inch by inch, while she faced Lotus. "You hear stories... about what happens in the Schnee Mines," Lotus's eyes widened as the first scars were revealed. Long, jagged patches crossed Widow's otherwise perfect skin in every direction. Four, five… _dozens_ were fully on display once Widow finally pulled her shirt off completely.

"It isn't just the faunus that hear those stories, little spider. The humans do, too. They just choose to ignore it. ' _It'll never happen to me, right?_ ' It's… dangerous to share that attitude as a faunus. I paid for my mistakes. Paid more than most…" Widow quietly turned around, and Lotus gasped in horror at the large angry red welt that was burned into her flesh. ' **SDC** ' in prominent, bold letters was branded on her upper back, just beneath her left shoulder. Along with it, another dozen scars crossed her back in every direction.

The young faunus let her hand glide forward, and very gently felt along the scars on Widow's skin. The older woman flinched at her touch, shoulders tensing. Lotus stopped, but after a few seconds Widow relaxed to let Lotus trace her hand along them. Widow spoke into the silence, a quiver in her voice.

"Could you do it? Could you ignore the pleas of someone that was being tortured? Humans don't feel empathy, little spider. They only understand fear. Fear of the strong, the fear of death. Given the chance, they will take advantage of their power over you. They'll abuse it. Treat you like a play thing that can be replaced when it breaks…"

Lotus wiped the tears from her eyes as Widow turned back around, now pulling her shirt back on. That look of shame was still in her eyes. ' _How… how dare… who could do this!?_ ' Widow was right. Lotus had heard the stories, but up until now, that was all they had been. Stories. The proof right before her eyes… ' _Widow…_ '

"I'm… I'm _so_ _sorry_ you had to go through that," Lotus crashed into the older woman and wrapped her in a tight hug. Her appendages appeared as well, doing the same. Two arms weren't enough. Lotus needed her to feel the emotions, _the love_ , that she felt for Widow. She wanted her to feel _safe_. Widow returned the hug. It was gentle, tired. Lotus hugged her even tighter. Lotus didn't keep track of how long they stood in their embrace. She would stay there until Widow pulled away.

Eventually, Widow pressed her head down against the top of Lotus's and began to mumble, "You've had your own hardships too, little spider. As awful as it may sound, I'm… glad... that you're still here with me."

Lotus felt shame of her own struggling to the forefront of her mind, "That's not.. the only thing that's been on my mind."

Widow seemed to notice the hesitance in Lotus's voice and clutched her tighter, "Tell me, little spider. I promise not to judge you." Widow let out a slight sobbing laugh.

The guard's words came back to her from that terrible night, ' _Some faunus told us where they were!_ '. Lotus had been racking her brain over the past couple weeks, trying to figure out who could have betrayed their hideout. Her mind had settled on one possibility, one recurring thought that drove her to despair. She hadn't dared to share it with Widow, but as they were now… Lotus was feeling her resolve break under the weight of the remorse they both shared.

"When I was at the warehouse that night… I overheard the guards talking about the raid. I panicked. I wanted to know what was happening. The one I left alive told me that a faunus sold out our base… I've been thinking about it, and… It might have been my fault."

Widow pulled away slightly to look Lotus in the eyes, "What do you mean, little spider?"

"There was someone that I injured, twice. The first time he was trying to barge into the house I was hiding away in… the second time he was lying in wait for me to get there… Jace convinced me to let him live, but we let slip that we were with the White Fang… I… He might have been the one that betrayed us…"

Widow pulled Lotus back into their embrace, shoving the girl's face against her chest, "Don't even think that! It wasn't your fault, little spider. There were any number of faunus that could have been persuaded to turn against us."

Lotus nodded numbly, she really wasn't so certain. ' _Maybe I'll have Malachite look into it…_ '

* * *

Lotus was itching for a fight. Nearly a month had gone by while she was cooped up in that safehouse. Her eyes glared with murder from beneath her hood at every person unfortunate enough to fall under its gaze. Her semblance was activated, on high alert. Lotus stretched them out. While they didn't really get sore from disuse, she still missed being able to flex them freely. The small interconnected rooms of the safehouse had offered little in the way of space. With them outstretched to their fullest, Lotus noticed with a small smile that they were getting bigger as she aged. When they had first manifested at eleven, she would have guessed they'd been just under ten feet long. Now at thirteen years old they easily spanned twelve and a half feet each.

Her limbs retracted as they arrived at Malachite's hideout. The same guard stood outside. His eyes fell on them and he quickly opened the door, not stopping to do the normal charade and asking what they wanted. The room was crowded, twice as many thugs and vagrants in purple attire lined the walls or sat at the tables. ' _Afraid of the cops, or of us?_ ' Either way, Malachite was right to be. ' _Hopefully this isn't a sign of bad news. If you don't have any information…_ ' Lotus was understandably not feeling very patient at the moment.

"Welcome back, my little daredevils. That was quite the stunt you pulled, killing Miscotti in the station along with all those other officers. I must say you have truly outdone yourselves on your end of the bargain," Malachite laid it on thick, "I'm happy to say that I found one of the names you seek, amidst the chaos of trying to outwit the police. It wasn't easy, but I'm hoping now that they've relaxed, we'll be able to find your huntsmen more easily. Until then, we have the first of the four."

"Just one of them? You've had three weeks, Malachite," Lotus snapped it out, clearly frustrated.

Widow put a hand to her shoulder, "Patience, little spider. All in good time. I'm sure Miss Malachite wouldn't want you… upset, with her, now would she?" Widow spared Malachite a glance long enough to see the woman firmly shake her head 'no'. "You see? We'll take our time on this one, and by the time we're ready for another, they'll have a new name to give us."

Lotus huffed and ground her teeth together, "I just want this over with... " but at a reproachful look from Widow, let herself calm down a little, "Alright… Who have you got for us?"

Malachite waved Maca over, carrying the familiar manilla folder that was then plopped down on the table between them. She opened up the front and spun it around to face the other two across the table, "He's a brown haired huntsman by the name of Mars Vasilias, currently living in the Mistral Residential District. The address is at the bottom there."

Widow read over the file, committing all the details to memory. Lotus double checked the image that had been provided. ' _That's one of them all right._ ' She could still see the man in her mind, see him at the scene where her life had been ruined a second time. ' _You'll pay, Vasilias._ '

"Now, I hate to break it to the both of you, but I did not simply shelter either of you out of the _goodness_ of my heart," Malachite raised a glass and took a sip, now speaking from behind it to hide the quirk to her lips, "If you wish to continue using my safehouse, then I'll need _something_ in return."

Lotus's anger threatened to flare back up, but Widow's hand squeezed her shoulder tightly, "We have been _most appreciative_ of your accommodations the past few weeks. However, I believe we could both due with somewhere a bit more… _spacious_. In return for our continued service, I'd ask that we instead be paid. We can find our own living quarters from there."

Malachite seemed to take it into consideration. She likely wanted to be able to keep easier tabs on the two, and keeping them staying at her safehouse would certainly do that. She eventually just smiled, though. Malachite shrugged her shoulders in defeat, "That's fine with me, ladies. I'll let you choose your next target off the list," she tapped the folder in front of her, "After you've finished with your current mark, of course. Feel free to continue using the safehouse until then."

"How very kind of you," Widow smirked and pulled the file for their intended target out of the folder, "Wish us luck?"

"Oh, I doubt very much that you'll need _that_. Happy hunting, ladies."

* * *

It was a nice house. Large, two story, with a balcony protruding out of the front of it that overlooked a large pool. Their target was on the balcony, looking out over the yard with a frown on his face and a bottle in his hand. Widow gestured for Lotus to follow her, and together they moved from bush to bush whenever Vasilias' gaze was elsewhere. Soon enough they were pressed up against the side of the building, beneath the balcony he was standing on.

Lotus wasn't feeling very nice. She didn't feel like giving the man a chance. With one quirk of an eyebrow to Widow, who nodded back in approval of what Lotus was about to do, she thrust all four of her appendages up into the balcony above them. With a loud crack, the stone of the balcony shattered. The corner sheared off where Vasilias had been standing, dropping him in a heap of glass and rubble as he landed on the ground in front of the spider faunus.

All four appendages then wrapped around the huntsman, coiling in a vicious embrace that sparked against his aura. Lotus could feel it, ' _He's really strong!_ ' All the more reason to deny him any chances to break free. He thrashed in the hold, trying to wiggle out of it, but soon realized that whatever it was that held him was not letting go, and that with each move, the barbs wrapped around his body bit more and more into his aura reserves. His eyes frantically settled on Lotus, widening at the sight of the small child with murder etched across her face.

"L-look, I don't know who you are," Vasilias started groggily. Lotus could see the lump forming on his head where he had hit it, likely unprepared for the sudden fall and proceeding rubble that collapsed on him, "If you're here for lien, it's in a safe inside. Take it. It's yours."

"I didn't come here for your _lien_ ," Lotus hissed, eyes narrowing dangerously. Her appendages responded by sawing back and forth a few more times, dropping the man's aura even further, "You took away my family! Slaughtered them, with no regrets!"

Vasilias paled, eyes widening. Strangely, there was a deep sadness behind them, "You're part of the White Fang!? I'm sorry! We were just meant to detain them, but then when their auras were down, and they just _kept fighting_ … We didn't have a choice!"

Lotus was taken aback, but her anger seethed anew the next moment, "And that's your excuse for killing Jace!? He was about to start going to Haven! He was going to make something of himself!" Lotus choked up slightly at the realization she made, "I-I was going to make something of myself!" She glared down at the man fiercely, "You ruined _everything!_ "

"I'm sorry!" the man yelled, tears in his eyes.

"You will be," Lotus replied simply. She didn't smile. There was no humor in what she was about to do.

The man's aura still remained despite the pressure that Lotus had been applying. At a guess, he still had three quarters of it left. ' _Huntsman are a different breed…_ ' Lotus's eyes took in the pool behind him. Her smirk didn't reach her eyes. "All that power you hold over other people, yet you can die just like any other." She kept him coiled up as she dragged him across the ground to the pool. Vasilias seemed to recognize what she was about to do, and doubled his attempts to escape. Arms bulged against immovable appendages as Lotus lowered him down into the water.

He tried to hold his breath, to wait out his time beneath the lapping waves of the pool, but Lotus did not bring him up for air. Vasilias' eyes begged from underwater, a silent plea to let him go, to let him live. She ignored it. Her family had not been left alive. Neither had the White Fang. This was personal. He was one of at least four still breathing that _should not_ be. It would be a travesty, a blemish on the world if he still lived.

A few minutes later, the final bubbles of air that had been trapped in Vasilias' lungs escaped. With her senses, Lotus could _feel_ the water rushing into his lungs to replace it. It was… unpleasant, but she stood steadfast through it. The beating of his heart finally stopped, aura vanishing all at once, and Lotus retracted her appendages as he floated back to the surface. All things considered, it could have appeared like the man had just fallen down from the balcony as it cracked beneath him, been struck unconscious by the rubble, and then drowned in the pool.

"One down, three to go," Widow said quietly, stepping back into the light from where she'd been hiding the entire time.

"Where'd you go?" Lotus frowned. ' _Surely she would have wanted to see his death just as much as I would?_ '

"Oh, you had it under control, and I _did_ actually want the lien from that safe," Widow flashed a fistful of lien before repocketing it, "Well done, little spider. We're one step closer to our goal."

Both of the spiders glanced up towards the front gate, a presence suddenly approaching it that was unseen due to the wall between them. They both dipped into nearby bushes and waited to see who this would be.

The gate swung open on well oiled hinges, admitting a tall boy about Lotus's age with a shock of blue hair, spiked up. A pair of goggles rested against his forehead, as he froze mid-swagger, eyes going wide at the rubble beneath the balcony. The boy's eyes whipped around, finally settling on the body floating in the pool.

"Dad!" the boy screamed and dove into the pool, wrapping an arm around the torso of Vasilias and paddling out. With extreme effort, the boy managed to lift his death father onto the patio. Eyes wide and in a frantic state, he slammed his hands down on to the man's chest over and over, desperately attempting CPR that he clearly didn't know how to do.

"C'mon, please!" the boy continued his efforts, as Widow tugged on Lotus's sleeve and nodded her head away from the sight. She had to drag the young faunus away, eyes set in horror at what she had done.

' _I'm just as bad as the huntsman…_ "

* * *

In soaking clothes and with arms far too tired to continue, Neptune shivered from the cold against his skin, and the bottomless pit that had opened up in his heart. From that day forward...

He would have an incurable fear of the water.


	10. Led Astray

' _Lotus held the man underwater, ignoring his pleading eyes as his struggles began to dull, began to lose the energy they had before. The last of the air in his lungs, used in a futile attempt to scream. Bubbles rose to the surface, and when they popped, they released the man's dying breath, demanding an answer to his final thoughts. 'Why!?' Lotus was frozen in place at the sound, standing stock still as the front gate opened. A young boy with spiky blue hair stepped into sight, eyes accusing. He spared one glance down at his father's cold dead body, gently swaying in the ripples of the pool. The boy's deep blue eyes burned into Lotus, rippling with tears to match the pool behind him. A pain exploded through her chest that sent a shockwave down through the rest of her body. She looked down at the hole that had appeared there, created by a familiar spidery appendage. This one was not hers, though. This one belonged to the boy in front of her. A shift to her side, movement as someone she should have noticed stepped into view. Eyes just as accusing as the boys, Jace stared at her sadly. 'You could have been so much more, Olivia.' As he said it, Crim stepped into view, then July, Copper, her parents..._ '

' _You killed us all, Olivia._ '

Lotus snapped awake, hands clutching the edge of her bed sheets with white knuckles. Her entire body shook in the dark that surrounded her, like a smothering presence that reminded her of the guilt that still squeezed her heart. Lotus's breath came out in short pants. She started to roll back over for a moment, but the terrible images still fresh in her mind demanded that she stay awake. She swung her legs out of the bed and stood up, moving over to her dresser. Even through the closed blinds, she could tell the sun hadn't yet risen.

In only a few short minutes, Lotus was dressed and already stepping out into the brisk pre-morning air. A light wind whipped down the silent streets of the slums. She let her feet carry her forward, no specific destination in mind. Lotus walked to try and take her mind off the guilt that weighed so heavily down on her.

' _What have I done?_ ' Lotus was confused. Memories had begun to pile up on top of each other, one after the other to combat the words her friend and mentor had told her. Was Widow wrong? ' _Do humans feel compassion?_ ' The scars that crossed every inch of Widow's body were irrefutable proof, except… ' _Ren clearly cared for Nora… That boy loved his father…_ " Was it something else? Did humans feel possessive of others close to them, and that's why they could react in a way so similarly to the faunus? ' _I don't know what to think anymore…_ '

A presence in a nearby alley caught her attention. A man stepped out into the muddy street to block Lotus's path. Her eyes lifted from where she had been staring at the ground in front of her, trusting her other sense to guide her around anything that might have been in her way. The man had a grimace on his face, and a knife in his hands.

"Alright kid, give me any lien you've got on ya," the man demanded, flashing his knife through the air as if Lotus hadn't already seen it. He took a threatening step forward, to add to the show.

Lotus frowned. He was clearly a faunus. Did he not know who he was trying to steal from? She realized with a start that the cloak she had worn very easily hid her black veins and huffed in annoyance. ' _Of course he would stop a human._ ' Lotus lifted a free hand and pulled back on her sleeve, showing him that she was a faunus as well.

To her surprise, the man didn't seem fazed in the slightest, "What's that supposed to mean? Gimme your lien, kid!"

Lotus took a hesitant step back, reeling at the situation she had found herself in. ' _Does he… does he not care that I'm a faunus like him?_ ' The man's face flashed with anger, believing the girl was about to run instead of giving him what he wanted. He stepped closer, empty hand raising to try and grab on to the hand that Lotus was still holding up in confusion.

An appendage snapped between them, Lotus hadn't even realized she'd summoned them. It collided with the man's outstretched hand, followed by a clearly audible and sickening ' _snap_ ' as his bones were shattered by the strike. The faunus screamed in pain, falling back and dropping the knife from his other hand to cradle his wrist instead. Eyes wide in fear, he shuffled backwards through the muck, finally turning away once he felt he was far enough out of Lotus's reach, and bolted.

Lotus watched him go. Once he had vanished from sight completely, she bent down and picked up the knife he had been carrying, idly flipping it in her hands. He had threatened her, a fellow faunus. ' _Are these the people we were so desperate to save? Faunus that would fall so low as to try and stab a little girl?_ ' Lotus could take care of herself, of course, but… ' _He didn't know that...He was counting on me being defenseless..._ '

Her gut wrenched as she realized that without her semblance, Lotus _would_ have been defenseless. Was she lucky, fortunate, to have essentially won the soul lottery? If she hadn't unlocked her semblance, would she have ended up just like that faunus? ' _I was already stealing even with my semblance._ ' Was there… some responsibility she needed to uphold. To take care of those weaker than her, because she had gotten lucky where they hadn't?

' _I would rather have my family back…_ '

No, she wasn't lucky. ' _None of the faunus are…_ ' To be born into a world that hates you, put under the thumb of humans that despise your very existence, among those that showed no remorse for the lives you were forced into just to _survive_.

Lotus had already stepped into the old decrepit house that she used to call home before she even realized her feet had been carrying her away again. Mind unconsciously set on finding its way here. Her eyes lingered on the holes in the walls, the broken door still lying on the floor, the blood stain next to it. If Ren and Nora showed up again, this is how they would find it. ' _They'll be afraid for me…_ '

' _Would they? Would a pair of humans care about you?_ ' A small voice of doubt whispered through Lotus's mind, breaking her train of thought. ' _Even if they don't… what's the harm in making sure?..._ ' Lotus raised an appendage to the wall across from the door, where she had pinned the man the second time he showed up. It was thankfully clear of blood. Lotus began to scratch a message into the wall.

' _Hey guys! I know the place looks bad, but don't worry about me! I'm fine. I-_ '

Lotus hesitated, thinking about the words she was about to write. Her eyes glazed over, looking towards the moldy couch where the three had shared a meal. The laughs, the smiles. It was the most time she had shared with humans in a long time... The words her heart wanted her to write… it was the truth.

' _I miss you._ '

Lotus then gouged out three deep gashes through the wall, right beneath the words she had written. The symbol of the White Fang would hopefully warn away any curious faunus in the area. ' _Don't touch,_ ' the gouges demanded. She nodded at her handiwork. Writing words with her appendages was an imperfect art, one that she had never tried before, but the two should be able to read it well enough. ' _If they ever come back here…_ '

With that somber thought, Lotus relinquished control over her semblance, allowing it to retract back into whatever place the appendages appeared from. Her feet continued to carry her back through the slums as the question that had been burning through her mind returned.

' _Was it the same man I protected the two from that day that sold us out? I should have ended him the second time he showed up…_ '

Guilt once again overrode all other emotions. Lotus clutched a fist again her chest, pressing her nails into her hands hard enough to draw blood while she tried to still her beating heart. The young faunus's shoulders quivered, the feelings she had been holding back so long threatening to overwhelm her. ' _I have to know._ ' Lotus set her mind on Malachite's hideout, eyes focusing on her surroundings to make her way there. It wasn't too far.

The sun was just starting to peek its way above the horizon when Lotus stepped in front of the guard outside the woman's abode. The man looked down on her, taking in her diminutive form, but rolled his eyes and shuffled out of the way. There were very few inside at this hour, but Lotus was glad to see that Malachite was an early riser. The woman was already there, behind her table, eyes blank as she started to take her first sips of her steaming morning coffee.

Malachite noticed Lotus heading her way, and the cup paused for a moment. The motion slowly resumed as Malachite eyed her appearance, taking a long drink as Lotus sat down across from her. The older woman broke the silence between them.

"Forgive me, but from one spider to another, it's a little too early in the morning to be dealing with a temper tantrum. I have no new names for you yet, child. It has only been a day. Patience is a virtue that you will learn in time," Malachite said it all without any of her usual charm. Just a quiet, no nonsense attitude said lightly. The woman clearly wanted to avoid a confrontation with the small girl in front of her.

Lotus visibly cringed. ' _Have I been letting my strength get to me?_ ' She shook herself and looked up to meet Malachite's gaze, "I'm not here about them. I… wanted you to search for someone else, actually."

Malachite's lips quirked at the young faunus's subdued attitude, "And who might the unlucky victim be?" Her eyes had a newfound focus, keeping a close eye on the flicker of emotions crossing the girl's face.

"There is a faunus. He lives in the slums somewhere. I… 'fought'," Lotus couldn't help but make air quotes to show how much of a fight it had actually been, "with him twice. I stabbed him through the shoulder both times." Lotus gave a brief description on his features. His height, size.. The essentials, "I want to find him."

Malachite smirked, "Trying to finish the job?"

Lotus started to shake her head, but stopped after a moment, "That depends on what he tells me. There was a faunus that went to the SDC as an informant and gave away our hideout. I guess… try and find out who that was, if you can? I think it might have been the same person, but if it wasn't... then there _is_ a name I need to add to the list."

Malachite's eyes slowly scanned the room, "Am I to take it that you don't want your _friend_ to know about this?"

"I already told her about him," Lotus thought it over, "but there's really no reason to get her involved."

Malachite took another long sip of her coffee. She kept it in front of her mouth as she spoke next, "And, as payment for this little search?"

Lotus's shoulders sagged, determination colliding with her own self doubt. She wasn't in the mood to be killing anyone right now. Malachite seemed to sense the girl's reluctance and fatigue. The cup descended back to the table as Malachite set it down.

"You know, not _every_ job that needs to be done has to end in murder," Malachite said with a light laugh, "I have other tasks that need to be addressed. Although with your _particular_ skills, I do have a job in mind."

Lotus tensed but nodded all the same. ' _As long as it isn't murder… I could break a few legs right now._ '

"There's a group that started moving in on our turf. I doubt they've really settled in much yet, but they've started peddling some very _dangerous_ drugs to the faunus in the area," Malachite raised one eyebrow, features questioning Lotus along with her next words, "It seems like it might be right up your alley. Interested?"

' _Drug traffickers?_ ' "Why does a _human_ care if they're selling to the faunus?" Lotus frowned. She wasn't totally opposed to the mission, but considering who it was giving it to her…

"I work with both humans _and_ faunus, child. I recruit anyone with promise. Drugs strip away a person's potential to achieve more," Malachite's mouth twinged with distaste, "I'm all for a little _recreational_ use now and then, but the ones this gang are selling are hardly safe. Its a drug made to create addicts. Once someone starts down that road, there's very _little_ hope of returning."

Lotus grimaced, "I guess I wouldn't be opposed to the idea. Do you have an address?"

Malachite pulled out a pen and paper and jotted down an address across the top, pushing it over to Lotus when she had finished, "Make it _very_ clear that they are _not_ welcome."

Lotus nodded and took the paper, reading the address as she stepped back out into the budding sunrise. The trip would take her halfway across the slums, but as Malachite said, they didn't have any new names at the moment, and Widow would be the one to choose which mark they went after as payment for the huntsman. Lotus folded up the paper and stuffed it into her pocket. She knew the slums well enough to figure out just about where she needed to go to find the gang's hideout.

Activity was starting to pick up in the slums as the sun rose. Lotus picked her way past blurry eyed humans and faunus alike, all going about their mornings with varying amounts of gusto. The gang's hideout was close now, only a few blocks away. A familiar symbol drew her attention, and she turned her eyes to look more closely at it. ' _A White Fang mark?_ ' Lotus headed into the alleyway to get a closer look. It was… an attempt at the same symbol. As if someone had been trying to create it for the first time. Three chalk scratches against the outside edge of the red brick building. They were too short, too wide. Lotus frowned.

A presence appeared at the end of the alley, walking her direction. Lotus spared a glance and took a step back as she saw the crudely crafted White Fang mask on the faunus's face, discolored robes thrown on in a failed mimicry of the organization's style. The man grinned from beneath the mask as he cockily strode towards her. Lotus let her demeanor shift back to her usual, more casual stance. She placed one hand on her hip and tilted her head as he approached.

The man's arms swung wide, "I see you've spotted our marking. We're looking for more faunus to bolster our ranks. Interested in joining the resistance?" He stopped a few feet away, looking her up and down.

' _Are they trying to rebuild the White Fang? I might as well see where this goes. If they have potential… maybe I'll bring Widow in on it, too._ ' Lotus took a moment to gauge the man's aura levels. ' _At least it's unlocked. Even if it is pitiful…_ ' She realized a few seconds had passed already with her standing in silence.

Lotus sighed, "You might be able to talk me into it. How many of you are there?"

"Enough to strike fear into the hearts of the humans!" the man said it dramatically, clenching his hand into a fist as he raised it triumphantly. ' _He's either far too naive, or its a sales pitch._ '

She adopted a fake, tentative smile, "Well, I've always wanted to get back at the humans…"

"That's the spirit!" the faunus turned around then looked over his shoulder at her, pointing his thumb back at himself, "Names Maho, by the way. What's yours?"

"L-..." Lotus hesitated. The charade would quickly end if he connected the dots between her name and one of the spider faunus that had been on Mistral's Most Wanted list for the past month, "O-Olivia. My name is Olivia."

Maho smiled back at her again as he led them out of the alleyway from his side, keeping up his conversation as they went, "Well Olivia, it's nice to meet ya. You look a little young for some of the work we're planning on doing, so if you end up joining we'll probably use you as a runner, or maybe a scout! Wouldn't want a little thing like you getting in danger now, would we?"

Lotus was glad that Maho had his back turned to her while they walked. It helped hide the mirth struggling to bubble its way up out of her throat. When Maho's ears swiveled back at the sound she was making, Lotus brought a hand up and covered her barely suppressed laughs with a cough, "Y-Yeah. I don't think I'd last too long in a fight." ' _Before I ended it, that is._ '

Maho chuckled and lifted his hands to cross them behind his head, "We can't all be good in a scrape. I'm sure I can teach you a few things, though. I'm the best fighter in the White Fang!"

' _They're doomed…_ '

Lotus recovered from the grimace on her face before Maho could see it. He stopped outside a medium sized two story house, twice the size of the decrepit one she had been staying in when she met Ren and Nora. The door was marked with the White Fang symbol, three white chalk lines scratched diagonally across the front. ' _Are they trying to give themselves away? Honestly…_ ' Lotus looked up and down the streets, and her eyes narrowed in realization.

' _This is the place Malachite was sending me…_ '

With a closer look around, Lotus could now see the area was much more densely populated by faunus, and a few of those she saw were deep in the throws of euphoria. One of them that had been sitting nearby noticed her eyes fall on him and stood groggily.

The giddy faunus smiled dumbly at her and lifted a hand to place on her shoulder, missing by an entire foot, "Aye, wushu doin'..? Yoush wan' some?" He lifted a small baggie from his pocket that was mostly empty, but Lotus could see the small purple mushrooms it held.

"Back off, junkie," Maho stepped up next to Lotus and placed a foot against the man's chest, firmly pushing him back to the ground where the man laid in a slump, incapable of standing but completely unaware that he had been shoved aside so callously. Instead the man suddenly found the grass and mud to be extremely appealing, and started up a mumbling conversation with it. Lotus whipped on Maho with barely masked annoyance.

"What did you do _that_ for?" Lotus managed to keep her teeth from grinding together. The four-eared faunus would definitely hear that from this close.

Maho spared her a glance, still glaring down at the 'junkie' before smoothing his features somewhat, "Give him a few minutes and he'll be pawing at your clothes for any lien you might be hiding. He'll do anything to afford another trip."

' _Aren't you the ones selling the drugs in the first place?_ ' Lotus was getting more and more agitated by the second. ' _You peddle the stuff and then have the gall to treat them like that?_ '

Lotus voiced none of it though, not yet. Instead she firmly turned away from the man on the ground who had started asking a rock if its family was nearby, "Were we going inside?"

Maho fell back into a more relaxed pose and nodded his head towards the door behind him, "Yeah. Come take a peek. I think you'll be impressed!" Lotus rolled her eyes when he turned away.

Maho pushed the door open and walked into the dimly lit interior, gesturing for her to follow. Lotus could feel a dozen faunus inside through her sixth sense. ' _Well he's right about being the strongest in the group…_ ' Only half of the ones she could feel had their aura unlocked, and among those, Maho's was a hair more pronounced. Lotus let her senses keep track of the faunus in the room while her eyes roamed across the floor and furniture. Stacks of plastic containers and baggies met her eyes, all packed with the same purple mushroom that had turned the man outside into a blundering mess.

Eight sets of eyes turned towards the pair as they stepped into the center of the room. The other four that she could feel were all grouped near each other in a room on the second floor. Lotus returned their looks in kind, getting a better feel for the new 'White Fang' trying to fill in where hers had fallen. They were all relatively young, most appearing to be only half a dozen years older than Lotus herself. They all wore a similar mismatch of the White Fang outfit, bits and pieces cobbled together to form some pretense of unity. Their weapons were no better. Lotus could see a smattering of swords and pistols, poorly maintained and left out to gather dust while the members in the room sifted instead through the copious amounts of drugs and lien littering the space.

It was all rather sickening. Lotus could tell these people were spending much more of their efforts on drug trafficking than on helping the faunus, all while trying to pass themselves off as the 'new' White Fang. ' _In fact, they're doing the exact opposite. How in the world would providing dangerous and addictive substances to their fellow faunus improve their lives in any way?_ '

A young woman smirked and hopped down from a crate she had been sitting on, arms crossing. She stared Lotus up and down, examining her like a piece of meat, "What have we here?"

"Another recruit!" Maho said happily.

"Your inquisition," Lotus replied flatly. She let her eyes roam over the drugs once again, "So, you're the _drug dealers_. What's with the White Fang outfits? Pretending to be righteous?"

A few people in the room tensed, reaching for weapons, but most either scoffed or outright laughed at Lotus's words. How threatening could a child be to a room full of 'adults'? The smile on the woman in front of her faded, eyes narrowing as she regarded Lotus more seriously.

"N-now now, Olivia! Don't be like that! This is just a temporary gig. Once we have enough lien to buy more weapons and gear, the White Fang will take the fight to the humans with renewed vigor!"

Lotus looked meaningfully at the stacks of lien on the various tables in the room, letting some of her anger seep through, "Is that your regular sales pitch? Does that normally work on all the new recruits until you can bring them into the fold and corrupt them?" Lotus glared at Maho and the woman that stood in front of her, "You have enough lien in here to fully outfit _twice_ this many people."

"I don't know who you think you are, kid, but we're doing what we need to!" the woman in front of her shouted. There was a hint of doubt as her voice shook. ' _Does she not know how much that stuff costs either?_ ' Those that had weapons were now all gripping them more tightly, though none had drawn them out yet. Their gazes flicked nervously between each other.

Lotus kept her voice flat and unrelenting, "What you _need_ to do is pack up and leave. I won't tolerate someone reducing their fellow faunus to addicts for money!" Lotus let her glare catch everyone's eyes in the room before she finished, "You're no better than the _Schnees_."

A few weapons were drawn at the insult, the woman in front of her clenched her fists, shaking in fury. Maho took a hesitant step back, raising his hands as if to distance himself from the intensity of Lotus's words.

"That's enough!" an older man stepped out on to the second floor balcony, flanked by the other three that had been in it with him. His voice was deep and booming, his eyes turned coldly towards Lotus as he stared down at her.

A familiar voice spoke from behind him, the man that had tried to mug Lotus slumped past, wrist now bandaged, "Th-that's her! She's a _feisty_ one!" He giggled as he raised his bandaged wrist with his other hand. His eyes were unfocused and hazy, clearly drugged to a point where he couldn't feel the pain anymore. ' _So he was another one of their victims…_ ' All eyes returned to her with renewed ire.

Lotus's patience snapped, "So, _not only_ are you making your fellow faunus _addicts_ , but you're turning them into faunus that try to outright _steal_ from little girls!?" Her semblance activated, poised to strike at those nearest her, "You're all a _disgrace_ to the name of the White Fang!" Lotus shouted the last bit out, arms now shaking with barely suppressed fury. ' _How dare they drag our name through the mud!?_ '

"Olivia! Sh-Show some respect for our fearless leader!" Maho's eyes darted back and forth between the girl and the man on the balcony above. His voice quivered in desperation. Lotus stopped him before he could put an arm around her, an invisible force sending him flying back to crash into a couch across the room.

" _Respect?_ " there was little humor in Lotus's laugh. She took a moment to gauge the shocked expressions on those around her, several had turned to stare at where Maho lay sprawled upside down against the furniture. He was very loudly disentangling himself from the cushions.

The man above scowled and pointed a finger at the girl, "I will _not_ be spoken to that way. The White Fang protects the faunus! We do what we must to get ahead in this world!"

Lotus gave him a smile that didn't reach her eyes, her decision made, "Yes. Yes they do." Her appendages dug three furrows into the floor in front of her, the perfect shape for the message she wanted to pass wordlessly to the older man. His eyes widened, recognizing the message used exclusively by the White Fang.

' _This place will be attacked soon_.'

The man opened his mouth to shout a warning.

He was far too slow.

Lotus sprung into action in a blistering flurry of invisible appendages, striking out at those closest to her first. The girl in front of her and three others were knocked across the room instantly, clearing a path between Lotus and the man up top. Her appendages pierced down into the wooden floor beneath her, flexed, then snapped her forward through the air like a bullet. The others she would not kill. They had been led astray by the older man, but him?…

The man's eyes widened as his words were cut off in a panicked gasp. He propelled himself backwards in an attempt to keep his distance from Lotus, but stumbled into the drugged man behind him, both falling in a heap of tangled limbs. Lotus landed on the balcony railing, using her appendages to stabilize herself as she looked down on the pitiful excuse for a leader.

"Any last words?" Lotus sneered at the shriveling mess of a man.

"W-We could work together! Spare me and you'll make more lien than you could ever-"

He was cut off with a strangled choke as Lotus wrapped an appendage around his throat and lifted him off the ground. She turned back around to face the majority of the room, still standing on top of the railing. Her eyes glossed over them slowly as she drifted the older man out past the railing, feet dangling in midair above the fifteen foot drop. Several of them that were still standing tensed, raising their guns up to point at where she stood.

Lotus held up her hand in a warning, "I could very easily kill _every single one of you_. Anyone that shoots, _dies_ ," she looked over them again to make sure her words had been taken seriously. Several trembled in place, but only a few lowered their weapons.

"The true White Fang has deemed your operation _unworthy_. Immoral. Unbefitting of our name. You are to cease all drug trafficking and _leave_. If any of you get the bright idea to try and start this operation again…" Lotus punctuated her words by sawing the point of her appendage across the man's throat that she held. A river of blood gushed out of the gaping wound, running down the front of his chest and splattering on the floor below. His hands struggled at the limb that was becoming more and more visible by the second, his blood staining its sides as his hands slipped along it futilely.

"Then I will leave _no_ survivors," Lotus dropped him to the floor in a heap, into the pool of his own blood. His legs kicked out, the last vestiges of his conscience trying to stand, to run, only for his feet to slip repeatedly. His eyes grew dim, his motions stilled. Until with one final gurgle, his head fell back against the wood floor. The room was silent, motionless in the aftermath as the faces of the faunus in the room stared in horror at what they had just witnessed.

Lotus quirked an eyebrow at them, but decided to show at least a little mercy, "Each of you may take a stack of lien off one of the tables. _Leave_ the drugs."

It took a handful of seconds, but once a few of them dropped their weapons and shuffled forward to accept the lien they were being allowed to leave with, the rest soon followed. The two behind her gave her a wide berth as they stepped past down the stairs to the floor below. They looked like they were going to be violently sick, but managed to contain themselves as they also grabbed a stack of lien and shuffled out of the building. Soon enough, only Lotus and the drugged man remained.

"I'll get to you in a moment," she sighed with a glance back at him, then scanned the room. Several duffel bags in a corner caught her attention, and she hopped back down to go give them a look. They were packed to the brim with more drugs. Lotus frowned with disdain and upended the bags, dumping out their contents on the floor. She turned back to the tables and began filling them with the remaining lien and hefted both the duffel bags onto her shoulders, using an appendage each to lift the majority of their weight.

With that done, she walked back up the stairs to find the drugged man picking at the bandages on his wrist, eyes wide as if he was wondering where they had come from. Lotus slapped his uninjured hand away then used her appendages to pull him to his feet. "Let's go," she muttered, knowing there was only a small likelihood that he would even understand. He followed where she pulled though. Lotus took it slow down the stairs, using an extra limb to give the man more stability as he stumbled down after her. His eyes were wide, full attention drawn to the invisible force compelling him to walk behind her.

They reached the door and Lotus shoved him outside, closing it to block him out. Her eyes turned back to the problem that still remained. ' _What to do with all these drugs?_ ' Lotus spotted the answer sitting on one of the counters and snatched it up. A small flame flickered to life as she sparked the lighter. She lit a few papers on fire near the middle of the room, the drapes along the windows, part of the carpet, and several other pieces in the room that she hoped were flammable enough. Black smoke began to curl its way through the air from various sources, and Lotus took that as her sign to leave.

The building's walls were flaming after a few minutes, smoke now billowing thickly out into the sky. ' _That'll just have to do._ ' Lotus turned on her heel, satisfied with the day's events. The man she had killed... ' _He deserved it,_ ' she realized with a small smile. The huntsman, the police… those she was still confused about. That man, though? Lotus hummed lightly as she made her way back to the safe house to share her news, and to deposit both of the thick duffel bags brimming with lien.

' _Maybe I'll just be more… limited… in who I choose to kill from now on._ '

Lotus skipped by the emergency vehicles that screamed past, in the direction of the thick black cloud that drifted into the sky above the otherwise quiet slums.


	11. Guilt

Lotus arrived back at the safe house to see Widow frantically making her exit. The two locked eyes on each other as Lotus came within range of Widow's extra sense, both staring for a moment. Lotus in confusion, and Widow with a tight lipped panic that quickly devolved into relief as her eyes searched Lotus up and down.

"Where have you _been_?" Widow demanded as Lotus crossed the remaining distance. Her hands clenched as she brought them up to rest on her hips.

"Uhhhhh," Lotus wasn't sure how to take this sudden shift in Widow's usual laid back attitude, "I went… _out_?" She could immediately tell that had been the wrong response, if Widow's scowl was anything to go by. Lotus shifted awkwardly, the moment making her anxious.

After a handful of silent, tight lipped seconds, Widow sighed and opened the door to let Lotus inside. She put a hand up to her face and shook her head, "You gave me a heart attack, little spider. Waking up without you there… not even a _note_ …" Widow continued talking as she followed Lotus into the house, the younger faunus leading them back towards their shared bedroom to deposit the day's earnings, "And after you'd been so torn up over what happened last night… I was about to tear this town apart looking for you."

Lotus wasn't sure whether to be glad that Widow cared so much, or worried that her first response was so drastic, "I'm _fine_ , Widow. I can take care of myself, ya know?" She emphasized her point by dropping both of the heavy duffel bags to the ground and zipping them open in one fluid motion. The bulging contents spilled out partially, lien cards clattering to the ground off the sides of the bags.

Widow's eyes widened and her shoulders stiffened as she slowly bent down to pick up one of the lien cards to see if it was real. She straightened, eyes whipping to lock on to Lotus's own, "Did you rob a _bank_!? Of all the ill advised, reckless-!"

Widow stopped her tirade as Lotus hurriedly latched her hands on to the older woman's shoulders, "No no no! I didn't rob a _bank_ , Widow!"

Widow dropped the lien back down on top of the duffle bag, only for it to slide off the stack to the floor with many of the rest, "Then _where_ did you get this much money?" Her eyes firmly searched Lotus's, demanding the truth.

Lotus brought her hand back to rub the back of her neck as her eyes drifted off to the side in embarrassment, "I… put in a request for Malachite to find out who betrayed the White Fang. She had me do a job for her. There was a… gang, that was selling drugs to the faunus in the slums. I put a stop to it, burned down their hideout, and took their lien."

Widow tensed at each admission and rubbed her forehead in frustration, "Did you at least make sure not to leave any survivors?" When Lotus refrained from answering, her eyes snapped back open to stare at the girl, " _Please_ tell me you did, Olivia."

The girl flinched, 'My name is _Lotus_."

Widow scoffed, "Really? The Lotus I know would have _learned_ from her past mistakes. Did you not _just_ say you went to Malachite to find someone you left alive because you thought they'd _betrayed_ us all? What if any of those gang members hold a vendetta? What if they follow us back to the safe house? We can sense a lot as spider faunus, but a _bomb_ planted under our _beds_?"

Lotus shrivelled under the searing words, "I...I…" Every question came as a blow to her confidence.

Widow put a hand on each of Lotus's shoulders and shoved her down on to the bed behind her, firmly holding her there for a few seconds while she spoke firmly, barely contained contempt in her words, " _Stay. Here_. I'll go fix your little screw up. In the meantime, I don't want you taking a _single step_ outside. Do you understand?"

Tears came unbidden to Lotus's eyes as she nodded, turning away from Widow to lie down and hide her face, her shame, from the older woman. ' _She's never treated me like this… I'm sorry!_ ' Lotus couldn't bring herself to say it, though. She couldn't face the woman that had begun furiously rifling through her belongings to get changed, to get ready to fix Lotus's mistake. It wasn't the anger the woman displayed that had gotten the girl so worked up. It was the _disappointment_. The thought that she had failed her, the only family she had left.

Widow finished getting ready and stopped at the door. Lotus could feel her eyes on her, "Are they strong?" Three simple words, yet Lotus quivered at the tone.

Incapable of speaking, Lotus simply shook her head 'no' from where it rested on her pillow. Widow left without another word, slamming the door behind herself as she left.

Lotus curled up beneath her covers, content to hide herself from the world as she cried.

* * *

' _Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!_ '

Widow was furious. First, Lotus had decided to sneak out before Widow had woken up, leaving nothing to let her know what she was doing, nothing to alleviate the fear that had gripped her heart. Her mind had instantly jumped to the worst conclusions in a panic. That she had run away after last night's episode, that she had stepped outside and been caught, that Widow herself had driven the girl away with her drinking.

The truth had been worse. Even after trying to steer the girl away from asking Malachite, she had still gone to her… ' _And without me!_ ' Widow was equal parts frustrated and worried. ' _Everything I do is for that girl! Does she not trust me!?_ ' She had been so careful… Now the silly girl had gone on a mission all alone, _without_ Widow's protection or guidance. ' _Leaving survivors like that?_ ' Widow scoffed out loud as she walked, ' _I thought she would have known better by now._ '

Widow readied herself as she prepared to step into Malachite's hideout. She let the tension ease from her posture and relaxed her frustrated expression, returning to her calm, composed self. The first thing she noticed when she stepped inside was how full the hideout was. Every chair at every table was taken, aside from the one across from Malachite herself. Widow had never seen the place so packed.

Widow's hairs stood on end. She could feel all of the attention in the room immediately divert to her, even if only a few actually raised their eyes to look. She was a single spot of red in a sea of purple. Some of the tension returned to her shoulders as she waded through them, to the one open chair in the building, directly across from Malachite. Widow's apprehension increased the further she walked inside, as she felt more and more eyes on her back, thinking themselves unobserved because her own eyes weren't on them. Widow's senses were going haywire.

Widow paused, ' _I… I should leave. This is wrong._ ' She both felt and heard a number of chairs scrape back behind her, a wave of purple stepping between her and the exit. Widow grit her teeth and continued forward a moment later. Malachite was smiling at her over a cup of tea in one hand, cigarette in the other.

Malachite gestured for Widow to sit with the cigarette, smiling more intently as Widow accepted the wordless command. The woman sat there, letting Widow stew for a few more seconds, before lowering her cup, "I was _hoping_ you'd stop by."

There was a prolonged silence between the two. Widow waited for her to continue, while Malachite seemed content to drag out her words.

"Your little _protege_ hired me to find something out for her. Now can you _imagine_ my surprise when I thought it was information she was _already_ privy to? She does work so... _closely_ with you, after all."

Widow's hands fell to her daggers, drawing them out a hair as she shuddered. Every muscle in her body was screaming to silence this woman. ' _Lotus can't find out!_ ' Dozens of chair legs scraped on the floor, a cacophony of swords being unsheathed and guns being drawn following after.

Malachite's smile grew, sizing up Widow, "Even _with_ your little friend here, I doubt you could take all of us and live to tell about it. So why don't you just sit down and _relax_? Have some tea." At that, one of the guards flanking her stepped forward, pulling out another cup and filling it with the steamy liquid before pushing it on its saucer to Widow's side of the table. Widow waited, flexing her fingers across the handles on her daggers. ' _I'll… play her little game…_ ' Widow slowly removed her hands from her daggers, setting both hands on the table instead. She made no motion towards the cup that sat in front of her.

Malachite quirked an eyebrow, "It really _is_ good." When Widow still made no attempts to reach for it, she instead gave a polite shrug, "Have it your way. Now, you must be wondering, 'What does Little Miss Malachite plan on doing with this information?', and well, I was considering just giving it to the girl as she'd asked."

The larger woman laughed at the fear on Widow's face, "But that would _hardly_ work in my best interests, now would it? If I did that, I would lose two _very valuable_ resources." Malachite tapped a finger to her chin, "The girl was so _prompt_ in dealing with her side of the bargain, though. My sources tell me the place in question burned down along with everything inside. Only one body, but that was _more_ than I was expecting after seeing the state she was in this morning."

Widow couldn't help but feel a tinge of regret for how she had treated Lotus earlier. ' _Was she that worked up over last night? Did the girl never realize that most of the people she killed had families too?_ ' Widow could only be frustrated now by her own lack of empathy. She wanted what was best for Lotus, and part of that was putting her on the right track when it came to their line of work.

Widow had picked up on the clear hesitation in Malachite's words, though. "What do you want, then? If you tell her the truth, she'll fall apart. Lotus will never work with you or _anyone_ again."

"And _there_ lies my problem. I want you both to continue working for _me_. So… perhaps we could come to an arrangement?" Malachite smirked as she raised a hand, gesturing for Maca to bring her the manilla folder. Malachite pushed the entire folder to Widow's side of the table, "In exchange for _keeping_ your little secret, you agree to work for me. _This_ ," she gestured at the folder, "becomes _your_ job. Whether you bring your little protege into it or not is your choice."

Widow pulled the folder the rest of the way to her side. There were _dozens_ of pages, each listing off either a singular person or a group, ones that Malachite would all prefer to be six feet under.

"You'll still be _paid_ , of course. Take them at your own pace. As long as they're dealt with then I don't care how you do it," the smile played across Malachite's lips, "Oh, yes. I'll also be giving you two better _accommodations_ in one of our _other_ safe houses. Somewhere that we can still keep an eye on you. So _don't_ get any ideas about running off. My informants are everywhere, and they will all have specific instructions to let slip your little _secret_ if I give the word."

Widow sat in defeat. ' _There's nothing I can do._ ' While she was confident that she could draw one of her daggers and reach across the table to kill the offensive woman in one smooth motion, she would certainly get gunned down in the next instant. ' _I can't kill my way out of this one…_ ' Did she try and tell Lotus herself? ' _No…_ ' Imagining the look of utter betrayal on the girl's face who she had long since come to think of as a daughter smothered that line of thinking. ' _I have to protect her, even if it's from the truth..._ '

"Fine."

Malachite clapped her hands together once in delight, "Wonderful! Some of my men can help show you to the new place later today! It _is_ more spacious, just like the two of you wanted." Malachite waved a hand, motioning for Widow to leave, "Take the folder with you. Once that's complete, I'm sure we'll have another one prepared."

Widow stood to leave, but froze at Malachite's next words, "Oh, and thank you for the wonderful idea. A bomb _would_ be a good way to handle a person of your… expertise."

' _They bugged the safe house!_ ' Widow shivered, refusing to turn back to see Malachite's smirk, even if she could already feel it stretching across the woman's face. ' _I will kill you for this, Malachite. Perhaps not today… but I will._ '

There was a long drawn out pause between them before Malachite broke it. "From one… motherly figure to another. Why did you do it?" Her tone had gone somber with the question. She was truly letting her curiosity get the better of her.

Widow turned back to level a glare at the woman, "The longer I stand around, the longer it will take to finish these," she waved the folder over her shoulder, "Are we _done_ here?"

Malachite laughed, "Of course. Due diligence _is_ appreciated."

Widow's empty hand clenched one of her daggers in a tight grip as she left the building. She still needed to clean up after Lotus's morning activities. As much as her own issues would need to be resolved, keeping her 'daughter' off anyone's vengeful radar was her _top_ priority.

The column of smoke still lazily drifting into the sky across the slums was a clear enough indication of where she needed to go.

* * *

Widow was not in the mood for her usual subtlety.

She had spent the last few minutes asking everyone nearby if they knew anyone from the gang, or where they had gone. When she had found someone twisting their words to hide the truth from her, all it had taken was a few severed fingers to get the truth out of him. She cut his throat afterwards for good measure.

Now she stood in front of their secondary hideout. Widow frowned at the White Fang slashes across the front of the dilapidated one story building. She could feel the presence of ten people inside, gathered around the center of the room. Moving silently up to the door, she put an ear to it and listened. The voices were muffled. Widow smiled, her semblance could fix that little issue.

As far as she'd ever told anyone, it could only dampen sounds around her. If only they knew about the rest of its capabilities… ' _The others might not have fought to the death if they realized I was the one making them hear things…_ ' All the more reason to keep it a secret.

"What are we gonna do about this?" a male voice increased in clarity as Widow raised its volume for her ears alone.

"Nothing, right? You saw how she manhandled Maho! And the way she killed the boss…" a younger woman trailed off, her voice full of fear.

' _I should give Lotus more credit. It sounds like she tried to scare them off._ '

"I've never had that much lien _in my life,_ " another man chipped in angrily, "And she took _all_ of it."

"She let us keep some!" another male piped up.

The other man scoffed, "A few hundred each compared to the _thousands_ she either burned down or took with her. I say we find out where she is and take _back_ what's ours!"

When a few others muttered words of agreement, Widow figured she had heard enough. The door opened with a loud creak as she opened it, eyes taking in the scene before her. They sat around a small table, a medium stack of lien piled on top of it. Several sat in mismatched chairs, or on a couch that had been pulled up next to the rest. They all turned in shock when the door opened.

Widow strode in, ignoring the questions they threw her way. She gave away nothing as she stepped up next to the first few, a smile on her face. They _were_ weak, as Lotus had suggested.

' _At least I'll be able to vent some of my frustration out on them before I go back to the safe house._ '

Widow began the grisly work of silencing the young faunus forever, a slow smile coming back to her lips.

' _I will_ _ **always**_ _keep you safe, my little spider._ '

* * *

Lotus snapped back awake as Widow's presence returned. She grumbled to herself silently, flipping her pillow over to avoid the wet spot she had left after falling asleep in her own tears. The door to their room opened and Widow stepped in.

The older faunus only spoke a few words, excusing herself to the shower. Lotus couldn't bring herself to reply, but instead buried her red rimmed eyes back into the fresh side of her pillow. Widow paused for a few moments, likely waiting for a reply. When none was offered though, she simply stepped into the bathroom, closing the door quietly behind herself and starting up the shower.

Lotus couldn't stand just lying around and listening to the shower through the wall. She needed to do something, anything, to take her mind off the shame she felt for failing Widow. For failing her expectations of her. Lotus retreated from the room and into the kitchen, mind set on making something for her companion. ' _Eggs and toast isn't enough…_ ' Lotus desperately searched through the cupboards and refrigerator for anything else she might be able to make.

During the midst of her search, Lotus noticed the large package that Widow had left on the countertop, but she kept away from it. She hardly wanted to add 'invasion of privacy' to her growing list of personal failures for the day.

A small flicker of a smile crossed Lotus's face as she hefted out a bag of pancake mix she had found in one of the lower cupboards. The smile fled immediately as she flinched, caused by the sound of the running water stopping from the bathroom. ' _I'm still close enough for her to sense me,_ ' Lotus told herself. Widow wouldn't be barging through in another fit of panic thinking she had left again without permission.

Lotus set about making the two of them a stack of pancakes each. She decided to get a little experimental with it, adding in blueberries with the mix to try and make the most of what they had on hand. She could feel Widow moving around in their room while she got dressed, and silently hoped she wouldn't come out before the pancakes were done. It would be better, somehow, to present them to her once they were fully prepared. ' _And not a moment before…_ ' Lotus managed to convince herself that she wasn't just putting off a conversation with Widow. ' _Nope, not at all._ '

The young faunas was just about finished distributing out the pancakes on to each of their plates when the bedroom door squeaked open. Lotus winced even though she had been expecting it, and dropped the last pancake off center of the rest. She worriedly bent over it and adjusted it, trying to move the last fluffy treat into perfect alignment with the rest. Widow watched her frantically repositioning the pancake without comment, and instead sat down across from where Lotus was standing.

The plate slid over to Widow the next moment. Lotus kept her head down as she pushed it over, averting her gaze from the frown crossing her companion's face. Widow just sighed and let her eyes drift down to the plate as she picked up a fork, "Do we have any syrup?"

"R-right, of course!" Lotus stammered, quickly turning away to begin searching through the cabinets again. ' _Why didn't I think of that?_ ' Lotus chastised herself. It needed to be good. Needed to be _perfect_ to make up for being such a disappointment. A growing sense of distress invaded the young girl's mind as she searched, slamming each cabinet closed when it failed to hold what she needed. ' _Where is it? Where_ _ **is it**_ _!? We have to have some!_ '

Lotus recoiled when she felt Widow's hand on her shoulder, shying away from the touch, "I'm looking! J-Just give me a second!" Lotus blinked the tears that had started to form in her eyes. ' _I don't have time for that again!_ '

Widow's hand returned more forcefully this time, stopping Lotus in her tracks and spinning her around to face the last remaining family she had. Lotus froze in place, blurry eyes taking in the worry in Widow's eyes. She pulled Lotus into a tight hug the next second, bringing a hand up and brushing it lightly through the young girl's hair.

'What's wrong, little spider?" Widow's voice was soft, soothing. Lotus could also hear the undercurrent of worry there.

Lotus broke down. It was too much. "I'm _sorry_ , Widow. I-I messed up this morning, and you were so worried about me, and you were right, I didn't leave a note, and I-"

"Ssshhhhh," the sound interrupted Lotus's slew of words that had become more and more unintelligible as she continued to break down. Their hug grew more firm, with Widow tightening her hold around Lotus's back, "It's _okay_. I forgive you, little spider. You don't have to apologize for anything, anyway. I already took care of them. There's _nothing_ for you to worry about, alright?"

Lotus finally returned the hug, wrapping her own arms weakly around Widow.

"Why did that get you all worked up in the first place? I didn't mean to make you so worried," Widow's voice was tight. Lotus could tell she was blaming herself for the girl's current state.

"I… I don't know. You're… the only one left. Everyone else... I… couldn't bare the thought of losing you, too," Lotus whispered it out, trying to piece together her own twisted and convoluted feelings.

"Oh, sweetheart," Widow pulled back to hold Lotus by her shoulders and look her in the eye, "I will _always_ be there for you." She tapped a fist to the girl's forearm, voice switching to a more teasing tone, "You can't get rid of me _that_ easily."

Lotus let herself be drawn back into their hug, now more firmly returning it.

After a few minutes, Widow pulled away. "I have something for you, actually. You never told me when your birthday was, but I figured it's been at least a year since we met…" She stepped away to the package that was sitting on the counter, and pulled a wrapped parcel out of the bag, handing it to Lotus. When the girl just stood there in confusion, she laughed lightly, "Well? Open it."

Lotus's fingers trembled as she tore the packaging off slowly, piece by piece. She stood in silence, staring at the black hoodie that she held up before her, much larger than she was.

"It took me a while, but I finally found the same one you had before," Widow's voice lowered uncertainly when Lotus remained silent, "Do you… do you like it?"

With a laugh that was also a sob, Lotus threw herself back into Widow's arms, "Thank you! Thank you so much!" Widow released her as Lotus pulled back away, already tearing off the robe she'd worn before to don the hoodie instead. Once it was on, she hugged it to herself, feeling the familiar sensation of scrunched cloth and warmth that she had associated with Copper for so long. She breathed out a low sigh of contentment, hugging it tighter as she rocked herself side to side.

Widow placed a hand on her shoulder from behind, waiting for Lotus to slowly turn back to face her. "I love you, little spider. Nothing will _ever_ change that."

Lotus laughed and wrapped her arms around Widow one final time, "I love you too, Widow!"

It was a long time before either of them pulled away.

' _We're the only one that either of us has left…_ '

Lotus remembered the words Widow had admitted to her before, and echoed them back.

"I'm glad you're still here with me, too."


	12. On the Hunt

Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. Months turned into years. The list of targets that the dynamic duo sought only continued to grow with every passing day. With each kill, Lotus found her inhibitions fading into the background. After the scare she had, and the subsequent reaffirmation that Widow was her only family left, the shackles that bound her to 'good' had deteriorated under the pressure of proving herself. Lotus didn't mind anymore. Widow did not judge her for the things she did, and as far as Lotus was concerned, her opinion was the only one that mattered.

Their targets became vast in scope. The duo killed petty thieves, assaulted SDC compounds, assassinated government officials, and all the while, grew their reputation. Through Malachite, they were offered more jobs, outsourced to those that Malachite owed a favor. Lotus returned to her training, once again hiding her semblance whenever it was necessary. She was becoming a true powerhouse in her own right, even when she didn't let loose. They often killed huntsman, either as targets, or simply because they got in the way. It was never _them,_ though. Never the three that remained on Lotus's list.

So it came as a surprise when, long after they had given up hope on their quest for revenge, Malachite was finally able to give them some good news. Her informants had found two of the huntsman that had evaded them for so long. It turned out they were a pair of rogues, beholden to no kingdom or city, and had disappeared shortly after the raid on the White Fang.

The informant had gotten their hands on SDC records that detailed out the huntsman that had been hired for specific duties and compared the list to the night of the raid. They now knew who all three were, but the last was proving even more difficult to pin down. 'Daisy and Carob Alabaster', the names of two soon-to-be dead hunters, rolled around in Lotus's mind like the wheels of the cart she currently sat in. They had left the city, for the first time in a long time.

Lotus felt Widow glancing back to where she sat at the back of the cart, feet dangling over the side as the road swayed them both back and forth. Each dip or rock in the road sent a jolt into the wood beneath them that neither seemed to mind. Lotus had adopted the habit of always using her semblance to coat her hands and legs. The act made it all feel more natural once she needed to fight, and keeping her semblance out cost her nothing. If anything, she felt lighter, more mobile, and intoxicatingly stronger because of it.

Her senses had become more finely tuned over the past two years, born from both age, and necessity. A single slip up in their line of work meant death, and neither was in a rush to bring about that eventuality. Lotus could feel everything around them. Stationary objects had started to fade into her range of senses over a year before. Everything had a unique vibration to it, changed by both the shape and structure of the object, as well as the material it was comprised of. Minute differences that had, at first, come as a shock when she was finally able to sense them.

The sense only became more profound when Lotus closed her eyes, as she was doing now. The wind ruffling each individual blade of grass, the leaves in the trees as birds, squirrels, or insects disturbed them, the constant back and forth pattern of the horse's muscles as they flexed and applied pressure to the ground beneath them. The vibrations of the cart she sat on, and the fruits and vegetables held within the barrels that rode alongside her. She could feel it all. It was soothing. A comfort she relished, knowing that none would ever be able to sneak up on her.

"You look awfully peaceful back there, Lotus," Widow quipped back to her over the sound of the clopping horses and rattling cart.

"How could I not be?" Lotus mumbled and opened her eyes back up before blinking in the harsh light. She realized with a start that she had nearly dozed off despite the questionable position she was in. They weren't travelling fast, little more than a brisk walk, but Lotus looked down at the ground. ' _Falling off in front of Widow would have been embarrassing, at the very least._ '

"When we reach town, I'll leave you to repay our kind savior while I gather information," Widow spoke again, careful to keep any of their intentions obscured from the old man that sat in the front of the cart. He had been kind enough to offer them a ride when he passed on his way to the same town the two of them were headed for. They had graciously accepted, and promised their assistance in unloading his goods when they arrived.

"Fine by me," Lotus shrugged. If the old man left her to do it with a little privacy, she could unload the barrels in no time flat with a little help from her semblance. Six arms _were_ better than two, after all. With a small rumble in her stomach, matched only by the shaking of the cart, Lotus raised her voice to catch the old man's attention, "Is it alright with you if I snag a couple apples, sir? I'll pay for them once we get to town."

"Oh, you gals go ahead and help yourselves," the old man's gravelly voice replied over his shoulder with a polite wave to let them know they were more than welcome to it. Lotus hopped up into a crouch and held a hand against one of the barrels to keep her balance before popping the top off. She held an apple up towards Widow in a silent question, and with a nod from the older faunus, tossed it to her. Lotus grabbed a couple for herself and settled back down, now leaning back against the barrels behind her, more snugly confined to the inside of the cart.

"I'm glad I found you two when I did," the old man spoke again after some time, "You wouldn't have made it to town before dark at the pace you were going. I can't bear the thought of what might have happened to the two of you if the Grimm were to attack in the night."

Widow's lips pursed in amusement that the old man could not see while facing forward as he was, "The Grimm can just as easily attack during the _day_ , but thank you for the ride. We are both appreciative of the kindness you've shown." Lotus stifled a giggle, sharing in the silent joke that passed between them. ' _A human worrying about us, of all people._ ' Lotus shook her head while her giggling subsided.

The old man caught none of it, instead opting to place his hands on the double barrel shotgun resting beside him and lift it up for all eyes to see, "As long as me and Big Bertha are around, you don't have to worry about any pesky Grimm. Took a beowolf's head clean off with one shot just last week. I swear it."

"I believe you," Widow stifled a laugh, eyeing the shotgun. It _was_ an impressive weapon. Lotus had no doubts he could protect them, if he aimed true. That is, as long as there were only ever _two_ Grimm that attacked at a time. Once a third appeared… Lotus chuckled dryly, ' _Who knows, maybe he reloads fast._ '

"Looks like we'll have to forgo any demonstrations," the old man breathed a sigh of relief from the front. Lotus sat up and Widow turned to face the front as they saw the small village appear through the trees ahead of them. The curve in the road bent suddenly, bringing it all into view. A sign post along the roadside announced their arrival. 'Welcome to Shion', Lotus read it to herself as they passed.

Around two dozen buildings greeted their eyes as they arrived. Each was a mixture of white and tan, with brown, steeply angled rooftops, all gathered around a single T street, with what looked like the main building at the top of the T. Lotus was surprised at how many people she saw walking around the place. ' _Small, but densely packed…_ ' Men, women, and children all went about their business, chatting amongst one another, shopping, or playing in the street.

The old man drove his cart to the side of one of the smaller buildings, angling the back of the cart so that it would face two wide double doors that he opened a moment later. "Well, this is where I'd like you to put the supplies. Feel free to come on inside when you're done. I'll have Margaret whip you up some dinner as thanks," he ended it with a smile and a nod, turning to head into the house.

"Alright. Are you okay here, little spider?" Widow asked lightly, gaze already flicking back and forth across the town in search of a bar where she might ask around for their quarry.

Lotus looked at the shed. Shelves lined the sides, full of tools and supplies. There were already some crates and barrels taking up the back corner, but with a quick eye Lotus could tell that space wouldn't be an issue. With her being out in the open like this… "It'll take me a little longer than I'd hoped, but I'll manage. You do what you need to."

Widow nodded and set off, apparently recognizing one of the further buildings as some sort of pub or tavern. ' _Where else would huntsman stay?_ ' The informant had told them the two hunters had accepted a mission for Shion, likely to kill any Grimm that might have been spotted in the area. It was typical huntsman work, and they planned on taking advantage of that.

Lotus began her task, thankful that the old man had picked them up along the way. They still would have been walking for a few more hours, well into the night, and would have had to put off their revenge for another day. While they would have been perfectly capable of killing the two huntsman when they came back to town, the two of them would have been prime suspects, unknown by the townspeople. And with a little search, their faunus natures would have been discovered. ' _Even the old man wouldn't have given us the benefit of the doubt, then_.'

The barrels were large and awkward in her arms, even supported by her semblance as she was. Lotus began tediously shifting them to the back edge of the cart, dropping back down, picking them up on her shoulder, walking them inside, then carefully lowering them down to the floor inside the shed. She took great care in making sure none of them were damaged in the transfer, the old man had passed up asking for payment for the food they had eaten, and even offered them dinner. It was the least she could do to avoid any accidents.

Lotus stood back to admire her work when she was finished. The cart was empty, and a mixture of twenty crates and barrels were neatly stacked into the space, leaving room around the edges for the old man so that he could still reach his tools or other supplies. She nodded to herself and turned back around. While she had been going about emptying the cart, the old man had come back outside to unhitch the horses and take them into his barn to feed them. He stepped back out of the barn and angled her direction, stopping to admire her handiwork.

"Well done!" the old man smiled, "Couldn't have fit 'em better myself. If you don't mind, I just need to pull the cart into the barn now that it's empty, and we can head on inside. Margaret's made some stew, and she's got a pair of helpers of her own that she snatched out of the street earlier, so they'll be joining us."

"Sure thing," Lotus smiled back and walked to the front of the cart. Together they hefted up the front by the bar, and backed it into the barn so that the horses could easily be rehitched to pull it back out at a later time. Lotus dusted off her hands and arched her back, earning herself a few satisfying pops.

The old man laughed, "Ah, if only I could do the same. Back just ain't what it used to be. Come on inside now, they're waitin' for us."

Lotus nodded and followed him inside. They came in through the backdoor, connected by the barn. She made sure to wipe her feet off on the mat before she stepped inside. It was a quaint little home, with the delicious aroma of boiled meat and vegetables catching her nose the instant the door opened. The smell tugged her feet in the direction that the old man led, through the kitchen and into the dining room. Lotus saw the man's wife, Margaret, first. She welcomed Lotus with a smile on her face and arms spread wide. Lotus decided that she would indulge her in the hug and had made her first step forward when a voice rang out from the side.

"O-Olivia!?" an excited girl's voice caught Lotus off guard, and she stopped in her tracks to glance to her right, where the other two presences were already sitting at the table.

"N-Nora? Ren!?" Lotus stammered, seeing the two children now grown up as she had. Aside from their faces, both looked completely different from how she remembered them. They had each gone through their respective growth spurts, with Ren now being almost a head taller than either of them. He wore a green, long sleeve coat with black and gold trim, and white pants.

Nora wore a pink skirt with matching pink fingerless gloves, and a top that was half suggestive, half overly modest. The heart shaped cleavage gap in her shirt was a little risque, but Lotus couldn't even begin to understand the complex metal and wiring that surrounded her midsection.

The oddly dressed girl squealed in delight and jumped up from her seat, charging around the edge of it to throw herself into a hug that took both of them to the floor. Lotus was suddenly very thankful that she had aura to soften the blow, as she crashed heavily on to her back, hearing a few more pops that were much less satisfying.

Nora hugged her tightly, rolling back and forth on top of her before jumping back up with a grin and offering her a hand. Lotus sucked in the air that had been violently expelled in the tackle, and let herself get dragged to her feet. Nora cheerily inspected her, "Oh, this is so cool! What are you doing in Shion!?"

Lotus managed to extricate herself from Nora's grasp and backed up a step, "I'm here with a friend. We… decided to journey outside the main city a bit. See the sights, ya know?" Lotus thought it would be best to take attention off herself and switched the conversation back on them, "What are you two doing here?"

Nora stepped back to pat Ren on the back and grinned, "Renny and I are messengers! His semblance lets us travel all over the place without any fear of the Grimm, so we go from town to town, exchanging mail between loved ones or friends. We get to meet all sorts of people!" Ren silently nodded along. Nora then bent around him, casually brushing up against him as she reached to his side and hefted into sight the biggest hammer Lotus had ever seen in her life.

"And when Renny gets tired, I take care of us with this!" Nora brandished the hammer, careful not to hit the table or any of the walls and furniture. The way she swung it with such ease… Lotus was suddenly also very thankful that she had not stopped using her semblance. That tackled hug would have killed her, otherwise. She was sure of it.

"Nora, not in the house," Ren admonished, earning a relieved sigh from both of the owners who had been, up until then, frantically eyeing the hammer's path as it swung through the air.

The orange haired girl giggled out a soft, "Sorry Ren~!" before very gently setting the hammer back down against the table. She plopped into her chair and scooted in, now eyeing the others that remained standing with a polite smile.

The older couple seemed to shake themselves out of it, and exchanged their own greetings before sitting down as well. Lotus followed their lead, taking a seat between them and Ren and Nora. The older woman carefully ladled out stew into the bowls she had stacked in front of her and passed them down the table. The first was handed down to the end of the chain to Nora, the second to Ren, the third to Lotus, and finally the old lady deposited a bowl in front of her husband and one for herself.

"Don't be afraid to eat up! There's plenty left, so you kids enjoy it," Margaret gave them a comforting smile, and followed her own lead, digging in to the stew she had made. There was silence for a few minutes, aside from the scrape of metal spoons on porcelain bowls while everyone enjoyed the food they had been offered. It was good, better than anything Lotus had eaten in weeks, and within a few minutes she was passing her bowl back down for a refill.

Nora followed suit not long after. For another few minutes, the quiet remained, until a question popped into Lotus's head while she had been stealing a glance at the other two.

"Did you guys get my message in Mistral?" she asked lightly.

"We did," Ren stated between bites.

"We missed you, too~!" Nora chimed in, chipmunking the food in her mouth in order to speak. She at least had the decency to cover her mouth as she did so. Even still, Ren leveled a flat stare her way. Nora just smiled back, unabashed by her own behavior before passing her bowl down again for thirds.

"The place was a mess. What happened there?" Ren asked quietly, passing the soon to be filled bowl to Lotus, who passed it on to the old man.

Lotus hesitated a moment, but decided the truth was fine, "The man that I scared off came back and tried to ambush me. I dealt with him and his friends before sending them on their way." Lotus shrugged, there wasn't much more to the story.

"And the blood stains on the floor?" Ren asked quietly.

Lotus's breath hitched, her eyes refusing to glance at the old couple to her left, instead relying on her extra sense to accept the bowl that he offered her. Lotus passed it back to Ren, letting her eyes meet his in the process, "He isn't dead, if that's what you're asking." ' _Not from a lack of trying…_ ' Malachite had never found the faunus, and Lotus's question had never been answered.

Ren nodded, "So the blood…?"

"I have a right to defend myself, don't I? He was waiting to attack me in my own home," Lotus quipped back tightly. It wasn't necessarily true. She had already been moving into the White Fang headquarters by then, but her stuff had still been there. Still, she wasn't exactly going to let herself be guilt tripped over defending herself, she doubted he only had plans to 'rough her up a little' like he'd said. Lotus suspected that under different circumstances, she wouldn't have left that building alive.

Ren seemed to finally accept her recounting of events and dropped the subject, returning to his meal that he had been slowly picking at the entire time. Whatever bits he ate, Nora packed away tenfold into her own stomach. Lotus's eyes went wide when she realized that Nora was already halfway through her third bowl. Lotus finished her second bowl and set her spoon back down in it, pushing it away. Her stomach was mostly full, and she didn't want to risk stuffing herself when they were going to go 'hunting' that night.

"You dears are all welcome to stay in our extra room, if you want. The kids have long since moved out, but there are a couple beds still in there for when we have guests over," Margaret offered kindly, giving them all a reassuring smile as she polished off the last of her own bowl.

"My friend should be getting us rooms at the inn, actually," Lotus smiled back apologetically, "Thank you for the offer, though. You and your husband have been more than gracious enough."

"Ooooh~! Who's your friend?" Nora jumped in, leaning forward against the table, food forgotten in her excitement.

"She's an older woman," Lotus offered freely, "She kind of… adopted me, I guess."

"I'm glad you've found someone that could be a good influence on your life," Ren nodded, lips finally raising with the ghost of a smile.

"Which reminds me," Lotus glanced out the windows to see the slowly setting sun barely visible over the treetops, "I should be getting back to her soon. Are you two still going to be in town tomorrow?"

"We can stay for awhile if you want to catch up!" Nora grinned, "We pretty much do freelance work, so we set our own hours. Besides," she shoulder bumped Ren, "The more time we spend here, the more letters we can gather, and the more lien we'll make when we leave."

Ren nodded his ascent and gave a real smile to Lotus, "I'd like to hear about what you've been up to. It _has_ been about three years since then. We'll all have stories to share."

Lotus grinned, squashing down the nervous twist in her stomach and excused herself, "I'll meet you guys here at dawn?"

They each nodded their agreement, and gave one last farewell before Lotus stepped out into the street. A cold wind had picked up since she'd been inside, blowing lightly down the street past her and causing Lotus to pull her hoodie more tightly against herself. Her eyes fell on the building Widow had went into, and headed that way. The amount of people in the streets had died down as night began to fall, the last vestiges of light now only visible across the furthest reaches of the sky. Only a few remained, going about their last minute tasks before heading into the relative safety and comfort of their own homes.

Lotus could feel Widow inside the building she was heading towards, and pulled it open to the sounds of raucous laughter. Widow was busy playing darts, drilling the drunk man she played with questions in between throws. He seemed none the wiser. Lotus left her to it, instead walking to the bar and sitting down at one of the empty stools. Her senses caught on to another faunus in the room, a few seats down from her, but she decided not to bother him. Best not to draw attention to their own kind in small towns such as this one. From what Widow had said, they weren't known for their racial acceptance.

Still, Lotus found her eyes glancing over towards the faunus every now and then, curiosity piqued by his mere presence. It was certainly more interesting than watching Widow fail her throws on purpose in an attempt to continue the game with the drunkard. Apparently he actually knew something, otherwise Widow wouldn't have kept at it for so long.

The faunus in question seemed to be a moderate build, lithe but strong. It was hard to tell with the thick brown leather coat he wore that reached well past the bar stool he sat on, but Lotus could at least spot the white pants he wore, along with the bare skin exposed in his chest region. His brown hair was long, put into a ponytail that trailed down past his shoulders. He was giddily laughing to himself, in sync with each lull in Widow's conversation, although he wasn't actually looking in their direction.

' _Best to not talk to crazies,_ ' Lotus mused, waiting for Widow to finish with her game, and the questions that came along with it. The woman seemed to have dried up anything she could ask the drunk, and quickly ended the game between the two in her next round of throws. She muttered a 'good game' and headed over to Lotus, sitting down on a stool between her and the other faunus.

"Well, according to him, they set out towards the northern mountain range at about midday. From the sounds of it, they took enough with them that they're likely not planning on heading back tonight," Widow tossed back a shot the bartender offered her and set her lien down on the bar to pay for it, waiting for him to walk back to the register before continuing, "Better if we strike while they're outside town. Agreed?"

Lotus nodded and stood, "The sooner the better, right?"

The two left the bar and set out, headed in the direction the drunk man had indicated. Between their faunus night vision, and acute sixth sense, neither bothered to bring any additional source of light. Doing so would just give them away.

They passed the last row of houses and entered the forest. The sounds of the wind died once they entered the trees, leaving them with an eerie quiet that smothered their ears, yet sharpened them to every other sound. Widow activated her semblance, removing any worry the two might have had over stepping on twigs or dried leaves. It was with assurity that they made their way through the forest, keeping their eyes out for any sign of the two hunters that had journeyed out past the safety of civilization.

"Oh, uh. By the way, _we_ need to be back by tomorrow morning. I'm kind of… meeting some people…" Lotus rubbed a hand against the back of her neck, wary of how Widow would take it.

The older faunus continued in silence for a few minutes before sighing and turning her eye to Lotus, "I trust you, little spider. It isn't anyone I should be worried about, right?"

"N-no. Not at all. They're a couple of kids my age. I met them a long time ago, before Crim saved me from the police station. They were nice… I trust them."

Widow nodded, "I'll take your word on it," her expression softened, "Are they friends?"

"You could say that," Lotus accepted the title she gave them, "It was kind of a… victim of circumstances, sort of thing. I stole a man's wallet in the store, and when he saw that they had a bunch of lien, claimed that their money was his. So… I beat him up and gave them their lien back as an apology. I didn't actually tell them it was my fault in the first place, though, so don't mention it if they end up talking to you."

"And when they ask what you've been up to for the last few years?" Widow raised an eyebrow.

"I'll just tell them I've been training to be a huntress or something. Easiest parallel, right?" Lotus shrugged, giving Widow a nervous glance. The older woman just silently agreed with a shrug of her own, turning back to the task at hand as their eyes continued to scan the forest around them.

They were approaching a low hill, and agreed to climb it to get a better vantage point. It was a small rise, but proved enough as they could more clearly take in their surroundings. Both caught the small flicker of light against the trunk of a distant tree. They shared a smirk, ' _Found you~_ '

It was still another ten minutes before they found themselves quietly crouching through the underbrush, eyes and sixth sense hyper focused on the small clearing in front of them. The small sounds of a crackling fire met their ears first, the sole sound in a forest of silence. Their sixth sense caught on, second. Lotus could feel one lying down in a sleeping bag, rolled on to her side and likely asleep. The other was still up, leaning back against a tree with his eyes closed and his ears perked for any sounds from the forest around him. Unfortunately for him, the pair made no sound at all as they continued their approach.

As they stepped into the edge of the clearing, Lotus could finally see them with her own eyes. They burned in anger, for this truly was two of the people she had seen after the raid. The woman tucked into her sleeping bag was Daisy, the man leaning against the tree, Carob. Lotus had done her own research once they found out their names. They were husband and wife, both adopting the man's last name 'Alabaster'. They had no children, so Lotus could entirely avoid _that_ guilt trip again. Their records showed a long history of accepting missions against the Grimm, but dotted among those missions were quite a number involving raids on the White Fang.

Lotus seethed with barely contained anger when her eyes set on them. If any were the most guilty out of the hunters that had attacked that day, these two were certainly prime candidates. Lotus and Widow shared a glance, and nodded. They had already planned on Lotus taking the lead. Widow quietly shrunk back into the vegetation, becoming all but invisible to even Lotus if not for her sixth sense telling her exactly where the older woman was.

Allowing herself a few moments to twist her face into a frantic and worried expression, Lotus burst out of the bushes, throwing herself down on the ground in the clearing. The man's eyes widened in shock and whipped up to stare at her. Lotus continued the act, though, and kept her eyes trained behind herself as she stumbled along the ground. She stopped, pretending to finally notice the crackling fire behind her and turned around slowly.

"Daisy! Up!" Carob whispered loudly. The woman muttered and rolled over to look at him, then immediately spotted Lotus, realizing they weren't alone. Daisy jolted up, sliding out of her sleeping bag with the experience born of having to do so in the past. Her weapon was already in her hands. It was a long staff, lit along the shaft by the tech lines that betrayed its ability to transform into some sort of gun.

Lotus face went blank, and her eyes narrowed as Carob unsheathed his own weapon. It wasn't his. It was Copper's. Lotus would have recognized its form anywhere, she had spent well over a year using it herself in mainly its pistol form to carry out her nightly muggings.

"What's out there, kid? What's after you?" Daisy asked, a tinge of panic in her voice.

Lotus struggled and failed to keep up the act. Her mind burned with fury that carried into her words, "It's not like any Grimm I've ever seen…" The two looked at each other nervously, apparently still too caught up in the situation to notice her shift in demeanor. Lotus stepped closer to Carob, activating her semblance and leveling all four at the man in front of her. They had grown further, and were now just under fourteen feet. Still, Lotus had spent years perfecting her use of them on her limbs, instead of lashing out with them by themselves. If it came to it, she would, but at the moment, she _really_ wanted to beat this man to death with her own hands.

Carob's eyes searched her face in concern, hesitating at Lotus's suddenly diminished panic, alerting him to danger. He didn't have time to ask her any questions, though. The moment his mouth opened to speak, she launched herself forward, driving a semblance enhanced fist so hard into his chest that was sent flying through the tree he had been leaning against previously. Lotus followed up the attack, catching him as he tried to stand out of his roll, another blow across the chest that sent him staggering back. Carob was more prepared for it, this time, and managed to right himself as he drew out Copper's sword.

The sounds of clashing steel behind Lotus, along with the sudden presence of Widow coming back within range, alerted her to the two's fight in the clearing. Lotus took advantage of Carob's attention being momentarily taken off her by the sound. She closed the gap, feinting another punch before dropping into a low kick that swept his legs out from under him. With a gasp of exertion, he managed to deflect her next blow, a plunging jab with her fist that would have been devastating to his aura reserves, if the small crater it left in the ground was anything to go by.

Carob rolled away and back to his feet again, attention now entirely focused on the girl in front of him. He hadn't taken her seriously at first, despite the initial blow. Lotus was still a child in his eyes, after all, and his comrade sounded like she needed help. Carob slowly circled to the side, eyes intently watching Lotus for any shift in her stance. She paced with him, keeping their distance at a range where she could instantly attack him if he dropped his guard.

Lotus growled in frustration when no opportunities were presented to her. ' _Guess we'll do this the hard way._ ' With another snap of her paired legs, she flashed across the intervening space in a single step. Carob brought the sword up between them, edge now alight with the lightning dust that coursed through it. ' _Sorry Carob. Invisible spider legs aren't conductive. Trust me, I've tested it._ ' Her fist was protected by the appendaged wrapped across her knuckles. Lotus's blow didn't slow as the huntsman had expected, instead colliding full force against his guard and knocking the sword back into himself.

His aura reserved tanked, as both the point of the sword and the electric current being produced by it slammed into the front of his own chest with all of Lotus's fist behind it. His aura sparked under the blow, and with the continued contact of the lightning dust infused edge, flickered, and died.

"I'll be taking that back," Lotus sneered, her arm lashing out to grab a hold of his wrist. She twisted it with a satisfying 'snap'. Carob screamed in pain and let go of the sword, only for Lotus to catch it with her free hand. She spun it in her hand and slashed out, cutting a deep gash across the man's chest.

He fell backwards, clutching at his chest with his good hand, and dragging himself backwards with his other elbow, kicking across the ground with his feet in a desperate attempt to distance himself from her.

Lotus's sneer turned to one of pure contempt, "Three years, and _this_ is what you amounted to? A _thief_ that couldn't even put up a decent fight!?" She closed the distance he had made in only a few steps, and unwrapped her appendages. The first pierced down through his ankle, pinning it to the ground. The second, into the thigh of his other leg. She dragged him closer to herself as he screamed in pain, one good hand trying to grasp on to the invisible thing putting a hole through his leg.

The third appendage knocked that hand aside, pinning it as well through his exposed palm. The last went through his other forearm. He was pinned to the ground completely, spread out on the ground in front of Lotus. She stepped between her own limbs and lowered herself down to look into his face, bringing the point of Copper's sword to his chest, right above his heart.

"Any last words, scum?"

Carob's breaths came out in ragged gasps, his eyes frantically looking around himself, "P-Please! Don't do it! I'm _begging_ you! I don't want to die!"

Lotus sneered again, "Did the young faunus boy you murdered three years ago beg like that before he died? Did you delight in his torment before you snuffed out his life?"

"W-What!? N-No! We didn't kill the kid! That faunus did! The one that told us where to find them all!"

Lotus let her mind trail off, picturing the large man that she had defeated with such ease, twice. He wouldn't have stood a chance against Jace, "Ending your disgusting life with a lie. Is that in some way poetic? I can't really tell."

Lotus pressed the sword down into Carob's chest, slowly. His words were cut off entirely as his body was racked with pure pain. His eyes were as wide as they could go, as his body trembled in the pinned position she held him in. The blade sunk the last few inches, now protruding from his back. Carob's body fell limp, still twitching slightly from the electric current running through his dead form.

The blade was slowly withdrawn, Lotus savoring every second of it. She disabled the lightning dust and wiped the sword across his coat before unfastening the sheath from his belt. Lotus attached it to her own, and slid Copper's sword back into place. She felt complete. Both hoodie, and sword now back in her possession, as they should be. The sounds of fighting had already died down in the camp as well. Lotus could tell Widow was the victor. She was the only one her senses told her was still standing.

Widow spoke up as Lotus made her way back into the clearing, "You finish him?"

"Of course," Lotus twisted so that Widow could see the sword on her hip as well, "He had Copper's sword. After all this time, who would have known…"

They both froze as the sound of distant clapping broke them out of their conversation. Both eyes darted into the treeline. A figure stepped out, just out of range of Widow's sixth sense. His hands continued to clap, in a slow, determined rhythm. As he approached, Lotus recognized him. It was the faunus from the inn.

"Well done, _well done!_ Truly, someone using their dying breath to utter a lie _is_ undoubtedly poetic. The truth was snuffed out along with the light in his eyes. Marvelous!" the faunus walked into the camp, stopping a dozen paces away from the pair of assassins. His eyes were brimming with tears, as he brought up a finger to wipe away at one of them.

He noticed their guarded stances and chuckled lightly, "Oh, you have nothing to worry from me, my good spiders." The coat on his back fell off, and Lotus took a step back as a scorpion tail was revealed. ' _A scorpion faunus? That's_ _ **rare**_ _.'_

"How did you know we were spider faunus?" Widow demanded, eyes narrowing. She did not retreat back at all as Lotus had done, instead choosing to stand her ground.

"Oh, it's a simple trick really. Once you've had dealings with spider faunus in the past, you tend to look out for them," he giggled at their confusion, "It's the way you notice things without ever looking at them. The small movements you make in response to how others move around you. It is _fascinating_ to watch a spider faunus using their sixth sense."

"Why did you follow us out here?" Lotus chipped in. His explanation was… plausible. She had never paid attention to her own movements while focused on others, but she supposed it was possible for others to take note of her reactions.

"Oh, I'm on the hunt for huntsman and huntresses. We both had the same quarry this evening, but when I heard your intentions, I decided to sit back and see how you faired. I'm glad I did!" he grinned wildly and took his eyes off the two, letting them instead roam around the camp, "So, now that you've snuffed them out, what do you intend to do?"

"We aren't locals, if that's what you mean," Widow replied. She hadn't eased up in the slightest, "My little spider has gotten the revenge she wanted. There is still one more we seek, but he's proving to be far more difficult to track down."

"Who are you looking for? Perhaps I know of him," the man smirked, using a free hand to play with his own tail as he eyed them sideways.

The two shared a frown, but Lotus was the first to turn back to him, "His name is Nicholas Arc. Where he lives is unknown to us. From what we gathered, he was only passing through the city when he accepted the mission to kill our comrades."

The man's eyes lit up as he fully turned to them, "Arc, you said? Ah, yes! A name of some interest. If memory serves, his family currently resides in a small town outside of Vale."

Widow shared a moment of silence with Lotus, then shrugged, "That would explain why we couldn't find anything on him."

All the way in Vale? ' _It's not as if we don't have the lien to spare for the trip, especially if it means putting an end to this chapter in my life…_ ' Lotus nodded. They would get more information from Malachite, and head to Vale at the earliest opportunity. Lotus's eyes caught on to the scorpion faunus's.

"Thank you…?"

"Ah, dear friends. My name is Tyrian! It has been a pleasure to meet you."

"My name is-"

"The Black Lotus!" Tyrian interrupted, a smile carving its way across his face, "Truly, a name rich with poetic depth! I know you, my dear! We have been watching your development with great interest!"

Lotus paused, "We? Who are you?"

Tyrian bowed low, holding his arms wide, "I am a talent scout, of sorts. My Mistress gathers those with unfathomable potential to serve her! Unfortunately," Tyrian eyed her a moment, his eyes staring deeply into hers, "You do not appear ready. This was merely a chance encounter, but one I would not have missed for the world!"

' _A Mistress?_ ' "We've worked for a lot of people. If it pays well, be sure to get into contact once I'm 'ready'. This was only a taste of what I'm capable of, I assure you," Lotus smiled. She wasn't quite calm, not with him still there. Tyrian was off putting. He felt as if he could say or do something at any moment, and it kept her on edge. Widow seemed to share her sentiment, she still hadn't sheathed her daggers. Her eyes were considering, though. Lotus could see the gears turning, and guessed her thoughts, ' _If another faunus of his caliber has devoted themselves to someone…_ ' They could both feel Tyrian's aura. It was intense, dwarfing even Vasilias's. ' _It would take me over a dozen clean hits to deplete his reserves…_ '

Tyrian interrupted the short silence, "I'll let you two get along with your night. I need only acquire proof of their deaths," he waved a scroll in his hand and pocketed it as he stepped away, headed towards the brush where Lotus had left Carob's corpse.

The two kept one eye behind themselves as they left, heading back in the direction of Shion. As soon as they left the campsite, Widow's hand fell on her shoulder, shoving her down towards the ground while both their semblances activated. Widow still brought a finger up to her lips, and pointed off to their left. It was out of range for Lotus, but clearly visible.

Four beowolves and an Ursa Major stood off to the side, patiently waiting in place.

"Okay, I'm officially creeped out…" Lotus whispered, shivering at the ungodly sight.

Widow gave them an interested stare, but ultimately decided it would be better off to leave without disturbing them. The two once again silently set off, back towards town. Despite the odd events afterwards, Lotus felt a weight lift off her heart. They had killed two of the huntsman that plagued her memories, and reclaimed the memento that had been lost.

' _Tonight was a good night._ '


	13. Travelers

Lotus rolled over, squinting into the light that streamed across her bed through the blinds, the gap swaying in a slight breeze from where the window itself had been left open. Widow and Lotus had stayed the night back in town, purchasing individual rooms at the inn for themselves with a promise of reuniting later the next day. They were in no rush to get back to the city of Mistral, and Lotus had promised Ren and Nora that she would hang out with them that morning.

With a startled yelp at the time, Lotus jumped up and began to hastily dress herself. ' _I told them I'd be there at dawn!_ ' and by the sun's position, it was at least a couple hours after that. Under normal circumstances, she hardly ever slept, but after the previous night's events, the nightmares hadn't shown themselves for once. They didn't bother her nearly as much anymore, but they were still _there_. Present every time she closed her eyes. The number of faces had simply grown over the years.

Lotus finished dressing and began to leave, but paused at her door, looking back into the room. Figuring it would help the disguise, she stepped back inside for a moment and snatched up Copper's sword. She drew it and checked the blade. Specks of dried blood still caked its edge. She groaned and headed into the bathroom to take her time making sure it was clean of any gore from the night before. ' _Wow Olivia, where'd all that blood come from?,_ ' Lotus thought to herself, adopting a close approximation of Nora's voice instead of her own.

Cleaning out the weapon kept her there for another fifteen minutes. ' _I really should have done this as soon as I got back._ ' Now the blood had seeped into the moving parts. She seriously doubted that Copper had ever accounted for it during its creation. ' _Then again he never planned on killing anyone._ ' A small part of her felt ashamed that she had used it to kill the man the night before, but… ' _Copper would understand. I used it to kill one of the bandits, too. This time I was getting revenge for… another brother._ ' Perhaps she had been too hard on herself, initially. Now that she had grown, the weapon felt more _right_ in her hands, much less out of place as when she was first training with the White Fang.

Lotus did a final inspection, twisting and shifting the sword-gun between its two forms, then powered the lightning dust on and off for good measure. Everything seemed to be in working order, and there wasn't a speck of blood to be seen. Lotus nodded to herself and dried it off before resheathing it and heading downstairs.

There were already quite a few patrons at the tables downstairs, and among them, Lotus spotted the two that she had been meant to meet up with earlier. Her shoulders slumped in remorse as she made her way to them, "Sorry, I don't usually sleep in this late…"

Nora looked up from her plate of scrambled eggs and bacon, letting her fork clatter to the plate as she jumped up and moved around the side of the table to throw a hug around Lotus's midriff. "Oh, no harm done! Ren and I took a little extra time this morning to gather mail while you were still asleep!" Nora cheered lightheartedly, stepping back out of the hug to gesture towards the chair at their table, "Do you want us to order you anything?"

"It would be our pleasure," Ren chipped in, giving Lotus a light smile as he set his own fork down.

Lotus rubbed the back of her head, "Heh, no that's alright. I can pay for my own breakfast."

"Nonsense! We never got to pay you back for all those supplies!" Nora gave Lotus a polite shove into the chair and pinned her there with her hands on Lotus's shoulders, "What do you want?"

With an amused smile, Lotus looked over at Nora's plate and shrugged, "Another order of what you're having would be nice."

Nora grinned and ran to the front counter, leaving Ren and Lotus alone for the moment. Lotus sighed and sat back, hand running along the sheath at her hip. It was a surprise, how comforting it felt. Between Copper's sword, and the black hoodie she wore, she could almost forget the years of murder and imagine herself as she had been when she met the two for the first time.

Ren interrupted her brief moment of bliss with a lightly asked question, eyes following Lotus's hand as it traced along the side of the weapon, "Is that your weapon? You didn't have it on you yesterday."

Lotus's hand froze, and the next moment she brought her hand back up to rest on the table. She gave Ren a shy grin and looked down at it as she spoke, "It was my brother's. He had just finished building it and was planning on going to school at Haven before he… died," Lotus gave a slight shrug, "I keep it as a memento more than anything. I fight better with my fists."

"So you're a brawler!?" Nora interrupted as she returned, hefting a plate of bacon and scrambled eggs down in front of Lotus, along with a pitcher of orange juice. Nora patted her on the back before resuming her own seat and digging into her half finished plate of food.

Lotus let out a small chuckle and decided on giving them the lie that she and Widow had come up with, "I guess you could say that. My semblance increases my strength and speed when I activate it. I _could_ fight with a weapon, but it's just never felt right before," Lotus's eyes strayed back down to the sword, reminded by how _complete_ she was with it, "I… I might learn how to use it, though. I want to become a huntress."

Ren nodded, "You would be able to honor your brother."

"Ren and I are going to Beacon once we're old enough!" Nora announced, throwing an arm around his shoulder to draw him into a sideways hug. Ren accepted it silently, apparently used to Nora's regular shows of affection. He hardly paused with his fork, expertly balancing the sudden shift while still bringing it to his mouth.

"How old do you have to be?" Lotus asked, curiosity thoroughly piqued. She had been determined to go to Sanctum a few years ago, right before… everything happened. With the final name on her list now looking like less and less of a pipe dream, the possibility of going to an academy was suddenly much more plausible. ' _I could still make something of myself._ '

"Seventeen," Ren stated.

"Which means we have a couple years, then we're going to take the entrance exams! Ren and I should pass with flying colors!" Nora nodded excitedly.

"So we actually are the same age…" Lotus mumbled to herself, then lifted her eyes back to the pair, "Why Beacon in particular? That's all the way over in Vale, right?" ' _Near where my next target is…_ '

"Beacon is _the_ place to go! It's the best academy in the world!" Nora explained loudly, gesturing with her fork, ignoring the bits of egg flying off the end of it. Ren looked like he wanted to chastise her, but let out a tiny huff instead and focused back on his own food.

Lotus rubbed a hand across her other forearm and asked quietly, "How… do they treat faunus there?" She shivered in fear. It was a bold move, but if she planned on going to Beacon as well, she might as well find out now whether or not her 'friends' would care about her heritage. Her eyes glanced back and forth between the two as she said it, waiting for their responses, knowing already in her heart that they would reject her. That they would stand up from where they sat, disgusted that they had shared a meal with a faunus, and storm out of the building.

"It's actually quite progressive, second only to Vacuo," Ren replied calmly. Lotus's eyes locked on his as she searched for a hint of contempt, a hint of malice. There was… There was none to be found. ' _Do they not care? That's not possible… right?_ '

A scrape of chair legs was all the warning Lotus received before Nora had swooped back to her side and grabbed her hands, "Oh my gosh you're a faunus!?" Nora's eyes darted around Lotus's body, searching for her faunus trait, "I don't see anything!"

Lotus flinched, curling in on herself as her eyes looked around at the other patrons at the nearby tables. A few eyes had heard and were looking her way. She shied away from their gazes and caught Ren's eyes, who's eyes widened as he looked around as well.

"Nora!" Ren whispered fiercely. The girl turned in confusion before also catching the eyes that had all swiveled their way. Her cheeks colored and she let go of Lotus's hands, backing away to sit back down in her chair.

"Let's, um… let's go for a walk?" Lotus quivered and stood, no longer caring for the food in front of her. The other two nodded, grateful to leave the prying eyes fixated on the group as they left the establishment. Lotus breathed out a small sigh of relief as the door closed behind them, shutting their gazes away.

Nora immediately turned back to her as the door closed, "I'm so sorry, Olivia! I didn't mean to!" The girl's hands were twisting together in a panic, her eyes pained as they silently pleaded for Lotus to understand that she regretted what she'd done.

"Honestly, Nora. You need to be more careful," Ren admonished as he shook his head, leading them further away from the inn and out along the road. They walked outside the edge of the town, just on the other side of the road that Lotus and Widow had travelled along the day prior and stepped into the shade of a large tree. Lotus slumped down against it, sitting down in the grass with her knees pulled up in front of her.

Nora's face was twisted in distress, her eyes going from Lotus back to the town, watching for anyone that might have followed them outside the inn. Thankfully, no one poked their heads out. Lotus sighed and let herself relax a little, letting the cool breeze roll across her skin as she looked up at the young woman.

"It's okay, Nora... My friend and I weren't planning on spending very long here, anyway. We were going to leave later in the evening… I'll just have to let her know to keep her guard up," Lotus gave the pair a half-hearted smile, trying to show there were no hard feelings, "Besides, we can take care of ourselves."

"I'm still really sorry!" Nora said, sitting down with her legs crossed next to Lotus. Ren mimicked her on Lotus's other side, both trying to comfort her with their presence. Lotus glanced between them, realizing finally that neither had outright rejected her as she suspected.

"You're both… okay with me being a faunus?" Lotus asked timidly, afraid to bring the topic back up in case they might both remember their own bigotries now that they were away from other people. Lotus didn't really care about the opinions of those in the town. It would just make the rest of the day awkward, and if anyone gave her _too_ much trouble, she _could_ just kill them. Ren and Nora, though...

Nora held herself back this time, simply offering a hand on top of Lotus's shoulder, "Of course we are! Don't be silly!"

Lotus caught Ren's eye again. He firmly looked back into hers, unwavering as he replied, "Yes. Once we become hunters, we'll be able to protect others. Both humans, _and_ faunus. The Grimm don't care what you are, so why should we?"

"That's… very noble," Lotus replied with a light and timid laugh. She could remember Jace saying something similar once up a time. With growing confidence, Lotus gave a brief glance to the both of them and summoned her courage, reaching out a hand to one of her hoodie's sleeves and drawing it back. Her black veins were exposed to the both of them, and she waited with bated breath to hear their responses.

"Cool~!" Nora grinned, leaning closer to look at them.

Ren frowned, "So what kind of faunus does that make you?"

"A spider faunus. It was a long time before _I_ even knew what I was," Lotus chuckled and pulled the sleeve back up, resting both her hands on her knees again.

"Aren't faunus always the same as one of their parents?" Ren asked in confusion.

"Not necessarily," Lotus used her hands to help explain the concept, "If a human and a faunus have a child, it's a fifty percent chance on what the child comes out as. If they _are_ born as a faunus, then they'll always be the same kind as their faunus parent. Now, if you have _two_ faunus as your parents, and they _aren't_ the same type, then the child will always be a faunus, but the child will be a random type. My mother was a fox faunus, and my father was a bear faunus."

Lotus brought her hands together in a loud clap and then gestured slowly to herself, "Spider faunus."

Ren looked thoughtful as he pondered the explanation. Nora still looked just as confused, but smiled all the same, content to just accept the fact that Lotus was part spider.

Lotus smiled, "I was kind of lucky. I wouldn't want it any other way… aside from being human, maybe."

"What!? Faunus are so cool, though! You have better senses than we do! I wish I could see in the dark…" Nora trailed off at Lotus's frown.

"Having better senses is nice, but I'd rather be able to go wherever I want without having to be afraid of humans, or having to constantly hide a part of myself," Lotus raised her arm again for good measure but didn't pull back her sleeve again.

Ren seemed to have caught on to her earlier admission, "Are spider faunus special in some way?" his face paled slightly and he raised his hand up, "I'm sorry if that came out wrong… We just don't know much about faunus. They don't… tend to talk to humans much, if they can help it."

"It's okay," Lotus grinned, "I can hardly blame you for being ignorant in that regard. Spider faunus aren't very common, which is why _I_ didn't know for so long. In fact, the only reason I found out is because I met my mentor. She's a spider faunus, too." Lotus trailed off for a moment, mind in thought. ' _Do I give away one of my biggest advantages? It_ _ **is**_ _Ren and Nora…_ '

"To answer your question…" Lotus let her sixth sense search out for a moment, then pointed back over Ren's shoulder without turning her eyes in that direction, "There's a squirrel on the back of that tree." The tree in question was around thirty feet away. Lotus's finger tracked it, feeling it move up and down the trunk out of sight, until finally the small brown furred animal scurried to their side of the trunk, then climbed its way to the canopy above, "I can sense vibrations through the air. Like sound, but a _lot_ more acutely." Widow's words from long ago flickered through her mind and she smiled, "I could fight you with my eyes closed and you'd never know the difference."

Nora let out a low whistle and turned excitedly to Lotus, "Now _that_ I have to try out!"

Lotus laughed hesitantly, "Maybe some other time. I'm not sure how well the townspeople would take it if we just started sparring. They might think I was attacking you or something," Lotus paled slightly as well, "I don't want to chance a shot from the old man's double barrel."

They both looked confused, but Ren spoke first, "Do you mean Arthur?" At Lotus's own look of confusion, he elaborated, "The old man we had dinner with last night."

Lotus's eyes were downcast as she nodded, "He was so nice, too."

Nora's mouth opened in surprise, "You think he would try to hurt you? He's really nice, though!"

Lotus shrugged uncomfortably, "You never know until they find out… You two are pretty much the only positive experience I've had with humans…"

Ren shook his head, drawing Lotus's attention, "I don't think he would care either, Olivia."

"I wouldn't be so sure…" Lotus stared up into the tree's green canopy above them, watching the leaves gently sway in the breeze. She nervously began pulling up the grass beneath her right hand, hesitating in asking the question she really wanted to. Ren seemed to notice, and offered his hand towards her shoulder.

"May I?" he asked simply.

"Uhm," Lotus remembered the last time Ren had used his semblance on her. It felt _good_ , but had made her want to sleep immediately after, "Maybe just a little bit? I already slept late enough into the day…"

Ren nodded his understanding and let his hand fall against Lotus's shoulder, only two fingers lightly brushing against the fabric of her hoodie. A soothing calm washed over her, from the tips of his fingers down to the tips of her toes. It was less intense than before, but her body relaxed, and she stopped pulling at the grass, content to simply lie still instead.

"Better?"

"Better," Lotus confirmed. She sat in silence for a few more moments before summoning up her courage, "So… I said before that I wanted to become a huntress… and we're the same age… and you _are_ the two nicest humans I've ever met… Would it be okay if… If…"

Ren caught on sooner than Nora, who realized what Lotus was trying to ask only a moment later. They both shared a smile before Nora threw her arms around Lotus once again.

"We would be honored if you attended Beacon with us," Ren replied firmly, returning a comforting hand to the faunus girl's shoulder.

"Oh, that would be so _fun!_ We would make a great team!" Nora pulled back from the one way hug and gave Lotus a very serious look, "And if _anyone_ tried to mess with you, we'll break their legs!"

Lotus's next laugh was clear of all the anxiety she had felt before, "I'll hold you to that," she smiled at the girl, letting her know that she didn't _actually_ expect her to break anyone's legs. Nora returned a vicious smile, showing her teeth. ' _Maybe she really would…_ ' Lotus only brightened more at the mental image.

Lotus jumped to her feet the next moment as a familiar presence approached from across the road. Nora and Ren flinched in surprise, then followed her gaze, both noticing the taller, older female that was headed their direction.

"Hey, Widow!" Lotus chirped out nervously. She pointed to each of the two humans in turn as she said their names, "This is Ren, and this is Nora. They're friends."

Widow's face melted into a warm smile as she regarded both of the humans flanking Lotus, "It is nice to meet you two. Olivia has mentioned you in the past, so it's nice to put a face to the names."

Ren and Nora returned the older woman's smile and glanced at Lotus before turning back to her, "We're glad to have met her."

Widow's smiled changed slightly, her eyes turning hard and cold as she regarded the two humans. Her mouth didn't betray her intentions, and the warmth was still in her voice as she spoke again, "Even though she's a _faunus_?" Lotus's appendages appeared the next instant, hovering in front of Ren and Nora, prepared to defend against any attack. Lotus knew that look. It was a _dangerous_ look. One wrong word and Widow would happily bury her daggers into each of their chests without a second thought.

Neither seemed to notice the shift in Lotus's stance, or the invisible limbs flexing in front of them protectively. Nora broke out into a much wider smile and nodded enthusiastically. Ren nodded as well, adding, "That means nothing as far as we are concerned."

Widow's senses took in Lotus's display, and her eyes softened again, "Well, any friend of Olivia's is a friend of mine." The older woman's body relaxed, hands falling back down completely to her sides as she now truly looked the two humans over. Not with suspicion or doubt, but genuine curiosity.

Widow sighed, "I'm afraid we'll have to cut your reunion short," her eyes turned back to Lotus apologetically, "I just got a call from Mistral. They need us back as soon as possible. Sorry, little spider."

Lotus groaned and leaned back against the tree behind her, letting her semblance dissipate, "Sorry guys. If they bothered to call us then it really must be important."

"Who called?" Nora gave a little 'hmph', and crossed her arms.

' _Believable lie, believable lie… uhhh…_ '

Widow chimed in, saving Lotus from her failed attempts to come up with an excuse, "We work with another group of hunters. We're called in to help whenever there's a pack of Grimm too large for them to handle alone," Widow shrugged, "It pays well, and never gets boring."

Ren and Nora accepted the answer, nodding along.

"The airship is due back in less than half an hour. We'll hire it to get us back to Mistral, as quickly as possible. Better start getting ready, little spider," Widow commanded, gesturing back towards the inn where she had left her stuff.

Lotus initiated the hug with Nora this time, startling the girl as she pulled her in tight and wrapped her arms around her. Nora hugged back and laughed a moment later, raising the faunus girl's spirits more than she thought a simple laugh could. Lotus released her and turned back to Ren, putting a tentative hand to the boy's shoulder, "I'll miss you guys."

"Don't forget about us. We certainly won't forget about you," Ren's lips quirked into a smile and he returned the gesture, putting a hand of his own on Lotus's shoulder. "Do you want me to…?"

Lotus nodded, holding up her other hand with her fingers spread slightly apart. Ren understood the message, and there was a very brief flash of soothing energy that passed down Lotus's body once again. Her toes curled in their shoes at the sensation as her eyes momentarily closed. ' _I'll make sure I get into Beacon just for that…_ ' Lotus scoffed at herself internally for ever thinking all those years ago that she might not want to have the boy's semblance. ' _It's like an instant massage across your entire body… If that's how he feels all the time…_ ' She shivered at the thought. It was almost too good to be true.

Nora smiled, seeming to understand why Lotus's next words came out a little breathlessly, "I could never forget either of you."

They finished their farewells, an empty feeling returning to Lotus's heart despite Ren's semblance still pulsating lightly through her skin. Even still, she motioned to Widow that she was ready, and the two headed back to the inn, packing up in time to catch the ship back to Mistral. Ren and Nora were there, as well as the old man, Arthur, and his wife. They waved goodbye as the ship lifted off, angling back towards the far distant mountain that the city of Mistral had been built upon.

* * *

Widow watched as her daughter returned the waves of the humans below them as they were quickly lost to sight. Widow had paid a premium fee for expedience, emptying her pockets of the lien she had brought along on the trip.

' _So, my little spider wants to leave again. I thought she gave up on the silly dream of becoming a huntress… Doesn't she see it would never work out? The humans will only break your heart, little spider, just like they did to me._ '

No, it was unacceptable. She couldn't allow Lotus to go through the same things Widow had. She refused to let her life be ruined with false hopes. Widow knew well enough how terrible it was when your world came crashing down around you. It was inevitable. Humans never changed, and as always, faunus were forced to adapt. Forced to cut ties with those around them, whether they liked it or not…

' _You can't leave me, little spider. Mother knows best…_ '

* * *

Lotus sighed for what seemed like the millionth time, sitting in the small side room that Malachite had set up for them while they waited for their guests, "Do we _really_ have to work with someone else to get this done? Seriously, have we not proven ourselves yet?"

Widow grumbled, arms crossed as she leaned back in her own chair. She gave Lotus a reproachful look, "I don't like it either, little spider. Our targets are going to be _very_ well defended, though. The contractor insisted that we partner up with another team to make sure the objective is completed."

"You are going after several members of the Mistral Council all at once," Malachite chipped in, fanning her face while sitting in another chair nearby, "Even _one_ poses a risk since they all increased their security because of the _last_ time you killed one of them. The Council believed themselves untouchable. Now, with _four_ of them gathering together? It would be a suicide mission to go with just the two of you."

Lotus and Widow's eyes both turned to the door before the sound of the door knob rattling announced the presence of the two others that would be joining them on their venture. Malachite stood and welcomed them in. Lotus and Widow stood as well. Two men entered, although one was much younger than the other. It was hard to gauge his age, but Lotus figured he might be a year or two older than herself.

The pair were nearly identical, and with the age difference, Lotus figured they were probably father and son. Each had grey hair, and grey eyes that never stopped moving, taking in everything around them, wary of threats that could be lurking in every shadow.

Widow stepped forward and offered a hand to the older man, "Looks like we'll be working together on this. My name is Widow, and the one behind me is Lotus."

The man accepted her hand, giving it a few rough shakes, "My name is Marcus Black. The welp with me is Mercury. Don't hold us back and I'm sure we'll get along just fine."

Widow gave him an icy smile, "Oh, we can hold our own. Shall we get down to business?"

Malachite stepped back to the table and unfurled the map of the Mistral Council's safehouse, pinning the edges down with a glass to keep it from curling back up.

Marcus gave a hard smile as he walked forward to look at the blueprint.

"Let's do this."


	14. Putting on a Show

Mercury's fists tightened, arms crossed as he stood next to the table, listening in on the strategy meeting between the two elder assassins. He had been unsure of the woman's qualifications at first, but after listening to the back and forth between her and his father for the past thirty minutes, it was clear that she was at least experienced in the art of covert operations.

The younger girl on the other hand… Mercury could admit he was dubious. She had stood around for the first ten minutes, listening in from the other side of the table as Mercury had, then apparently gotten bored and left to lie down across the couch at the back of the room. Mercury just couldn't see her measuring up to the task, and with his own life on the line, he decided to have a little chat with the kid to see for himself if she would be capable of holding her own.

'Lotus' didn't react as he approached with a small grin on his face, "So, what's a kid like you doing on a mission like this?" He put just a tinge of contempt in his voice, letting her know what he thought of her.

"Waiting to kill the people I'm told to kill. What about you, _kid_?" the girl replied back with an equal amount of contempt. She didn't turn towards him, instead adopting an even more bored expression as she brought a hand up to mask a yawn. Mercury grit his teeth, hands clenching tighter, and the girl flashed a smile despite not even looking at him.

"Don't you think it might be better if you paid a little attention?" Mercury growled out, earning him another flash of teeth for his words. The girl turned an eye towards him, a slight twinkle buried in its depths.

She ' _tsked_ ' and waved a hand nonchalantly, as if to avoid his concerns, "I'm sure my part in the plan will be for me to cut loose as a distraction while the rest of you sneak in. I usually work better when I'm not strictly adhering to some plan and just left to my own devices."

Mercury made no attempts to hide the fact that he was looking her up and down. She certainly didn't _look_ the part of someone that could reliably handle dozens of armed guards at the same time. Compared to himself, let alone Marcus… the girl hardly measured up. Mercury was in the middle of narrowing his eyes in a glare when he flinched back, the sharp edge of _something_ grazed his throat. He immediately dropped into a defensive stance and backed away a few steps. The girl simply smirked and yawned again, eyes going dull as she closed them turned her head away from him.

Their little chat and him dropping into a fighting stance seemed to have drawn the attention of the two at the table. 'Widow' laughed lightly from somewhere behind him and spoke loudly in his direction, "I would avoid trying to stir up trouble. Lotus was having a _good_ day until I had to drag her all the way back to Mistral for this little meeting. Best not to get on her nerves at the moment," Widow paused before calling out a little louder in a sweet voice, "Play nice, dear~"

"Don't make a fool out of yourself, boy," Marcus growled, and Mercury immediately relaxed into the posture he had been in before. He kept his eyes on the girl lying on the couch, but was content to avoid any further attention from their elders. Mercury would be punished severely for it later if he distracted them again.

After a few more silent moments, the two went back to strategizing and Mercury waited a few minutes in silence before speaking to the girl again, "What was that?"

The girl opened her eyes back up to smirk in his direction, "Who knows?" Her hand reached down to her sword, the blade whispering out a hair, "Maybe this version of me on the couch is merely an illusion, and I could strike at any moment?"

The older faunus woman loudly cleared her throat. Lotus eyed her and sighed, resheathing the sword with a small click and shifting into a sitting position on the couch. Lotus gave him a considering look, gazing him up and down as he had done to her, then reached out and gently patted the cushions in front of her, recently vacated by her own feet, "You're welcome to sit."

Mercury hesitantly stepped forward. He kept his aura up now, wary of any invisible, sharp objects that might bleed him dry, and sat down a foot away from the girl. Mercury tried to resume his nonchalant attitude from before, but his body was still tense, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.

The girl rolled her eyes, "Even if I don't like it, we're comrades for the time being. I would hardly jeopardize the mission over a joke." Lotus stuck her hand out, offering up a handshake. Mercury took it, not wanting to seem cowed by her antics in any way. The girl's grip was firm, more so than he had been expecting. They shook a few times and withdrew, the girl sitting back against the cushions behind her. Her feet were angled on the couch toward Mercury still, and with a slight smirk, she extended them back out to rest across his lap.

"I like your outfit. You definitely _look_ the part of an assassin," she eyed his grey and black coat, along with the metal grieves on his legs and arms. She then looked down at herself and the black hoodie she wore, "But I suppose, do you _want_ to look the part if you're trying to sneakily murder someone?"

"You'll be thankful that you do once the fight actually starts," Mercury muttered, trying to ignore her legs laying across his lower half. They were so dainty that he hardly felt any weight, but he still felt trapped by them. Like she had pinned him exactly where she wanted him. "Armor protects your aura, just as much as it does the rest of your body."

The girl shrugged, "A valid point. Not to mention, you _do_ have a decent aura reserve in the first place. More than mine, and more than your father's," she gave a cursory glance back towards the table, "Widow still has us all beat... I wouldn't let that get to your head, though. Not where I'm concerned. I'm… surprisingly resilient, when I want to be. It would be _your_ mistake to forget that."

Mercury let the rest of what she said drown out after the earlier admission. ' _I have more aura than my father?_ ' His head spun in rapid thought. During spars, Marcus had always made it seem as if his strength was limitless, only calling off their fights when Mercury's aura began to dip too low. ' _Could I… Is it time? Can I finally be free of him?_ '

He was snapped out of it as the girl's foot nudged his knee, "Remnant to Mercury, you in there?"

Mercury immediately adopted a calm expression and forcibly let himself relax despite the position he was still in. His eyes glanced towards their elders, but the two were still focused on the blueprint on the table between them. Marcus hadn't caught on to their conversation.

"Yeah, I'm still here," he replied evenly, turning his eyes back on the girl next to him. He had a sudden impulse to hug her, or shake her hand, or… something. If only for delivering a small seed of hope to him. He relentlessly crushed the urge beneath his own iron will, though.

Lotus still seemed to notice something was off and grinned, coming to the wrong conclusion. Her feet rubbed back and forth over the top of his thighs for a moment, "Oh, is the young assassin _uncomfortable~_?"

Mercury's face reddened despite himself. He certainly hadn't been thinking _anything_ along those lines up until now, but she was… well, cute. In a, 'could murder you at any moment so enjoy this while it lasts' sort of way. Mercury could appreciate a girl that could take care of herself in a fight, but that was yet to be seen as far as he was concerned, sharp nicks across the neck or no. Why could he end someone's life without a second thought, yet a little light teasing by a girl could still get this much of a reaction out of him? ' _Two can play at that game._ '

Mercury's face adopted a practiced grin, "Oh? I rather enjoy it. Perhaps after the mission, we could find some place _private_ to celebrate?"

It was her turn to go red in the cheeks. The girl's feet withdrew immediately as if she'd been burned. She tried to hide her face with a polite cough, turning away from him before speaking again, "C-Certainly not."

A grin spread across Mercury's face, satisfied that he had turned the girl's own teasing around on her, "So shy!" he whispered mockingly.

Lotus rested her chin against her palm as the color slowly dissipated from her cheeks, "You'd think after dealing _death_ out to so many people, everything else would be easier by comparison."

Mercury scoffed, "How many people could a _child_ like you have killed so far?"

The girl frowned, narrowing her eyes at him, "You first. How many?"

Mercury smiled, leaning forward to whisper conspiratorially, "Twenty-three. You?" He was proud of the number of kills he had racked up. They had been accepting missions for the past couple years, now.

The girl continued to frown, her eyes drifting off towards the wall in thought. There was a slight tremor in her voice when she spoke next, "I've... lost count. I think I stopped keeping track about a year ago… some time after fifty...? They all just sort of… blur together."

' _Over fifty!? Surely she was joking? But… she didn't look like she was joking..._ ' His eyes took in her long black hair, her black hoodie, the fact that she had been picked to assist on their mission… In a rush, the dots suddenly fell into place in Mercury's mind, realizing that the girl's name had been shortened. ' _The Black Lotus_ ' was a name he had heard whispered many times. Mercury suddenly found himself a lot less comfortable with her proximity. He had heard the rumors and thought them ridiculous. A small girl that could kill you without a moment's notice… a chill ran through his body at the reminder of the graze across his throat, and he subconsciously ran his hand across it.

Lotus didn't seem to catch the motion, still lost in thought as she was. She eventually shook herself out of it with a muttered, " _They never have to know._ " Mercury didn't think he was supposed to hear it and pretended not to, instead keeping his eyes focused entirely on the elder two assassins across the room while the girl recovered.

She eyed him, but was apparently satisfied that he hadn't heard her and hummed lightly. Mercury flinched when her legs returned across his, but if she noticed it, she made no comment.

"So, I guess you're an assassin because it's just part of the family business?" the girl's eyes drifted back and forth between himself and Marcus, taking in the obvious similarities.

He nodded, willing to distract himself from the contact with some idle conversation, "What about you?" Mercury looked between the girl and the older woman. Other than their shared profession, the two were physically very different. Different hair colors, different eye colors, Lotus had lighter skin and wasn't built the same as the older woman. Perhaps a late growth spurt could bring her up to the older woman's height, but Mercury doubted it. They looked nothing alike.

Lotus shrugged, "Adopted, in a way. We were both members in the White Fang, but everyone else died, so now it's just the two of us. That was around three years ago."

Mercury frowned, "You're faunus?"

"You got a problem with that?" Lotus's voice tensed, and Mercury once again felt _very_ self conscious about how close he was to the girl that could apparently kill him without lifting a finger.

"N-no. Not really. We take missions to kill humans _and_ faunus. We _accept_ missions from humans and faunus. A contract is a contract, no matter who it is," Mercury wasn't lying for her benefit. He honestly didn't care either way.

Lotus nodded in acceptance, "Same here. I remember a time where I cared about the distinction… We all bleed red though, eh?" The girl let out a light giggle, "Except the Grimm, of course. You know, that's where I got my name in the first place?" Sadness flickered through her eyes and was gone the next moment, so fast that Mercury almost missed it.

Mercury grinned despite himself, "What, your name _wasn't_ always 'The Black Lotus'? Who would have guessed?"

The girl gave him another playful kick against his knee and sighed, "No. Once upon a time, my name was… Olivia. She was naive, though. She believed she could live a life of her choosing." Lotus's eyes grew dark, "What a fool."

Mercury could sympathize, surprisingly. It wasn't as if he himself had chosen to be an assassin in the first place. Marcus had broken him into a thousand pieces, then reforged Mercury into the child his father always wanted. Someone as _dead_ inside as Marcus himself was. Mercury _loathed_ the man, but up until now, had thought himself too weak to earn his freedom. With Lotus's words earlier, he had started to build a modicum of hope, as small as it was.

Despite the trepidation he felt from interacting with the girl, Mercury wanted to return the favor. He was thankful for the nugget of information that she had freely given him, even if she didn't know the effect it would have, "What did Olivia want to do in life?" He asked it quietly, intent on not clueing the adults into their conversation. It was straying dangerously towards treason, or that was at least how his father would see it.

The girl sighed and sat back, giving a small, forced chuckle, " _Olivia_ wanted to become a huntress." She gestured to herself and spread her arms wide, as if to say ' _Look how far that dream went._ '

"What's stopping you?" Mercury frowned, "You _must_ be talented. Becoming a huntress would be a piece of cake compared to what you already do."

Lotus flicked an eye towards the two adults and turned back to Mercury with a sigh, "It would never work. My hands are stained with the deaths of countless others. What kind of hypocrite could turn to a life of protecting people after that?" Her voice dipped lower, in a barely audible whisper to Mercury's ears, "What would her _friends_ say if they found out?"

Mercury got the distinct impression that Lotus already had certain people in mind with that last line, and dropped his voice just as low, "I'm sure if they really _were_ Olivia's friends, they would be able to understand? You'll never know unless you try."

Lotus chuckled at that, "You've been living the assassin's life too long," the girl gave him a sad look, "This life _isn't_ normal, Mercury. It's very much the _opposite_ of normal. _Normal_ people couldn't possibly understand the things we do."

There was some truth to her words. Mercury could only shrug in defeat, "Find better friends, then."

"What, like you?" Lotus gave a genuine giggle that lasted for a few seconds. It tapered off as she realized the position they were still in. She remained how she was, though, despite the redness returning to her cheeks. Lotus sighed, "I… I think I'll still try. See how it goes. There's only one person left on my personal hit list. Once that's done… Who knows? Maybe I'll feel a sense of freedom from all this… all this bloodshed."

Mercury couldn't help but silently echo her sentiments through his own mind. He desperately wanted to be free of his father's influence, and to live his life the way _he_ chose. A small voice in his mind told him that he wouldn't be doing anything different, though. Killing was all he knew, and he was _good_ at it. _Could_ he do anything else?

"If you two are done flirting over there, we're ready for you to return to the table now~," the older woman laughed at the heat that rose in both their cheeks. Lotus whipped her feet off him and stood, smoothing down her hoodie as if it had been out of place. Mercury stood as well, avoiding eye contact with his father as they both stepped back over to the table. The blueprint was laid out, now covered in markings that crossed every which way, detailing their plans.

Mercury spotted the courtyard. There was simply a large red circle around it, and the words 'Lotus distraction' scribbled across the middle. ' _She wasn't kidding…_ ' The two elder assassins began detailing out the plan, starting with what routes they would take to get into position before sending Lotus the signal to attack the front courtyard and cause as much mayhem as she could.

A little worry crept through his mind, surprising Mercury. ' _Can she actually survive all that firepower? She even admitted my aura is stronger…_ ' Mercury shook himself out of it. If she died, she died. Lotus would hardly be the first, and certainly wouldn't be the last... He couldn't afford to lose his concentration and start caring about someone else now, not when he finally had a glimmer of hope for his own freedom.

They went through the details of the plan several times over, but after the first, Lotus was content to head back over to the couch. Her part in the plan didn't require any of the finer points that Widow and Marcus were now drilling into him. Which turns to take, what to expect, contingencies upon contingencies for every little possibility or eventuality until he could recite them all verbatim. Mercury knew better than to get anything wrong. Not with his father there.

After another thirty minutes, they left. The hour was approaching and time was of the essence. Their employer had been very specific. The council members needed to die as quickly as possible.

Mercury had no objections, he wanted to get home and start on a few plans of his own.

* * *

Widow shrouded the group of three with her semblance, masking any sounds as she slashed her heavy dagger through the gate's lock. They had approached the back entrance, moving through the shadows as they went. She waved her hand, gesturing for the other two to make their approach, and sized them up as they did so. Widow had to hand it to the kid, he'd been trained well. ' _Not as well as Lotus. That girl is my pride and joy._ ' Widow would never admit otherwise, even _if_ the boy melded into the darkness like he'd been born to it.

There was no need to peek around the corner to know that the guard was slowly making his roundabout approach to do his regular gate inspection. Widow could feel him nearing, and with a sudden, silent swing of the gates, stepped into his side from the shadows. The man attempted to shout a warning, but no sound could be heard as Widow stabbed him through the chest and dragged him back through the gate, setting him against the wall. Marcus gave her an approving nod, and she continued to lead the three into the compound.

The blueprints they had scoured for half an hour had detailed out various corridors and rooms that they could take to get to each of their two points of interest. Their first target was the security room so that they could disable the feed and remove any traces of video that would been saved on them. Once that was done, they could move more freely through the building, only having to worry about human eyes instead of digital ones.

Widow could feel the slow swivel of the camera positioned nearby, its path currently sweeping it in the direction of the gate that they had not yet moved past. The spider faunus kept her hand up, cautioning the other two not to press forward until she gave the signal. The sweep paused, aimed directly at the gates, then began to backtrack as the movement resumed. Widow waved the two to follow from over her shoulder as she stepped through the gate, keeping her sixth sense focused on the camera's path so that they remained _just_ behind its viewing angle.

They reached the wall of the building itself, now safely beneath the camera they had been avoiding. Widow tested the door they stood next to, receiving a small jingle of metal in return. ' _Of course it's locked._ ' She made use of her semblance again, wishing for a moment that Lotus was with them, ' _My little darling could cut through this thing like paper._ ' Instead, she was forced to break it herself. With her aura increased strength, it only took a few strikes before the knob dropped to the ground on both sides.

Widow quickly worked her hand into the empty portion of the door, pulling back on the bolt that held it in place before pushing the door open. She knew they were away from the prying eyes of any guards inside, and slipped through, gesturing for Marcus and Mercury to follow suit. She closed it behind them, just in time for another camera's sweeping angle outside to miss them by a narrow margin. Widow doubted anyone watching the cameras would notice the knob on the ground outside. It was too small of a detail.

The trio set off through the twisting corridors, occasionally passing through rooms that brought them one step closer to their initial goal. Widow's extra sense was working overtime, alerting them to both camera and guards alike. She could feel them all. None caught sight, until finally, they stood outside the door to the security room. Widow held up a finger to the pair, ' _Two,_ ' then pointed out their general positions through the wall. They silently communicated, and with their plan firmly in mind, put it into action.

Mercury took one step back, still enveloped in Widow's semblance, and fired off the shotgun from his steel-toed boots. A hole silently appeared through it, instantly allowing access as Marcus and Widow both flashed through the door. One guard was brewing a pot of coffee at a table set against the left wall. Marcus took him in a moment, his own foot crashing against the side of the man's head and snapping it to the side at an angle it was never meant to be in. Widow was just as fast, moving behind the man directly ahead of the door, sitting in his large chair as he watched the monitors.

Widow pushed the man out of the chair, his fingers clutching at the long slit across his neck even as his movements stilled. She hardly paid him any mind as she pulled up the security system's live feed. Widow turned back to Marcus and Mercury, "I've got this. Guard the door and I'll be right out."

Marcus nodded, and the pair left her to it, moving down the hallway a sufficient distance away. Widow could feel them taking up their positions, one on each end where the corridor corners turned into the hallway her room was in.

Widow went through the directory, turning off their cameras one by one until only one live feed remained, recording a section of the building's exterior. Widow hesitated, this would be a gamble, but with her expertise, and Lotus's natural talents, as well as Malachite's backing… ' _I'm sorry, little spider. You're going to be stuck in Mistral for a while… But it has to be this way._ ' Widow left that single camera to record, and then wiped the harddrive of all past video evidence.

There would be only one person caught on tape tonight.

* * *

Lotus sighed as she stood against a tree across the street from the front gates she was supposed to assault. Her foot idly drummed back against the trunk, chipping away at the bark with each tap. Her appendages were already active, stretched down across her limbs. They wouldn't be for long, though. She would have to move into a more... defensive _..._ stance once the fight began.

The rest had snuck off into the compound ten minutes ago. The building was like a fortress in its own right. The walls that lined the outside edge were thick enough to warrant walkways, and were lined with several guards, all carrying standard issue weaponry. Lotus wasn't worried about them. Her appendages were bulletproof, even without taking her aura into account. With the way the guards were lined up on the wall, as soon as she got the go ahead she could take them out one by one. Only a single guard would be able to fire at her at once, for fear of shooting each other in the back.

No, she tapped her foot repeatedly in mild worry over Mercury's part in the plan. The boy had made a good impression on her, surprisingly, and she couldn't help but notice that aside from her, Mercury would have one of the more dangerous tasks. Lotus would draw the bulk of the guards, ' _and maybe a few huntsman_ ', to herself. Mercury would join in the assault on the inside, then take up a position outside the main council chambers to stop any returning huntsman or guards if those inside got word out. Marcus and Widow were to take out any of the personal guards, along with the council members themselves. ' _There's a lot riding on whether or not I can keep them occupied and away from Mercury…_ '

Lotus decided right then and there that she would make sure it was a _spectacular_ display that got their attention diverted outside. She reached down into her pouch and hefted out one of the explosives that Malachite had acquired for her. ' _How many vehicles were parked outside?_ ' A slightly demented smile curled her lips, ' _Oh, this is going to be fun~_ '

A vibration through the scroll in her pocket signalled Lotus to begin. She immediately snapped into action, crossing the street in a short burst. Her appendages pierced into the sides, hefting her up on to the wall with ease even as the first few guards began to shout their warnings. Lotus relied on her sixth sense to guess the trajectory of the bullets being aimed her way, and devoted two of her appendages to blocking them. The other two remained on her arms as she crashed into the first guard, knocking him from the wall, his aura _shattered_ on impact, a hole appearing through his chest along with it.

' _Fodder,_ ' Lotus thought to herself. These guards were little more than low class, dime a dozen mercenaries for hire. ' _Don't they know you should always pay for the best?_ ' If you didn't, then someone else would. The four assassins storming the building were proof enough of that. The next few guards were dropped in a similar fashion, gutted and thrown off the wall out of the way of Lotus's war path. She stopped to play with the fourth. The last one behind him had finally pulled out his radio and was shouting for back up. Lotus pierced through the fourth guard with several appendages at once, letting his dying screams be heard through the radio for good measure. ' _That should rile them up._ '

Lotus threw that man off the wall as well and closed the distance to the last. Now that he had called for backup, he was of little use. Once he was disposed of, Lotus descended into the courtyard, chucking explosives beneath each of the vehicles in the parking lot. They were parked in a line near the front door, the occupants apparently wanting to enter the building in haste. ' _They must have known they were going to be attacked._ ' The positions of the vehicles made little sense, otherwise.

Lotus stood in the center of the courtyard, thirty feet back from the line of vehicles that sat between herself and the front door. Over a dozen guards poured out, dressed the same as the ones she'd already killed. They raised their guns, aiming down their sights at Lotus while taking cover behind the sides of the vehicles.

A few men exited after them, differently dressed and sporting a wider variety of weaponry than the goons she had seen thus far. They hefted their weapons, and began to walk through the line of cars, smiling at the lone girl that had caused so much panic. ' _Silly huntsmen. You shouldn't underestimate a pretty face._ '

Lotus gave them one cheeky smile as she wrapped her invisible appendages around herself and activated the detonator in her hand. They didn't even have time to scream as their lives were extinguished in a brilliant flash. Fire and steel exploded outwards from the line of cars, the shards acting as shrapnel that cut them all to pieces even as the flames melted their flesh to the bone. A shockwave of dust blew Lotus back a few feet, bits of metal pinging off her invisible limbs, but left her relatively unharmed. Her appendages took the brunt of the blast with no complaints.

Lotus was given only a few moments to breath before her sixth sense warned her of another wave of guards exited the building, flanked by a few more huntsmen. A thick haze of gunfire ricocheted off Lotus's appendages, fired randomly through the cloud of smoke and dust between them. Lotus wrapped herself in her defensive barrier once again while she pulled two more grenades out of her satchel, these ones of a different variety. She was thankful for once that she was still short for her age, her limbs were able to cover her entire front by layering them over the top of one another. All at once, the flurry of bullets ceased as they ran out of ammunition, the sound of two dozen magazines falling to the ground with a metal clatter as they all began to reload.

The dust cleared, revealing Lotus, not a scratch to be seen. She grinned as the smoke grenades she had thrown ignited, dispensing a thick cloud of white smoke that blinded everyone in the area, once again cutting off vision entirely. ' _Except not for me~_ ' She flexed her appendages in preparation to lunge forward and began tearing the defenseless guards to pieces. A streak of black in a field of white flecked with splatters of red in the air.

Not for the first time, Lotus wondered if she could get away with taxing morticians for all the customers they were about to receive.

* * *

_Meanwhile..._

"Hey, Yang? Can you pass me that box of crayons?"

"Are you still trying to figure out what colors to go with for Crescent Rose?"

"Yeah, I think I've almost got it. I just need more red."

Yang rolled her eyes playfully, "You _always_ need more red, Red."

* * *

Mercury flinched as an enormous explosion rocked the building, and was soon followed by a cacophony of gunfire. ' _Okay… maybe she_ _ **can**_ _handle herself._ ' He had been worried about the younger girl's part in the plan, but was now wondering how he ever could have doubted her. You didn't earn a reputation like hers for no reason.

They had long since moved from the security room. As soon as the guards cleared out, Widow and Marcus had sprung into action, assisting him in killing the half dozen guards that remained outside the conference room door. The two then proceeded inside without him, leaving him to ward off any unwanted guests. The sounds of fighting behind him were dulled by the thick wooden doors that stood between himself and the pair of older assassins.

A surge of static could be heard over a radio, still held in the outstretched hands of one of the dead guards lying in the hallway. It was followed by the sounds of more gunfire and screaming, then a panicked voice, "We're getting slaughtered out here! Where's our backup!?"

Another voice answered it a moment later, echoed by a muffled voice through the door behind him, "They're already inside! Pull back and fortify!"

Mercury stretched and lowered himself into his combat stance as the sounds of distant footsteps reached him, headed his direction. Two huntsmen rounded the corner, looking a bit worse for wear. Mercury could tell they had fled the battle outside, but without any visible wounds, likely still had their auras up. Each slowed and approached cautiously, raising their weapons as they eyed Mercury warily.

' _Show time._ '

* * *

Lotus felt two of the huntsmen leave. They had been blinded by the smoke long enough for her to kill the guards, all of which were strewn about the front of the building in bloody heaps. Her appendages were stained crimson, one of the _few_ reasons the lone huntsman that had been left to confront her still stood. He had a defensive fighting style, involving a pair of small shields that he wore, one on each wrist. A blade protruded from beneath the shields over the top of his knuckles. He fought with a very mobile brawling style, dipping in and out of range of her appendages and occasionally firing off a few rounds at her in an attempt to keep her at bay.

' _He's just trying to delay me,_ ' Lotus scoffed. The two huntsmen that had left would end up running into Mercury. She stepped back from the lone huntsman, ' _Let's end this quick, eh?_ '

Lotus let him get a hit in with one of his blades. The huntsman's eyes widened as she allowed her semblance to deactivate, bloody appendages disappearing completely. The blood vanished along with them, and as they reappeared, they were once again fully invisible. She quickly used them to strike against her _own_ aura, giving it a brief shimmer in multiple places across her body to make it appear as if it had broken. To the huntsman, though, it seemed as if she had lost her aura and semblance completely, and was now defenseless.

Lotus feigned reaching for Copper's sword in a panic, letting herself back up another step. The huntsman's eyes narrowed, thinking this was his chance, and lunged across the intervening distance, intent on getting his strike in before she could rearm herself.

Her appendages speared through him while his guard was down, stopping him in his tracks. The tip of his blade scraped against the aura that still protected Lotus's chest. His eyes widened, face twisting in shock, pain, and confusion as his hands grabbed at the invisible appendages. All at once, he seemed to understand the trick she had played, even as his eyes dulled and his body slumped in her grasp. Lotus hurled him into the wreckage of the exploded cars behind her, and with none remaining to halt her progress, ran inside.

* * *

Mercury ended the remaining huntsman with a shotgun kick to his head, putting him out of his misery where he'd been lying on the ground. He tensed as the sound of lighter footsteps reached him, but then relaxed. Lotus ran into view, a smattering of blood and dust across her body. With one glance though, Mercury could tell none of it was her own.

"What took you so long?" he grinned as she approached, eyeing the two dead huntsman briefly.

She smiled, brushing some of the dust off her shoulders, "Traffic was _terrible_."

The sounds of combat were dying down in the room behind them. Mercury stepped to the side of the door, gesturing towards it for Lotus to walk past, "After you." Lotus passed him and pushed the door open. Seven more dead huntsmen lay on the floor across the room, in pools of their own blood among broken chairs, knocked over bookcases, and one long flipped table. Marcus and Widow were just then bearing down on the council members, who had all moved to a corner of the room. Lotus and Mercury stood at the doorway, still keeping an eye behind themselves while the older assassins were finishing up.

"No! You can't do this!"

Lotus caught Mercury's attention and gave an exaggerated eye roll, "Haven't heard that one a thousand times."

'Please I'm begging you!', Mercury replied in a high pitched falsetto, "I hate that one the most. Begging doesn't fill my pockets with lien."

"You don't understand! Lionheart has betrayed the city!"

Lotus raised a hand to mimic a mouth moving.

"Isn't that the Headmaster for Haven Academy?" Mercury frowned.

Lotus paused to think while the man's begging continued in the background, "Yeah, he has a seat on the Council. They must have had a falling out," her eyes lit up, "Pretty sure Lionheart is a faunus, so win-win for me, I guess."

"Wonder what betrayal they're talking about," Mercury asked rhetorically. Obviously Lotus wouldn't have the answer either.

"Do you really _want_ to know?" Lotus glanced at him with a smug expression, "That's probably why we were hired in the first place, remember?" Lotus turned back to the scene and cupped her hands together to shout across the room, "Would you two hurry it up!? We aren't getting any younger, ya know!"

"All good things come to those who wait, little spider," Widow laughed. She flicked a gun off the floor up into her hand and leveled it at the man that was shouting anyway, "But you have a point. I hardly wish to celebrate from a Mistralian prison cell."

"Please! We can pay you!" the man's eyes darted at the other council members next to him, "T-Ten million lien! Each!"

"Y-you could retire! Move to another city! We could forget all about this!" the man fell to his knees, hands outstretched and clasped together as he begged.

Widow paused, sparring an eye at Marcus next to her, "What are you thinkin', partner? That's a boat load of lien."

"I'll admit to being a little curious," Marcus said roughly, turning his attention to the begging council member, "What's Lionheart mixed up in?"

The panic in the council member's eyes eased, a glimmer of hope returning as he began to stammer, "H-He's working w-with a man! A f-faunus! They're killing all the city's h-huntsmen one by one!"

He didn't get the chance to speak another word, as the hole from Widow's bullet appeared through his skull. The council member dropped to the ground, dead before he even knew it. Widow raised the pistol, and gunned down the rest of the council members in quick succession.

"Bad news?" Marcus asked simply, the bodies slumped to the ground as he turned to look at Widow.

"The faunus they're speaking of is Tyrian," she glanced back towards Lotus, "My little spider and I met him just last night," Her eyes focused back on Marcus, holding his gaze. "From one professional to another, Tyrian is more than either of us could handle."

Marcus nodded, "I would have said no regardless. I have my reputation to maintain. Like I said, I was just curious." He turned back around towards the two younger assassins at the door as he and Widow headed their direction, "Let's head out. We hardly want to be here when the cavalry arrives."

Mercury got Lotus's attention and led the two of them to their escape route, knowing she hadn't been bothering to pay attention that far into the plan. They gained some distance from the older two, and Mercury glanced over at the young spider faunus, "Tyrian, huh? What's so special about the guy?"

Lotus let out a dry laugh, "You mean aside from being incredibly unhinged and having an aura reserve more than double yours?"

Mercury winced, this guy didn't sound like someone you would want after you, "Sure, aside from that."

She frowned slightly, turning an eye to him as they walked, "He… I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm _pretty_ sure I didn't eat any hallucinogens before then, but I _did_ eat some stew that was offered to me by an old married couple I'd never met before we left to go kill a couple hunters… but what it _looked_ like," Lotus hesitated, sparing him another glance before forging on, "It looked like he could control Grimm."

'… _?_ ' Mercury stopped in place, holding his hands up and moving them in a 'hold on' gesture, "Wait a second... He _what?_ " ' _I don't remember taking a blow to the head. I must have, though._ ' Mercury couldn't make sense of the string of words that Lotus had just uttered.

"Widow saw them too. Tyrian chatted us up after we killed a pair of hunters, saying he had been there to do it. When we left, we could see some Grimm through the trees. They…" Lotus held her hands out, fingers pointed downwards to mimic something standing on four legs, "They were just _waiting_ there. Patiently. Like their master told them to sit while he did something else."

They both resumed walking slowly, Mercury trailing a little behind until they finally exited the building. The news was far from comforting. When he was younger, he had often thought silently to himself that his father was more Grimm than human. Over the years, he had grown to accept that he was like his father as well. They didn't care who it was they killed. Mercury had no regrets for the lives he ended, and lost no sleep over it. Still… actually working _with_ the Grimm? That was a barrier he didn't think he could cross. It hardly seemed possible. Lotus didn't appear to be lying to him, though, the revulsion displayed on her face was genuine enough.

The wall was easy enough to scale. The distant sound of sirens could be heard, quickly approaching the building they had just left as Lotus and Mercury were soon joined by the older assassins. The four faded into the night, using the rest of the surrounding structures to vanish into the concrete jungle. In half an hour, they were already lounging back in Malachite's hideout, watching the news as Widow and Marcus split their earnings at a nearby table. Mercury slouched in his chair across from Lotus, arms crossed over his chest. Marcus wasn't really paying attention to the news, he had just put it on as background noise out of habit.

"So, what are you buying with your cut?" Mercury asked, turning an eye over to Lotus who was absentmindedly playing with the sword at her hip.

The young faunus looked up with a tight grin, "I'll be hiring an airship to Vale."

"What's in Vale?"

Lotus stretched her arms above her head from where she sat, "Meeting Tyrian wasn't all bad. I've been trying to get revenge on the huntsmen that took out the White Fang. The two that Widow and I killed last night were two of the three left on my list. Tyrian told us the last is in some small town outside Vale."

Lotus breathed out a sigh of relief and flashed him a smile, "It's been a little over three years since then. I was starting to lose hope. Now though?" She rocked back and forth in the chair giddily, eyes returning to the news report.

' _Well, at least one of us is happy._ '

Her joy was short lived.

The chair legs crashed to the floor as Lotus suddenly sat forward, eyes glued to the screen on the wall across the room from them. Her body had gone rigid, eyes widening in shock at what it displayed.

Mercury followed her eyes to it, and froze as well. On the screen was a very large, very detailed still image of Lotus. The image had been taken while she was in the courtyard, her eyes brimming with delight. The image changed, widening out to show the bodies scattered around her, all blurred out to protect the viewers from the gruesome sight.

A series of small green bars appeared, growing larger as Widow picked up the remote and raised the volume to hear the female reporter, "- dear viewers, we have terrible news tonight. Four members of the Mistral Council were assassinated during a meeting earlier this evening. The figure depicted in the images shown is the sole culprit, identified as 'The Black Lotus' by the Mistral Police Department, and considered armed and _very_ dangerous. We warn you against attempting to confront this individual. If you or anyone you know has information on this person, dial the number at the bottom of the screen. Do your part. Any concrete information that leads to her capture could earn you one million lien. We will be back with more later, as Leonardo Lionheart, Headmaster at Haven Academy, will be issuing a statement..."

The sound slowly died back down as Widow lowered the volume. All eyes turned back to Lotus. Marcus gave her a flat look, simply watching for her reaction instead of displaying any of his own. Mercury couldn't help but look troubled by what he had just seen. ' _I don't think she's going to be hiring an airship any time soon._ '

Widow rose from the chair at her own table and slowly closed the distance to Lotus, "I'm sorry, dear. There… must have been an additional set of cameras sending their recordings to an off-site system. I'm certain I deactivated all of the locally operated cameras."

Lotus could only nod dumbly. Mercury didn't blame her, he wouldn't ever want to be in her shoes. The entire police department, every huntsman and huntress, _and_ all of the civilians would be after her for a reward that sizable. ' _She won't be able to step foot out of the safehouse, even if she wears a hood. There will certainly be those desperate enough to try and force her to show her face, especially in the slums…_ '

The scroll in Widow's pocket buzzed. She swiftly pulled out the offending object, but paused as she read the caller ID. Mercury could just make out Malachite's name despite it being backwards before Widow excused herself to another room to take the call.

Mercury hesitantly reached out, placing his hand over the top of Lotus's to get the attention of the young faunus. Her shoulders quivered, and she brought her free hand up to her face, covering her eyes.

"It's alright. This whole thing will blow over before you know it," Mercury tried to drop his voice into a comforting tone, but couldn't quite manage it. It was still rough. He wasn't used to this sort of thing, "A few months and they'll forget all about it. The Grimm always take top priority sooner or later, and there's plenty of pompous bureaucrats ready to step in and take their place."

Lotus used her hoodie sleeve to wipe her face and gave him a nod, "I hope so. I've already had to wait _so_ long… What's a few more months?" Her eyes roamed around the decently sized and well furnished safe house, "At least it isn't as small as the last place we had to hide out in…'

"That's the spirit," Mercury let out a polite chuckle before catching his father's eye. Mercury's hand whipped back to himself in a surge of panic, and his face returned to the calm, uncaring stone his father had drilled into him so many times.

"Time for us to leave," Marcus stated flatly, standing from where he had been sitting and shoveling their cut of the lien into a briefcase. Mercury knew he had taken only their share and not a single lien more. His father had standards, and fervent pride in his reputation. Marcus Black was not a _thief_. He earned his money through murder. Any that would suggest otherwise were signing their own death warrant.

As Marcus led his son to the door, Mercury couldn't help himself but flash Lotus one last parting smile. It was sorrowful, or at least he hoped that's how it would come across.

' _She was nice… as far as assassins go._ '

Mercury offered up a silent prayer that they would meet again someday. Under better circumstances, once he was free of his father, and once she had gotten her revenge.

' _Good luck, Olivia._ '


	15. An Offer

"Now, if we could all have a moment of silence for the fallen Council members that were taken from us so abruptly…"

The crowd quieted down. A sea of heads bowing low, parents placing their hands on the shoulders of their children to stop their shuffling. Humans and faunus alike offering up a silent prayer to whatever gods they might believe in. Leo suffered through it, a complete and utter nervous wreck. Fortunately for him, those that knew him well were taking his demeanor as grief, and not guilt.

' _It was lucky that Watts bugged the tower for all inbound and outbound communications as he did. 'Key words and phrases', he called them? If he had done it later, we would not have known the others caught on, and this would be my public execution instead of a public announcement._ '

Still, he did have some small amount of grief for the other council members, even if they had not seen eye to eye. They had been on the Mistral council with him for well over two decades, and a few of them he regarded as friends. ' _If only they had come to me first, instead of colluding behind my back. I may have been able to bring them into the fold…_ '

Leo grimaced at what he was about to do. The assassins he had hired had been sloppy, apparently. The young one, this 'Black Lotus', had been caught on camera. ' _Hopefully Tyrian can protect me from them. I wouldn't want to become another target. This has to be done, though. I must keep my cover, or I risk losing my worth to her Grace._ '

The moment of silence passed, and Leo resumed his place at the microphone, "We cannot allow this crime to go unanswered. I have spoken with the Chief of Police, and beginning tomorrow, they will be scouring the city for the one responsible. In the meantime, we ask that the citizens do their part as well, and keep an eye out for the assassin."

A large screen behind Leo lit up, the glow emanating out on to the crowd in front of him as it displayed the clearest image of the assassin that they could recover. Leo did not bother to turn around. He already knew the face well enough, "One million lien is the offer for any information that leads to her arrest. Please, do not confront her yourself. Along with the council members, this _child_ was able to kill over thirty guards, and thirteen hunters that stood between her and the council members."

Leo waited patiently as the room erupted in shocked whispers. ' _It was not all her doing, but admitting that would admit to there being more than one assassin. I would not want to anger all of them, instead of just the girl._ '

The room began to quiet back down, so Leo continued, "On top of scouring the city. All routes outside will be heavily guarded and inspected. We ask that no one attempt to obscure their features while they use public transportation. All hoods and face covering will be forcibly removed, if necessary. Any person that does so will be considered a threat until proven otherwise. We will also have images posted at these areas, so that _all_ may keep her face in mind and act as an added defense."

As the screen turned off and Leo stepped away from the podium, there was a surge of reporters that pressed towards the front. Leo raised a hand, muttering, "No interviews," and walked back stage. He didn't have the patience for questions right now, and worried that he might say the wrong thing in the moment. Such large scale lies required precise wording and planning to get by without suspicion.

"Your car is ready for you, sir."

Leo nodded to the group of four hunters that had recently graduated from Haven. Tyrian and Hazel had certainly been working overtime to snuff out all those that would have been more qualified. Leo kept his head down, a familiar wave of guilt washing over him. It was a feeling he was very used to.

The group led him outside to a waiting limousine. It was a long, unmarked black car with tinted windows. The body of it was almost entirely bulletproof. The sight of it made Leo feel safe, ' _They can't get to me in there._ ' No sniper was going to take _his_ head off from the safety of some far off rooftop. ' _Poor Dijon. I liked him, too._ '

One of the hunters, a young female whose name he had forgotten, opened the door for him. Leo no longer bothered familiarizing himself with the students that passed through his school. Their deaths were easier that way.

Leo climbed into the back and gave a nod to the young huntress. She flashed him a good natured smile and shut the door, following after the rest of her team to the vehicle that would follow them back to the academy. Leo watched her go, tracking her slowly along the glass windows, his shame building as he saw her laugh.

' _She looks so happy…_ '

"Ahem."

Leo was too used to Tyrian's abrupt visits to scream. It had not been the man's voice, though. This was much more feminine. Leo's eyes darted to the other side of the limousine, at the front. A female with long red hair and a black leather outfit stared at him over steepled fingers, her presence masked in the shadowy corner. Leo's eyes glanced towards the ceiling of the vehicle, and saw now that the light on that end had been shattered, allowing her to remain obscured more easily. With his faunus eyes, though, he could still make out her face. The human students that guarded him would not have been able to see her at all.

Leo watched the mysterious woman in silence, waiting for her to make the first move. ' _If I survive this, I shall have to remember to always bring my weapon with me, despite however many guards I have…_ '

"That was a nice speech," the woman said quietly, face unreadable as she continued to stare at him. Leo silently hoped that the driver would be able to hear her as well. She was situated closer to the front, and only a thin pane of glass separated her from the front compartment. The driver did not seem to notice, though. The limousine's engines came to life, and the vehicle began making its way to the academy.

"I did my best…" Leo said with uncertainty. His eyes scanned the interior, trying to spot anything that might help him if the woman suddenly decided to cross the distance and attack. His eyes retreated from their search as the woman drew a dagger from her belt and idly played with it in her hands.

"You know... my daughter isn't going to be happy now that she's _stuck_ in Mistral for the foreseeable future," the woman's eyes never left his. His gaze was locked to them, "Tyrian's _mistress_ won't be appreciative if she is caught, either."

Leo gasped, holding himself back against the seat behind him, putting as much distance between himself and the woman as he could, "H-How do you know about that!?"

She smirked, "Tyrian admitted that his Mistress was interested in my daughter. That they had 'been keeping an eye' on her progress."

Leo's first instinct was to do as he always did, make excuses.

"It was not my fault! You were all supposed to remain unknown! That would have driven more fear into the city! You should have been more careful when you disabled the cam-!"

His words died in his throat as the woman raised a finger to her lips, a slight smile behind it as she wordlessly commanded him to remain silent, "I left that camera running on purpose."

Leo sputtered, incapable of making heads or tails of that admission, ' _Why on Remnant would she do such a thing!?_ '

"I can see you are confused. Do you have children, Leonardo?"

"N-No. I cannot say I have ever had the pleasure."

"Then let me clue you in on a little secret among parents. Among _good_ parents. We will do _anything_ to keep our children with us. To keep them _safe_ ," the woman stared at him intensely as she spoke, hand now gripping her dagger tightly, "My dear little Lotus wishes to leave. Wants to start a new life. I know where that road leads. She will find only heartbreak at the end of it."

Leo nodded cautiously. The woman sounded deranged. Even he understood that was not how to raise a child. If anything, her actions were only serving to put the child in even more danger. ' _She wants to keep the child to herself, then… She doesn't care what the girl actually wants._ '

"I-I think I understand, now," Leo replied, raising his hands up to show that he was willing to listen, "Where do I come in?"

The woman's smile grew, the dagger returning to its sheath, "Obviously you must keep up appearances, so I don't really mind the police doing their searches. I want them to _end_ after three months, though." She crossed her legs and seemed to relax, leaning back in her seat, "No, I need you to continue your searches of the city's transportation _indefinitely_. I want her to never be able to leave this city."

"That… is possible," Leo replied slowly, thinking over the implications. ' _It will take up resources and manpower, but it will also help with my cover if I appear zealous in my attempts to capture the young woman._ '

"I accept."

The woman nodded, turning to look out the window, "Glad you could see reason. Now that's settled, I have a question of my own… Who is Tyrian's mistress?" She eyed him over, paying close attention to the controlled expression that had become of his face.

"You fear her, that much is obvious. You admitted to trying to induce fear into the population. Tyrian can control the Grimm. You are helping him kill huntsmen and huntresses," the woman ticked off a finger for each point as she made them. "All the signs are pointing to something very… ominous."

Anxiety clutched at Leo's chest, as he once again scanned the back of the vehicle for a way out. Giving away Salem's secrets would be outright betrayal in her eyes, and this woman was dangerously close to realizing the truth on her own. Leo could feel his scroll in his pocket, ' _Should I try and dial Tyrian? Watts, perhaps? I don't know what to do!_ '

"Come on now, Leo. We're friends, aren't we?" the woman stood in a crouch and joined him at the back of the car, sitting down with her thigh firmly pressed against his. She put an arm around his shoulders, and Leo felt the point of her dagger graze the side of his cheek. ' _I didn't even see her draw it again!_ '

The dagger was creating small sparks against his aura as she idly twisted it back and forth against the barrier that protected him, "You know, I was surprised when you first got in the car. I wasn't expecting the headmaster of an academy to have an aura that was _so weak_ …"

Leo closed in on himself, shrinking away from both the woman and her dagger as they trapped him. She smirked and leaned in closer. Her breast pressed against his left arm, and the dagger resumed its scraping across his now reddened cheeks.

"My oh my, you weren't kidding about never having the… _pleasure_ … of having children of your own," the woman raised herself up and planted a kiss on his cheek, voice turning to a dangerous whisper in his ear, "And you never will if you don't tell me what you know…"

Leo's resolve shattered. The fastest way to get him to speak would always be to threaten his life. Salem might kill him in the future for revealing this information, but this woman would kill him right _now_.

"T-The Grimm have a master! Her name is Salem! Tyrian worships her, and does whatever she bids!"

"Tyrian…" she replied, still only inches away from his face, "And you?"

"I-I have no choice! You don't understand… Salem cannot _die_. She is invincible!" Leo choked it out. It was still difficult to reveal these things about the Grimm Queen, "Please, you cannot tell anyone that I gave up this information to you, especially not Tyrian! They would kill me for it!"

The woman drew away, letting her dagger retract as well, "It's a good thing I need you then, Leonardo. Don't fail me, and I'll keep your… secrets… to myself." She quickly moved back into his personal space and breathed against the side of his face as she whispered flirtatiously, "It doesn't hurt that you're a faunus, either. I wouldn't have been so nice if you were a _human_."

' _That's what she calls being nice!?_ '

Leo breathed out a sigh of relief as they made the final turn into the academy, "Perhaps you should return to your previous position, so as to not be caught?"

The woman let out a small giggle, and retracted her body from where it had once again been pressed up against his side. She walked back to the front, and surprised him by sliding the window to the front cabin open and winking back seductively. Leo averted his gaze as she climbed through the small window, intent on _not_ staring at the much younger woman's tight, black leather clad posterior.

The limousine finally parked, his four hunter bodyguards stepped out at once. The same girl from before returned to open the door for him, her face frowning.

"Wow, Headmaster. You're looking a little red in the face. Are you sick?"

"No… Let's just go…" Leo refused to meet her gaze.

* * *

The girl stifled a giggle, deciding in the moment not to bring up the red lipstick on his cheek. If the headmaster was into some sort of weird solo thing… well, she'd never seen him with a woman. There _certainly_ hadn't been anyone in the limousine with him.

' _I'm not one to kink shame._ '

* * *

' _Two years. Two… fucking… years…_ '

Lotus silently fumed as she stood atop the rooftop, bathed in soft light from the shattered moon above, eyes tracking her intended target through the woman's window across the street.

Two years had gone by since their assault on the council member compound, and her face had been exposed for all to see. Widow had assured her that the street searches would stop, and after three months, they had.

No, Lotus wasn't upset over that. Her fury was from the fact that after two long years, the trains, bullheads, and roads leading out of Mistral all still displayed her _face_. They were all _still_ keeping her _trapped_ in this Oum-forsaken city! Lotus's seventeenth birthday was approaching, and with it, the end of the academies' hiatus. In only a month, classes would be starting back up, and Lotus had no strategy to get to Vale, to get to _Beacon_ …

' _And I still haven't gotten my own revenge!_ '

Nicholas Arc was still alive out there somewhere. Still _breathing_. The thought made her stomach twist into knots, and her fingernails dig into her palms. She couldn't rest until her revenge was sated.

The missions for Malachite had continued. Lotus only did them these days because they offered something to _do_ , something to think about that kept her mind off her own frustrations. She was accepting more contracts than ever, and more often than not, did them without Widow's assistance. Lotus had more lien than she knew what to do with, and her 'friend' seemed totally uncaring of Lotus's plight.

Lotus sighed, remembering the fight that she had with Widow before leaving for her current mission. She had finally revealed to the older faunus that she still wanted to be a huntress, and Widow had _scoffed_ at the idea, then echoed back all of Lotus's own fears. It had been frustrating beyond belief when the woman that was normally so supportive of her, had instead shattered her dreams. Even now, her heart _ached_.

Lotus had trouble admitting it, even to herself. It felt like a betrayal to her own parents, but after being with Widow for so long… she had started to think of her as a mother. After knowing the woman for six years, how could she not? Widow was always there for her, always ready with a kind word, a shoulder to cry on, an answer to any problem that Lotus had...

With a weary mind, Lotus shoved the thoughts that had been plaguing her from her mind, then checked the street below. It was well past midnight, and she still had her job to do. The streets were empty, aside from the occasional car that lazily passed by every few minutes or so. The street lights were spread too thin, allowing the space in between to create deep rims of shadow.

When Lotus dropped from the rooftop onto the street below, it was these shadows she aimed for. Her appendages eased her to the ground at the last moment, absorbing the impact. Lotus stretched, then drew them back in towards herself. Her physical body had not grown much over the last few years. She was barely over five feet tall, a fact that Widow would often tease her about.

The appendages that protruded from her back, though, had continued to increase in both size and strength. It was something that Lotus took some small comfort in. ' _At least one part of me is growing…_ ' The invisible spider legs were now just over fifteen feet long.

Unfortunately, the combination of her body no longer growing, and the appendages being longer and longer each day, had served to make her older style of fighting less practical. Because of this, Lotus had been forced to finally experiment with them in ways she had never done before.

Lotus had slammed her own head into the nearest wall when she finally realized after five years of using her semblance... that if she focused on where she wanted them to _appear_ , she could encase her limbs with them instead. Doing so caused her arms and legs to be shrouded by the invisible exoskeleton.

The lack of any _need_ to try before had kept her from discovering something so basic about her own semblance. ' _All that time practicing to move them all in tandem… and I could have just been imbuing my own actual limbs with them in the first place…_ ' Lotus hadn't stopped hitting her head against the wall until Widow had told her to knock it off.

In preparation for her goal of becoming a huntress, she also adopted Copper's sword as her own. It no longer felt awkward in her hands, and Lotus had long since made changes to it to fit her own specifications. The gaps in the gears had been reduced significantly, spreading to such a minuscule amount between forms now that blood could no longer seep into the interior. ' _Even Grimm bleed,_ ' she had told herself.

Widow had been more than willing to help her train with it. Her daggers were each only a few inches shorter than the shortsword, so Widow's style of fighting had been easily adopted over to Lotus's own.

Between the sword, her imbued fists, or the invisible appendages she could strike out with after a moment's notice… Lotus was even more of a force to be reckoned with than ever before.

Lotus took one last glance up and down the street after crossing it, making sure that no one would see what she was about to do next. When not a single soul appeared, she turned back to the wall in front of her. The appendages reared back, then in a well practiced sequence, struck the building hard enough to pierce into the brickwork and carried her upward, climbing up the surface with ease.

' _Fifth floor, fifth floor,_ ' Lotus counted the windows she passed, until she finally arrived at the one she sought. She peeked inside cautiously, and satisfied that there were no cameras, slid the point of one appendage into the crack of a window and gently pried it open. After some slight creaking, there was a final metallic 'pop!', and the window slid open.

Lotus could feel the presence of her target off to her left, in the bedroom, apparently asleep. It was a large apartment, spacious enough that her sixth sense couldn't quite cover the entire space. Lotus was confident that her target was the only occupant, though. She had been watching it for the last two hours just to be sure of that fact.

With only the smallest whisper of sound, her feet sunk down lightly into the plush carpet beneath them. Lotus closed the window with a nearly inaudible 'click', her faunus eyes were already scanning the room, able to distinguish everything in the dark. The only downside to a faunus's night vision was the lack of color that would have been present with true lighting. ' _I guess in comparison, humans can't see at all, though…_ '

While the apartment was well furnished, there was an emptiness to it. Lotus didn't believe for a second that this was a place someone actually _lived_ in. Malachite had confirmed as much when she warned her not to get complacent with this target. The female she had been hired to kill was no easy prey.

Lotus focused on her sixth sense one last time, then quietly approached the door that led into the bedroom. The bottom gap of the door allowed a tiny bit of light to spill through into the living room. ' _Still not asleep, eh? I wonder if she's expecting an attack._ '

Lotus could feel the position that the woman was in, though. Her back was turned from the door, face buried into her pillow and covers drawn up over her body. ' _Maybe she was too tired to turn it off?_ ' Lotus warily turned the knob, and inch by inch, opened the door. She remained in the shadows, backing away from the light that now flooded out into the living room.

Sensing no change in the figure's position, Lotus crossed the threshold.

The next moment, she was transforming her sword into its pistol form and firing into the _supposedly_ empty back corner of the room. There was a startled cry as a brown skinned, green haired woman in revealing white clothing shimmered into existence.

Lotus only had a half second warning to revert her sword to its bladed form before the woman on the bed flipped back against the wall and used it to lunge straight at Lotus, both hands holding curved shortswords. Lotus blocked the pair in a single sweep of her own sword, knocking them to the side. It did very little to slow the woman's momentum, though. A knee crashed into her chest, knocking her in a roll back across the living room floor.

Lotus rose from the roll, appendages already poised to strike at the woman bearing down on her. The green haired girl popped into the door frame as well, each hand holding a bladed revolver. Two invisible limbs from Lotus's right side struck out together, catching the black haired woman in her side.

With a gasp of surprise, the woman was launched across the room towards the windows and slammed roughly into the base of the wall. Her aura remained resilient, though. It would take quite a few more strikes to deplete hers completely.

Suddenly, Lotus's vision swam as both black and green haired women disappeared from sight. They were replaced by a myriad of duplicates, each surrounding Lotus from all sides. A shot struck her from behind, a blade struck out at her from the side. Lotus shut her eyes, blocking out the fakes, and instead concentrated on her sixth sense.

There were still only two in the room, and they danced around her, striking in tandem with the illusions that had flooded the space. Now able to 'see' clearly, Lotus fought back. She countered blow after blow, following them up with strikes of her own, reducing the fight to a standstill for the moment as both women backed off to reevaluate their situation.

"Are you using your semblance, Emerald?" the black haired woman spoke, a slight tinge of anger in her voice.

"Yes! I don't know how she's doing this!" the girl, Emerald, shrieked back in shock.

The black haired woman seemed to ease up, not quite putting away her swords, but at least letting them drop to her sides, "Well, he certainly wasn't lying about your skills, Lotus."

The woman turned to a door across the room and shouted, "Get in here, Mercury!"

Lotus froze as the door opened, the familiar sense of Mercury entering the room. She frowned. Something was… off. Different. The spider faunus's eyes flew open as she turned to face him, "Do you have cybernetic legs!?"

Mercury smirked and pulled up a pant leg, "Yep. You have no idea how glad I am about that right now. Can you imagine how bad it would have sucked if I had to stand perfectly still in there for over two hours with _regular legs_? What _took_ you so long?"

Lotus's eyes narrowed, as they flicked back and forth between Mercury and the other two occupants, "I had stuff on my mind," she replied defensively, then nodded her head over towards the black haired woman, "and _this_ one kept pacing around the place."

Mercury rolled his eyes at the black haired woman, "Really, Cinder? I told you she wouldn't show if you didn't relax a bit."

"Can you blame me, Mercury? After you spoke so highly of this young woman, I was excited to meet her. You have no one to blame but yourself. Consider being stuck in a closet for two hours your punishment," Cinder laughed lightly, eyeing Lotus up and down.

"I'm assuming this was less a mission to assassinate, and more so a job interview?" Lotus sighed, visibly sheathing her sword, but keeping her appendages prepared. Mercury _was_ an assassin, after all, and she still had a million lien bounty on her head.

"You would be correct in that assumption," Cinder smiled, sheathing her weapons as well and stepping closer to inspect Lotus, "I am putting together a small team, one made up of exceptional individuals to assist me in a rather difficult mission."

Lotus raised a hand up, "Let me just stop you there. To put it lightly, I've had, well, a bad _year_. I only really kill people to pass the time these days. I have more lien then I could ever spend. So, if this is some life threatening mission, then I'm sorry to say that I'm not interested."

Cinder opened her mouth to speak, but Mercury raised a hand. The woman's eyes flashed in annoyance, but she stepped back all the same as Mercury grabbed Lotus's attention, "I'm guessing you never managed to get out to Vale because your face is plastered across every entrance and exit out of the city, right?"

Lotus nodded, letting her anger seep into her voice, "That _bastard_ Nicholas Arc is still alive."

Cinder smiled, "Well, we can help you with your little problem. The mission we need you for is just outside Vale. We can get you there, in exchange for your help."

' _After all this time… Is it true? That would be right before initiation at Beacon…_ '

Lotus raised her eyes back to Cinder's and held her gaze, speaking firmly, "I'll do it."

Emerald chimed in from the side, "Don't you want to know what it is first?"

Lotus laughed as she glanced over to her, "I don't care what you need done, or who needs to die," Lotus returned her eyes to Cinder, this time adding in a confident nod, " _I'll do it._ "

"Good. Bring whatever you need with you to this address," Cinder slipped a small business card into Lotus's hand, "Be there by noon tomorrow. With any luck, we'll be in Vale by the end of the day."

Lotus felt an overwhelming sense of joy infuse her entire being, ' _Finally! YES!_ ' She failed to hide her excitement, but quickly left the group, headed down the building's _actual_ stairs. ' _You had better be worth it, Nicholas Arc! I'm coming for you!_ '

In that moment, Lotus would have done anything Cinder asked. It was not a fleeting feeling, and hours later, when she had excused herself and went to pack... Lotus was still wondering how she could have gotten so lucky.


	16. Goodbye Mistral

"Where do you think you're going young lady?"

Lotus paused, her hand already on the door that would lead her outside and across town to her eventual freedom. Her shoulders shook, the bag she had slung over the top of one shoulder ruffled with them. She had packed only the essentials. A few extra sets of clothing, her weapon, and a few hundred thousand lien. Lotus didn't plan on coming back here for a _long_ time. Likely _never_ , if she had her way.

Lotus calmed herself, expelling the air she had been holding in as she turned to face Widow, "I'm leaving."

Concern flashed across her mother's face, "That's a relatively _vague_ way of putting it… What do you mean by that?"

Drawing herself up, magenta eyes met red as Lotus kept her eyes focused on Widow's, "I'm taking a ship to Vale. I found someone that can get me there." She refused to back down, no matter what Widow might say.

A series of complex emotions flashed across Widow's face for a few seconds, but she finally settled on a tentative smile, "I see… I wish you would have told me so I could pack sooner. This is such short notice…"

Lotus tensed up, her hand shaking, tempted to just rip the door open and run, "Listen… mom," Widow's eyes brightened at the title, it was the first time Lotus had actually said it out loud, "I was going to message you after I got there… Part of the deal to get me there was that I help my employers with a mission near Vale. I can't bring you with me on the same ship… So, if you want to pay for a ship to take you… I still want you to be there with me when I finally track down Nicholas."

Widow slumped back in her chair, foot tapping against the floor as she refused to meet Lotus's eyes, "So that's how it is, then. And I suppose Beacon's next semester starting in only a month has a hand in your… eagerness… to leave your dear old mother?"

Lotus winced, but stood firm, "I want to become a huntress."

" _Why!?_ " Widow stood up in her frustration, hands going out to her sides, "What could the life of a huntress offer you that I cannot? Do you hate being with me so much!?"

"N-No! Of course not!" the young faunus's eyes widened, taking a single step away from the door and back towards Widow, "I want to make something _more_ of myself, Widow!" Lotus gave an exasperated sigh, shaking herself and turning back towards the door, "You're _not_ going to convince me to change my mind! We already _had_ this argument last night. We _both_ know how it ends."

Lotus felt Widow cross the room and shrunk in on herself slightly, still gripping the door knob with a shaky hand. Widow's hand fell on her shoulder, drawing her eyes back to her. There was a desperation in them. Widow's own body shook as well, "Lotus, please! You need to understand that all I want is what's best for _you_! Going down this path you've chosen is a _mistake_! None of them have your best interests at heart, they'll use you, _abuse_ you, and once they've broken you, they'll _dispose_ of you!"

Lotus placed her hand on top of the one Widow held to her shoulder, and very delicately pulled it off, now holding it in her own with a trembling grasp, "I… I know they hurt you. But… I need to be able to make my _own_ mistakes. _Please_ , mom. I love you more than _anything_ , but what I want the most right now is for you to believe in _me_. I can do this!"

A silence fell between them. Widow's face contorted in a convoluted mess of emotions as she stepped back, pulling her hand out of Lotus's grasp.

"I… I need to go. If you want to help me, then… I hope to see you in Vale. I'll call you once my mission is over," Lotus quickly ripped the door open, hand slick with sweat, and stepped outside into the light downpour that slowly misted on to her face from the sky above. Widow didn't follow her out.

Lotus set her feet, and started the next chapter in her life.

' _I_ _ **will**_ _become a huntress._ '

* * *

' _We were so close!_ '

Widow had no doubts that Lotus would ace whatever entrance exams Beacon might throw at her and get accepted with flying colors. ' _My daughter is_ _ **beyond**_ _worthy for that silly school._ ' Lotus just didn't _know_ it yet. Widow had the very _real_ desire to find out whoever romanticized huntresses so early on in her daughter's life, and go back in time to choke them to death before they got the chance.

Even as the door closed behind Lotus, Widow was already headed to her own room to pack, ' _There's not a chance in the world that I'll leave you to face that pain alone. I'll be there for you, whether you want me or not._ ' She could at least try and ease her daughter's pain. No one had been there for Widow when her life had been destroyed. She had been left to pick up the pieces on her own.

' _You can't get rid of me that easily, my little spider._ '

* * *

"Glad you could make it," Mercury said, arms crossed as he leaned back against the wall outside the warehouse. Lotus had looked up the address on her scroll, and followed the tracker all the way here from the slums. They were only a few streets over from where her past life had ended, in the more run down and deserted portion of the warehouse district.

"Some of us have to walk on real legs," Lotus replied sarcastically. It was a lie, though. Lotus constantly kept her limbs shrouded these days with her semblance. Being physically tired had long since become a thing of the past for the young faunus.

Mercury scoffed in mock offense, taking the comment in stride, "I'm _hurt_. Can't you spare a little empathy for a dear friend?"

"No, but I _could_ use some spare parts. How much for the legs?" Lotus smirked evilly, letting her eyes drift down to the covered limbs, "Maybe I could use them to build that _empathy_ thing you were talking about."

Mercury laughed and pushed the door open, gesturing for her to enter, "That's a _lost_ cause. Come on, we're ready to take off."

Lotus stepped past him into the dimly lit interior. Sure enough, a large Mistral ship sat tethered to the ground, floating only a couple feet above the smooth concrete floor. Cinder and Emerald were already standing near it, talking amongst themselves while they waited.

Cinder noticed Lotus's arrival and brightened, "Ah, finally. I hope you have everything you'll be needing?"

Lotus nodded as she approached and tossed her bag into the open door, "Just the essentials," Lotus turned back to Cinder, giving her outfit a glance. It was a very _revealing_ red dress, with a black hem along the bottom that left little to the imagination, "Love the look, by the way."

Lotus caught Emerald's eyes narrowing, and flashed a smirk, "You look good too, Em."

"Wish I could say the same. Do you _always_ wear that bulky hoodie?" Emerald sneered. ' _Feisty…_ ' Lotus quickly realized why. The girl had an obvious crush on her leader, if the small glances she kept stealing in Cinder's direction were any indication. That, and the way she stood just a _little_ too close were a pretty clear indication.

Lotus sighed, placing a hand on top of Cinder's shoulder. She didn't seem to mind at all, "Sorry if that was a little too forward, Cindy. Innocent girls are more my type, and I doubt _anyone_ here could claim to be _innocent._ "

Emerald tensed, reaching down for her sickle revolvers and Lotus flashed her a smile, moving just a little bit closer. Cinder seemed entirely amused at Lotus's shenanigans, and brought her hand up to place it delicately on Lotus's cheek, "Well, just don't let it happen again, okay? I would _hate_ to get my hopes up only for them to be crushed." Her head finally turned back to look at Emerald, "Are we ready to leave?"

With a relieved nod from Emerald, the two ended their contact and stepped away from each other. Cinder motioned for Emerald, the two heading into the pilot's cabin, while Mercury walked up next to Lotus.

"You're insane." Mercury said it with a hint of admiration in his voice, giving Lotus a once over as he did.

She shrugged, leading him into the back of the bullhead, "Ladies appreciate confidence, Merc. Let's hit up Vale some time, I'll be your wingman!"

Mercury chuckled, "I can get the ladies for myself, thanks."

"Your right, who could say _no_ to legs like those?" Lotus leaned down and rapt a knuckle against one of his legs, smiling as she earned herself a distinct metallic clang.

"Hey! Careful with the goods, sister!"

Lotus feigned a pout, "But I like it rough!"

Mercury just shook his head, eyes downcast while his cheeks heated up, "What happened to the tiny murder machine that froze up if anyone even _mentioned_ something sexual?"

"She's been pent up in more than one way her entire life, and has now found her freedom," Lotus replied, giving a light laugh and sitting down in one of the seats lining the walls of the bullhead, "You can't blame me for being a little… _excited_."

The ship began to whirl to life, and Lotus spared an eye out the window as the roof opened up, creating an exit. They lifted off, and Lotus stared out the window for the first ten minutes of their journey. She could barely contain her enthusiasm to see the city of Mistral beginning to disappear in the distance. ' _I'm_ _ **never**_ _going back to that hell hole._ '

Once the city was entirely out of sight, Lotus turned back to her current company, "So, what happened to your legs?" Lotus winced at herself, ' _Wow, so tactful._ '

Mercury laughed at her, "It's fine. I've gotten used to them."

"So it's been awhile then?"

"Uh, about three days?" Mercury seemed to think it over, then shrugged, "My legs got messed up bad by a trap that I stepped on. Of course, my father wasn't going to just let me go that easily. He drugged me and replaced them with these," Mercury lifted his pant leg again, letting Lotus get a better look at them.

"Well, they _are_ impressive. Better than the real thing, I'd imagine?"

Mercury nodded, letting his pant leg fall as he sat back, "I was freaking out pretty bad when I woke up. My legs were gone, replaced with these… things. I attacked without really even thinking about it."

"So, Marcus is…?"

"Dead, yeah."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Lotus smirked, letting him know that she could tell he wasn't sorry in the slightest.

Mercury laughed, "I'm just sorry that it _took_ so long. You told me that my aura was stronger than his, but even still… I had to be sure. The thought of that man making my life a living hell, _and_ getting the last laugh? I wasn't going to let that happen."

"How'd you meet Cindy and her little pet?" Lotus let her eyes drift to the front, and was glad to see that the door to the cockpit was sealed off.

"They showed up after I killed him, wanting to hire Marcus," Mercury grinned, "They found me standing over his corpse while our house burned in the distance."

"Their luck. You're a _much_ better catch than that old man," Lotus winked, "What's in the cards for dear old Merc once this mission is over, anyway?"

Mercury shrugged, "Cinder has a long term goal beyond this one kill. I'm going to stick with her for the time being, see how it goes," he eyed Lotus thoughtfully, "You know, I bet she's going to extend that offer to you as well. I recommended we bring you along in the first place. Are you still planning on becoming a huntress?"

"I am. Sorry to say, murdering people in a brand new city doesn't sound like the right way to go about starting a new life," Lotus tilted her head to the side and shrugged, "Even if I already plan on helping with yours, and killing one of my own. I can forgive myself for those, right?"

"I doubt you're going to lose any sleep over them, so who cares? Just make sure you don't get caught and you should be fine. The hunter exams should be a breeze."

Lotus frowned, "Do you think there's a written portion? I haven't exactly been able to study much over the last few years," Lotus noticed his smirk and raised her hands, "D-Don't get me wrong. Widow still made sure I got the basics down. I'm competent enough in a general sense, but history always bored me, and I haven't done much studying when it comes to the Grimm."

"Eh, Mistral's license exam was pretty easy. If it's anything like that, you should be fine with just the basics as long as you can kill a few Grimm."

"Wait…" Lotus stared intently at Mercury, "Did you _already_ get a hunter's license?"

Mercury cracked his knuckles and leaned back in his chair, resting his arms behind his head and giving Lotus a smug grin, "Yeah. It was under a different name and everything, but it's worth having for some missions. Hunters are more willing to give away information when they think you're just another one of them."

Lotus threw her hands up in frustration, "Well, I'm _jealous_. What did they have you _do_?"

Mercury put a hand to his chin and frowned in thought, "There was a written portion, but it was less a test of knowledge and more a test of character... They asked obvious questions like, 'Have you ever killed anyone?', and 'What are your goals?'. It was pretty pathetic. Fighting Grimm was the most important part of it, though. They had a trained huntsman go out into the woods with me. The longer you lasted, the higher your rating."

"Rating?" Lotus tilted her head in confusion.

Mercury dug through his pack and pulled out a small laminated card. He tossed it nonchalantly over to Lotus, where she caught it in her lap and held it up to look. The words 'Hunter License' were very boldly displayed across the top, along with Mercury's fake name, and a red 'C' that took up half the card."

Lotus laughed when she read the name, "Ash Ketchum?" She had never played Pocket Grimm, but had been tempted once or twice while scrolling through the app store. She'd seen the description enough times to recognize the name.

Mercury smirked, holding his hands wide, palms facing up in a 'what can I say' gesture, "Hey, they didn't notice and neither did Marcus. I thought it was hilarious."

"It _is_ hilarious," Lotus returned her gaze down to the card, "What's the 'C' for?"

"That's the rating. The more you impress the huntsman, the higher your rating. 'B' is the highest you can start with if you didn't attend an academy, but Marcus told me not to stand out too much. We were out there for three days before the huntsman told me I'd qualified for a 'C'. I figured that was good enough. Aaaand I wanted a shower."

"What's the rating matter if you're still killing Grimm anyway?"

"The higher your rating, the more dangerous missions you can go on, the more lien you can make. Most hunters only ever reach a 'C'. After graduating from the top of your class at a huntsman academy you could start with an 'A', and with a few dozen missions under your belt you can qualify you for an 'S'. That's mostly just the Atlas specialists that end up with those, though."

"You're certainly… knowledgeable about all this," Lotus squinted at Mercury with suspicion, "What's the highest rated huntsman you've killed?"

Mercury smirked, "An 'A'. He was a tough bastard, though. You?"

Lotus shrugged, "I had no idea that was even a thing, so I never really checked. I wonder what Nicholas is…"

Cinder stepped through the door, apparently hearing the tail end of their conversation, "Well, you'll have a chance to prove yourself during the mission," she turned back to look over her shoulder for a moment, listening to the muted voice of Emerald behind her, "I _know_ it's your first time, Emerald. Just aim for the blue, and avoid the _ground_ , okay?"

Cinder turned back and took a seat near the front, eyes able to roam over both Lotus and Mercury with relative ease, "So, I thought it would be prudent to bring you up to speed on your part of the mission."

When Lotus simply nodded and leaned forward, Cinder continued, "Our target will be on the road to Vale. Mercury, Emerald and I will be the ones to ambush her. While we're busy with that, you are to wait in Vale itself. Our target is supposed to meet up with a huntsman in one of the diners there. It would be… _easier_ for all involved if he wasn't alive long enough to wonder why she's taking so long to show up."

"How tough of a huntsman are we talking?"

Cinder smiled, "Oh, he is _certainly_ 'S' ranked. With your appearance and background in assassination, I hope that won't be too much of a problem? He shouldn't be expecting anyone to attack him there, especially if our target hasn't even arrived yet."

Lotus shivered in anticipation, turning to Mercury with a smug grin of her own, "Looks like I'll be topping your record there, Merc. You sure you don't wanna switch to keep your pride?"

"That won't be necessary," Cinder spoke up, "Our target is _much_ more powerful than the huntsman. If I was the type to make bets, I'd say she's more of an 'SS' rank. Not that such a rank actually exists."

Mercury puffed his chest out, "Looks like I'll be keeping that record. Might be a _long_ time before you get a chance to beat me."

Lotus huffed, "I'm liking this less and less. Can we give _Emerald_ the huntsman so that I can at least _tie_?"

"Unfortunately, Emerald will be staying by my side. Her unique powers will be invaluable in setting up the ambush."

"You mean the illusions she can do? I hope for your sake your target isn't another spider faunus, otherwise your plans are going to fall apart right out of the gate."

"No, she's definitely human," Cinder smiled, pulling out one of her curved swords and running a finger along the edge. Her aura let off a few minute sparks near the tip as she sighed, "I can hardly _wait_."

"Heh, I feel you on that one. Nicholas had _better_ be worth all this…"

Once she had found out his name from Tyrian, Lotus had gathered as much information as possible on the huntsman. She already knew his address, and had paid a hefty price for a picture of him. The blond haired, blue eyed man was extremely well built, and according to her sources, used a sword and shield style that didn't incorporate a gun. Lotus chastised herself for just now hearing about rankings. She had never known to ask, but would have paid for it in a heartbeat.

' _All good things come to those who wait,_ ' Lotus told herself silently, looking out the window for a moment, ' _I hope he's an 'S' rank, though. That would be a great way to top off my list._ '

"Lotus, I have an important question. One that needs a definitive answer," Cinder broke Lotus out of her thoughts and gave her a very serious expression, leaning forward slightly in her chair as she regarded Lotus intently.

Lotus shrugged, figuring this was probably what Mercury had guessed earlier, "Shoot."

"Would you pledge yourself to me once your quest for revenge has ended?" Cinder didn't break eye contact, instead holding Lotus's gaze with her own.

The young faunus didn't dare look away. Showing a sign of weakness was never a good idea. Even so, she gave Cinder a regretful frown, "I plan on attending Beacon when the new semester starts. I want to become a huntress, not continue down the path that I've already carved myself too deeply in to."

Cinder sat back, seemingly disappointed, "Well, I can't say I'm happy to hear it. I will respect your wishes, though. All this really changes is that we can't fill you in on any details about _our_ target." Cinder shook her head, "At least it won't be an issue, since you'll have business elsewhere."

Lotus shrugged dejectedly, "Sorry to disappoint, Cindy. I'd be pretty bummed about not being able to hang out with me more, too." Lotus grinned, "You don't mind if I borrow Merc after the mission for a bit though, right? I told him I'd take him out to meet some ladies."

Cinder laughed, "As long as the mission is a success, then he's free to do as he wishes in his free time. Do take care of him, won't you?"

"I'm right here…"

Lotus ignored Mercury's little interjection, keeping her eyes focused on Cinder, a bemused curl to her lips, "I'll make sure he doesn't get into too much trouble."

"See that you do. I'm afraid dear Mercury's confidence with women seems sorely _lacking_ ," Cinder brought a fist up to hide her laugh with a cough, "As is Emerald's. I swear I should have chosen assistants that _weren't_ still hormonal teenagers."

"How old are you…?"

Cinder smiled, "One should never ask a woman's age, but since it's just between us girls," she flashed a smile at Mercury as he protested the remark, "I'm twenty."

Lotus whistled, "I'd ask you to share your genes, but I'll just have to make due with trying to get _in_ them."

The wordplay was not lost on either of the two sharing the cabin with her. Mercury immediately went bright red, turning his eyes away to look out the furthest window. Cinder smiled seductively and stood, swaying her hips as she crossed the short distance to Lotus and bent down, placing a hand once again on her cheek, "You'd have to swear loyalty to get _that_ chance. Looks like Mercury and Emerald are _both_ beating you there."

Lotus shivered as Cinder turned back around and headed back into the pilot's cabin, "Well done, Emerald. It appears we haven't crashed yet." With one final wink back at Lotus, the door closed behind her.

A full minute passed in silence, before Mercury finally spoke up, "You really _are_ insane."

Lotus had to use her hand to fan herself off. It seemed like Cinder had long since taken Lotus's advice to heart.

Woman really _did_ love confidence. Lotus was no exception.


	17. Maidens' Rest

Lotus sat in the small diner at the edge of Vale known as the Maiden's Rest, sipping on the coffee she had ordered while she waited for the huntsman to arrive. The delightful, soothing warmth of the liquid running down her throat was helping to distract her from the pit that had formed in her stomach. ' _I really don't know how all my previous targets are going to compare…_ ' Just as a matter of pride in her own abilities, Lotus was certain she could take on an 'A' ranked hunter if Mercury had pulled off the feat. An 'S', though? That was uncharted territory.

Cinder had been light on the details, only able to tell her that the huntsman _would_ be there, and nothing about what he would look like. ' _I'll know when he's here. Only one person in here has their aura unlocked so far, and if he's strong, then he'll have to have a strong aura, right?_ ' Still, Lotus couldn't help but keep her eyes on every person that stepped through the door, accompanied by the light jingle of the bell.

It was still early in the morning, and as such, the booths and tables were relatively empty. A fact that Lotus thanked Oum for many times, and prayed that it would stay that way. Trying to keep witnesses to a minimum could be… messy at best, and nigh _impossible_ at worst.

Lotus's leg shook as she polished off her fourth cup, waving the aura unlocked waitress over for another refill. The caffeine was starting to hit her system, mixing with the adrenaline slowly pumping through her veins. The young rabbit faunus noticed her immediately with so few customers in the room, her ears flopped from side to side as she walked around the various tables and booths to get to Lotus's corner.

"Would you like to order any breakfast?" the older girl asked with a thick Vacuo accent, tipping the coffee pot she held as she poured it into Lotus's cup.

Lotus gave her a tentative smile, ' _It would be a shame to have to kill you…_ ' The girl had her aura unlocked, though. It wasn't as strong as her own, but it was _far_ beyond anything she would call 'fodder' level. It was starting to make her worry. If a fight broke out, would the girl join in to protect the huntsman? Would she be too uncertain to pick a side? Surely she would once Lotus _killed_ the man. What then?

Lotus realized she'd been sitting there staring at the rabbit faunus for the last ten seconds instead of answering her question and coughed, "No, that's alright, thank you. I'm just waiting for someone."

"Well, don't hesitate to flag me down if you change your mind," the girl flashed her a kind smile. Lotus took a moment to read her name tag, ' _Velvet, huh?_ '

"I'll be sure to do that, Velvet," Lotus returned the smile, then went back to keeping her eyes locked on the front door as the rabbit faunus scampered away to another table.

Another ten minutes passed without anyone else entering the little diner. Lotus finished off her cup again, but decided against waving over the waitress for another refill. Her nerves _and_ the caffeine were really starting to get to her. Lotus's foot drummed incessantly against the floor, creating fine cracks against the linoleum tiles. Her semblance had been encasing her limbs since the moment she reached the city.

Lotus stopped her drumming feet, feeling the approach of not one, but _three_ large auras outside of the diner. She quickly averted her gaze. That many eyes could spot someone looking too closely if you weren't careful.

The first to enter was an... _imposing_ youth, to say the least. ' _That face does not belong on someone seven fucking feet tall!_ ' He was clean shaven, with low cut black hair and wore a mixture of browns and greens in a Mistralian style. He stepped inside and held the door open, speaking with a deep voice, "After you."

A girl appeared, wearing what Lotus would only assume was this fashion season's best designer outfit. Her back was turned from the door, and she was helping someone else get inside, "No, _watch it_ Fox! There's _stairs_ there!"

The third to appear was the so called, 'Fox', although Lotus didn't sense him having any faunus heritage. He was entirely orange of skin, with red hair set over the top of blank white eyes. ' _Ah, he's blind._ ' After the three got past the door frame and were inside, the fashionable girl stopped assisting him, though. Fox regained his composure, and stepped past both tables and chairs alike to make his way towards the front counter.

Velvet seemed to have noticed the commotion, even from back in the kitchen, and came rushing out, "You guys made it!"

The fashionable girl tipped her sunglasses down as she gave Velvet a smirk, "Of course, Vel. How's the part timer life treatin' ya?"

Velvet held her hands together in excitement, "Everyone has been so nice on the morning shift so far! My boss says it's usually pretty quiet like this, and that I can keep this shift as long as I want!"

"I hope he's been treating you fairly. You can always call us if things get out of hand," the large youth replied, placing an encouraging hand on Velvet's shoulder.

Velvet beamed, "Thanks Yatsuhashi!"

The group turned as one to look at Fox, something unspoken passing between all of them. Velvet's cheeks colored, Yatsuhashi withdrew his hand, and the fashionable girl slapped Fox on the ass while she laughed loudly, "Team Coffee always sticks together!"

Lotus shrunk down at the name drop. She didn't recognize their specific team, but that final sentence had confirmed to her that they _were_ a team. The taller boy was throwing her off a bit, but Lotus figured this must be the spring break before their second year.

' _Beacon students…_ ' Lotus did _not_ like where this was going. An 'S' rated huntsman had sounded bad enough, but a pro, _and_ a second year team!? ' _Please leave before he gets here…_ ' Lotus could only hope.

Unfortunately, they didn't appear to have any plans to. The group sat down at the bar, close enough to the kitchens that they could continue talking with Velvet and ordered breakfast. Apparently, the rabbit faunus's lunch break coincided with the group's arrival, as she left with their orders and returned without her apron, sitting with them now. Lotus kept an ear out, waiting for any sign that they might be leaving, but heard none.

During the next twenty or so minutes, she did at least learn a few things. The fashionable girl's name was 'Coco', they were indeed second year students returning over Spring break, and if their kiss was anything to go by, then Coco and Velvet were dating. It seemed recent, considering how much Velvet blushed afterwards. Coco just looked smug about it, her eyes darting around at the other patrons, challenging anyone to meet her gaze.

' _While I'm not a fan of her fashion sense, I can appreciate her… other tastes._ '

It was during this quick glance around the room that Coco caught Lotus watching them. Her eyes darted back down to her empty mug a moment too late. There was a scrape of a bar stool as Coco pushed back from the counter, spinning on top of her seat to plant her feet in Lotus's direction.

As she started to stand, Velvet's hand grabbed her by the shoulder, delicate fingers pushing her back down into her seat, " _No disturbing the customers,_ " Velvet chastised, glancing over at Lotus with a smile, "She's been really nice to me."

Coco relaxed, eyes still on Lotus. They dropped to her waist, causing Lotus to frown for a second before she realized her weapon was showing. It was still sheathed, but exposed enough to have caught Coco's attention on closer inspection.

"Might as well talk to her, eh?" Coco smirked, not letting Velvet's hand keep her from standing any more. She strutted over and the rabbit faunus sighed, following along, determined to be the voice of reason if anything got out of hand.

"Saw you checking us out, kid. See something you like?" Coco lowered her sunglasses as she said it, giving Lotus a once over with her eyes, "Or maybe... _someone_?"

' _Okay Lotus, think. This girl is obviously narcissistic, so…_ '

Lotus let her cheeks redden a little, acting nervous as she looked to the side and down towards the older girl's feet, "I was just uh… appreciating your outfit. It looks really good on you," Lotus could already _sense_ Coco's lips widening into a smile, but decided to go for gold and lifted her own arms up to show off her hoodie, "I'm not as good at the whole _fashion_ thing like you are." ' _Ugh, kill me now._ '

"Hey, that's okay, kid! Everyone starts somewhere!" Coco brought a hand up to her chin, looking thoughtful, "Step one, lose the hoodie. Even Fox would be able to tell you've got a nice body hiding under there, and he's blind."

"Hey!"

"It looks like you've already got the idea to match your hair color by wearing black, _but_ you should mix in some magenta, maybe some whites along the edges. It should really help accentuate your eyes. Make 'em pop! And white just looks _cool_ , especially when it's combined with black!"

Coco whipped out her phone and opened up an image gallery, scrolling down until she found some examples to show Lotus. Her eyes bulged at the image count. ' _Why would anyone need thousands of pictures of outfits!?_ ' Lotus had to admit, though… Coco was right. The examples she gave looked nice. She could see herself fitting into some of those, adding in that splash of magenta Coco had recommended...

Coco hardly seemed to notice when Velvet laced one of her hands through the other girl's, smiling warmly at her partner while she went off on one of her frequent fashion tirades. Velvet spared Lotus an amused glance now and then, seeing how she was taking it.

Lotus's mind was spinning in circles, aided in its assault by all of the various names for coats and pants and shoes and… ' _What the hell is a 'capelet' coat? How is it different from a 'duffle?'_ Lotus couldn't make heads or tails of any of it. Coco seemed to realize the effect she was having on the young girl and slowed down, setting a hand across her arm.

Lotus _flinched_ , but resisted the impulse to rip her arm away entirely. One wrong move and the girl could expose that she was a faunus. Except… ' _Her partner is a faunus. So maybe that would be okay? I need to get used to Vale…_ '

Despite her best attempts at hiding it, Lotus's gut reaction was born from _years_ of hiding her heritage, and with only that brief movement to go off of, Coco seemed to get the hint.

"Hey, _sorry_ about that," she immediately withdrew her hand and brought it to the back of her head as if she was giving Lotus as much distance as she could from the offending limb, "If you want, I could help you pick out some outfits! We'll be seeing each other a lot at Beacon, right? You look like you're going to be trying to get in as a first year. I'm sure we can pick out plenty of nice tops with long sleeves…"

Lotus gave her a timid smile, "That… doesn't sound so bad. Should I give you my scroll number, or…?"

Coco relaxed a little, letting her hand drop back down to her scroll, "Tell you what, I'll give you mine. I, uh… wouldn't want you to feel pressured into anything. Just keep in mind, we've got almost a full month, so there's no need to rush yourself if you aren't comfortable..."

Lotus copied down the number Coco gave her into her contacts then paused on the name, realizing she maybe shouldn't know what Coco's name was, or else she'd look like a stalker. Lotus raised it up, then froze, an entirely new issue coming to mind. ' _What name am I going to give them!? Am I going to keep going by Lotus when I start Beacon, or will I go back to Olivia?_ '

Coco smiled, taking the scroll from Lotus's hand without touching her and typed 'Coco Adel' into the bar before handing it gently back to Lotus. Coco turned her body halfway back towards the rest of their team, "It was nice meeting you! I hope to hear from you…?" She paused, expecting a name.

Lotus decided in the moment, raising a hand to offer up a handshake, "My name is… Olivia. It was nice to meet you too, Coco."

Coco gladly accepted the handshake, gave her one last wink over the top of her lowered sunglasses, then pushed them back up as the pair headed over to the rest of their team. Yatsuhashi had long since finished his, while Fox was absentmindedly pushing around the last few pieces of scrambled eggs on his own plate.

Coco and Velvet went back to their own meals. Lotus sat back against the leather cushions of the booth she was in and closed her eyes, trying to will her heart to slow down.

It was not meant to be, as only a few minutes later, one of the largest auras Lotus had ever felt made its way through the jingling door. ' _This has to be him!_ ' Lotus relied on her sixth sense first, keeping track of where the huntsman went. He sat down at the bar, the furthest spot from Lotus that he could have possibly been. Once she sensed him picking up a menu to look down at the items on it, Lotus chanced a glance.

He was approaching middle age, perhaps his early forties. His black hair had light streaks of grey through it, along with a small amount of black stubble Lotus could see across the bottom of his chin. His long sleeve shirt was made up of two shades of grey, with black standing out on his collar and at the ends of his sleeves, all hanging loosely over the top of his black pants.

The massive hunk of steel on his back was the second thing Lotus noticed, poking out from behind his red cape. It looked more advanced than her own weapon. The intricate design and gears revealing to anyone with a brain that it could likely transform in various ways. By the initial shape it was in, Lotus guessed it would extend out into a greatsword.

' _Seriously, the only other aura I've felt close to his was Tyrian's… How the hell do they do it?_ ' Granted, it had been a couple years, and she didn't have the scorpion faunus there for a side by side comparison... Just working off memory, though, the two _seemed_ equal.

Lotus's mind was wrenched out of her thoughts when she noticed the huntsman checking his scroll and frowning, his eyes once again scanning the room. ' _Shit! What do I do? I told Cinder I'd help them with this, but the entire point was so that I could get out of Mistral and join Beacon! Even if team Coffee doesn't have their weapons, they have to be formidable enough without them. I can't just kill them all now that they're here._ '

Lotus let out a very quiet, very uncharacteristic, _unintended_ whine from somewhere deep in her throat. ' _This is hopeless…_ _I'll just have to distract him instead. If I give Cinder long enough to finish off their target then that should be good enough, right?_ ' Lotus hoped it would be.

The young spider faunus decided to wait it out, and then make her move when the huntsman was about to leave. ' _I'll ask him for tips or something since I'm trying to get into Beacon anyway. As long as I can delay him without it being obvious that's what I'm doing, I should be fine._ '

Velvet redonned her apron and served the huntsman some coffee, choosing to chat him up a bit while her teammates still talked amongst themselves. Apparently, even though they had finished their food, the team still wanted to meet Velvet's boss to make sure everything was 'copacetic'. ' _Please leave. My chances are bad enough without you lot hanging around!_ '

Lotus sent Velvet a silent thank you, though. The rabbit faunus was unintentionally distracting the huntsman for the moment, ' _That settles it, I'm giving you the biggest tip of your life._ ' She managed to keep his attention for several minutes, until finally he looked down at his scroll again. Lotus could see his brow crease, unease settling across his face.

The spider faunus quickly stood, and began making her way over to him, steeling herself with the words she had prepared, "Oh my _gosh_! Are you a pro huntsman!?" The man's red eyes whipped her way at the sudden noise, his hand dropping a hair closer to his weapon before he realized she wasn't threatening him, just obnoxiously _loud_.

"Hey, hey kid. Not so loud. Some of us are nursing hangovers here," he grumbled. There was a light raspiness to his voice, one that added a certain amount of weight to it. Like he had _just_ been through a fight and come out on top.

Lotus lowered her voice, giving him a nervous smile, "Sorry!" she gestured over to her weapon to draw his attention to it, "I'm joining Beacon this year, and was wondering if you had _any_ tips I could use? I want to get an edge over the competition!"

The older huntsman chuckled dryly, "Not much training you can do in less than a month, kid. I hope you're good with that thing."

"I manage," she replied shyly, firming back up as she continued to press him for information. ' _Anything to keep his mind off the time…_ '

"Did you go to Beacon? If you don't mind me saying it, you look _really_ strong!"

The man grinned, "I did, and I _am_. Best team to ever come out of that place. You'll find some of our trophies in the cases lining the hallways. Team Stark is the name you'll be looking for on all the trophies."

"You guys must have been popular! Is that your weapon? Do you mind showing it off? All I have is this old thing," at that, Lotus unsheathed her sword. She had absolutely _no_ intention of using it, though. Not with team Coffee directly behind her.

The man bent forward with a discerning gaze and ran his finger along the sword's edge, "It's well maintained at least, I'll give you that. Nothing will ever compare to _Harbinger_ , though." With that, he pulled the collapsed greatsword off his back and extended it out. From where she was now, Lotus could see the firing mechanism near the bottom. It looked like some sort of shotgun? She wasn't sure.

One word did especially catch her attention, though, "Harbinger? Did you _name_ your weapon?"

He chuckled, "What, you haven't? Must not have studied at any of the schools, then." His eyes roamed over her, taking in the simple hoodie and black jeans that she wore, "Where'd you grow up?"

"Eh, just uh, in Mistral," Lotus suddenly found herself struggling to remember any of the towns near Vale, and was also worried that if she named one, _he_ might be from there and know she was lying.

The man's eyes narrowed a little, "As in the city, or the kingdom?"

"Umm, the kingdom? I moved around a lot."

The huntsman was starting to get defensive, and now eyed her warily, "Tell me kid, I remind you of anybody?"

' _What is this all about?_ '

Lotus decided to just go with the truth on this one, giving him a frown of her own, "No, you really _don't_. I don't remember any black haired, red eyed-" Lotus froze, sudden recognition dawning on her. A long forgotten figure resurfacing through the depths of her mind. It had been so _long_ ago.

She choked on the words she was about to say, "Eh- O-okay, um. Yeah, _maybe_?"

The man seemed utterly confused with the complete one eighty the young girl in front of him had done, "Yeah, maybe? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I mean… she had black hair, too. And now that I look at you, the black and red theme you've got going on sort of reminds me of her… But she wore this Grimm mask most of the time, so I mostly remember _that_ instead of her face…"

The huntsman was becoming more and more confused by the second, "Okay, stop. Do you _know_ who that person was, or not?"

"I found her name out later, yeah…" Lotus paused in thought, it _had_ been a long time ago, "... Raven… something?" She shrugged in defeat, "Best I've got."

"And _how_ do you know Raven?"

"Umm, it's kind of... personal?" Lotus glanced behind herself to see that at least the closest two members of team Coffee were paying attention to their conversation. Yatsuhashi was trying to be nonchalant about it, just covering one ear to block out what Coco was saying as if he just happened to be leaning on it that way. Fox was outright _staring_ , if you could call it that when it was a blind man doing it.

' _On second thought, maybe he's just turning himself away from Coco's conversation too._ '

"I need an _answer_ , kid," the huntsman's voice dropped low, a hint of a warning, even a _threat_ to it.

Lotus tensed, ' _Should I refuse and let him start a fight? That would give me the perfect cover. Then again, I still wouldn't be able to kill him with the Beacon students here. I might as well try to keep things peaceful._ '

She made up her mind, but stepped in a little closer, still not wanting to let other people hear what she was about to say, "Raven and her bandits… they killed my parents and my brother. I unlocked my semblance, and got revenge on the two bandits that were still alive after they fought my family. That woman tried to get me to go with her and gave me some spiel about strength… I refused, and she left me there."

The huntsman gave her an apologetic smile, she let his hand fall on her shoulder, "Sorry, kid. I had to make sure you weren't working for her. You made the right choice, telling her no."

"Is she your… sister?" Lotus guessed. The woman had seemed younger than the huntsman in front of her, but that had been six years ago.

"My twin, yeah."

Lotus gave him a doubtful look, "You're a lot older than she was, even considering how long it's been since I saw her."

" _Ouch,_ " the huntsman drew back as if Lotus had wounded his pride, "Nobody wants to hear that they're the less good looking twin."

"I mean…" Lotus trailed a finger across the front of his shirt, "Give me some more tips for getting into Beacon and I'll be sure to shower you with compliments?"

He laughed, "Alright, I'll bite, kid. Use the next month to practice a landing strategy."

"What's a landing strategy?"

"Figure out how you're going to land if you fall from really high up," he smirked, "It's part of the initiation each year. Oz is going to launch you all off the cliff into the Emerald Forest."

Lotus paled slightly, "How high? I've jumped off buildings before. That's easy enough. Are we talking like, five stories? Maybe six?"

A deep laugh emanated from the man, his eyes filled with mirth, "More like ten. Like I said, practice it so you don't fall behind. There's only so many spots available each year, so be quick."

"Wow, that's more than I was expecting. Thanks, Mr…?"

"Qrow. Qrow Branwen. Just use my first name, though. I'm not a fan of my… family ties."

"Well, Qrow. My name is Olivia, nice to meet you. Are you in Vale often?"

Qrow shook his head, "No, not usually. I'm just here to-" He froze, then darted his hand into his pocket to whip out his scroll. His eyes widened as he noticed the time, "Sorry kid, I've gotta go!"

Lotus wasn't able to get another word in as the huntsman blurred from his seat, brushing past her as he sprinted out the door, on his way out of town.

' _I hope that was enough time…_ '

Olivia pulled out her own scroll and sent Cinder a message.

'Huntsman is on his way. Will explain later.'

A few minutes went by, in which Lotus became more and more of a nervous wreck, until her scroll _finally_ buzzed as she received a message in return.

'Mission was a success. Return to the ship.'

Lotus felt her entire body finally relax. She left a ridiculous amount of lien on the table for Velvet to show her appreciation even if the faunus would never know _why_ , and left.

' _I'm turning this whole new life around already. One life spared._ '

Lotus didn't think she was going to make that two.

* * *

Qrow could only curse his bad luck once again. Amber was dead, and her assailants had vanished before he even arrived. With shaking hands, he pulled his scroll back out of his pocket, and dialed the first contact.

" _Qrow? What is it? Do you have Amber with you?_ "

"She's dead, Oz."

" _That is rather unfortunate. I'll send someone to pick you both up. Do you know who did it?_ "

"Nothing specific. They were gone before I got here. I'd say there were three that attacked her, though."

" _I see. Figure out whatever you can from the scene. We'll need all the information we can get._ "

"Of course, Oz. I'm sorry. My bad luck acted up without me even realizing it."

" _What happened?_ "

"Eh, some kid wanted to talk to me about getting into Beacon. Turned out she knew Raven… It kept me distracted too long."

" _Hmmm…_ "

"Oz?"

" _It's nothing. I'll need to hang up to call you that shuttle. Hang tight, Qrow._ "

* * *

Ozpin hung up on the weary huntsman and quickly called a shuttle, directing them to the coordinates given by the tracker that Qrow had on his scroll. A thought tickled the back of his mind the entire time, long after he had hung up again.

' _Most teams consist of four, do they not?_ '


	18. A Whole New City

The long walk through the Emerald Forest was peaceful enough. They had left the ship anchored in a small clearing, obscured by the tall trees that surrounded it. Lotus let her sixth sense guide her forward, stepping over loose rocks and upturned roots while her eyes stared up into the sky above her, admiring the pure blue through the brilliant green canopy above.

Soon enough the canopy gave way to the clearing. The light thrum of the ships engines reached the young faunus's ears, out of place in the calm quiet of the forest that surrounded it.

Lotus let her eyes fall back down on the group that was currently assembled outside the ship. Cinder was standing in the grass, leaning back against the ship with a calm smirk on her face, eyes vacant as she stared off into space. Mercury seemed a little worse for wear, his pants had been burned away entirely, leaving his cybernetic legs exposed for all to see. Emerald was lying on the ground, one forearm laying across her face as she blocked out the light. She seemed uninjured, if still exhausted.

"Looks like it went well on your end?" Lotus's voice rang out through the quiet clearing as she approached the final few yards, catching the attention of all there.

"Oh, it went _perfectly,_ " Cinder replied, giving one final pleasurable sigh as her eyes turned to take in the faunus girl, "What happened on your end?"

Lotus shook her head, "We had some uninvited guests at the diner. There was an entire second year Beacon team there at the same time," she shrugged dejectedly, "I kept the huntsman there as long as I could. Seems like it was long enough, right?"

Cinder nodded, "We didn't bother sticking around when I received your message. He didn't see us, which is all that really mattered on your end," she rose up from where she had been leaning and held out her hand, "Consider your part of the deal finished."

Lotus accepted the handshake, grinning as she did so, "So does this mean I get to borrow Mercury for a night on the town?"

Cinder tilted her head in thought, placing a finger delicately against her chin as she tapped it, "Why don't we _all_ go out? I feel like celebrating," the red dressed woman turned her eye down to where Emerald lay on the ground, "Any suggested venues, Emerald? You're the only one among us from Vale."

The girl immediately withdrew her forearm from across her face and locked eyes with Cinder, a budding smile curling her lips as her delight overpowered her current lack of energy, "We could go clubbing? Junior's is a nice enough place."

"I could use some loud music and a few drinks," Mercury chipped in, nodding his approval. He glanced back down at his legs, "And a change of clothes." He vaulted up into the ship and grabbed his pack, heading for the bathroom.

Lotus pulled out her scroll and opened up her contacts, considering giving Coco a call. She could hardly go out in a hoodie, and the extra clothes she had brought were more _tactical_ attire than dress wear.

"I'm going to head into Vale a little early, if that's alright," Lotus gestured down to her hoodie, "I won't be getting much action wearing this."

Cinder spared her an amused smile, "That's quite alright. The rest of us need to remain inconspicuous, so I'll have Emerald send you a message for the time and place once we're ready to leave."

Lotus nodded, "Tell Merc to wear his best. I really owe him for thinking to include me in all this," she gave Cinder an approving smile as well, "And I need to thank _you_."

At a warning glare from Emerald, Lotus held her hands up with a smirk, "In a completely _platonic_ way, of course. Is there anything you want, Cindy darling?"

Cinder thought about the offer for a minute, a smile finally worming its way back to her lips, "How about we just call it an 'I owe you' for now?"

"Works for me!" Lotus smiled back. She turned to Emerald and knelt down beside her, whispering from behind her hand to hide her lips from Cinder, "No reason I can't be _your_ wingman, too." Lotus flicked her eyes over to Cinder to help Emerald get her meaning, and the girl's perpetual frown eased into a half hearted smile.

"Now then, I'm outta here," Lotus stood back up, giving the group a final promise to meet up later before heading back towards the city.

' _Vale, here I come._ '

* * *

Coco sounded surprised at first when Lotus gave her a call so soon after the diner, but when Lotus explained the situation, Coco was more than happy to agree. Her only amendment to Lotus's plan was that they wait a couple hours for Velvet to finish her shift and get a shower in before the three hit the town.

So, Lotus had the next couple hours to do as she pleased. With a low growl from her stomach, she quickly decided on food as her first objective. She had skipped out entirely while she was in the diner, and realized after a few moments that she hadn't eaten much of _anything_ the day before, either. There hadn't exactly been food on the ship, and Lotus hadn't thought to pack any of her own.

The issue of her grumbling stomach was quickly rectified, as Lotus spotted a small coffee shop a little ways down one of the less busy streets. 'The Daily Grind' the sign on the ground proclaimed the establishment's name, also announcing that they sold soup and sandwiches. ' _I could use a break from the crowd._ ' So many people all at once was putting her sixth sense on the fritz. The young fugitive had understandably not been out among crowds much over the last couple years and was no longer used to it.

Lotus paused before stepping into the shadowed alleyway, basking in the warm glow of the new city and exhilarated by the fact the she no longer needed to _fear_ the people around her. No one would recognize her as 'The Black Lotus'. She wasn't in the same city. She wasn't even on the same _continent_ anymore.

Every passerby was just a stranger, each roaming eye a coincidence, instead of a threat. Lotus could feel years worth of pent up anxiety rolling off her shoulders in waves, replaced by the sun's rays pleasantly heating her body up through her black hoodie. The hoodie trapped that heat, keeping it close to the young faunus's heart as she finally stepped into the shadowed alleyway and walked towards the coffee shop.

The first thing that hit her was the smell. It was delightful, causing her mouth to salivate while her stomach once again protested its current lack of sustenance. The smell of recently ground coffee beans along with a variety of different soups wafted their way to Lotus's nose before she had even stepped inside. She paused in the doorway as she opened it, revelling as the smells only increased tenfold. ' _Okay, I'm coming here on the weekends._ '

Lotus heard her stomach rumble and, with some embarrassment, stepped inside, allowing the door to close behind her. Magenta eyes roamed over the establishment, sparring a cursory glance at the very least. There were a surprising number of patrons for such a small shop. The second thing that Lotus noticed was that the majority of them were faunus. Many had their traits hidden, but all eyes gave her a once over as the bell jingled, announcing her arrival.

Lotus could only flash them all a winning smile and head towards the front counter. Her current hunger needed to be rectified, pronto, and Lotus would die of embarrassment if its complaints were to continue among so many with _four_ ears to notice.

The barista behind the counter offered her a menu, and Lotus took it with a word of thanks. She remained at the counter, letting her sixth sense feel outwards even as her eyes roamed over the laminated page in front of her. ' _You can never be too careful._ ' Sure enough, there was at least one person in the building with a decent sized aura. Lotus let her eyes flick in that direction, at least making sure that it wasn't someone who might surprise her.

It was a young, black haired faunus. She sat at one of the corner booths, eyes slowly drifting back and forth across the page of her book as she idly stirred her tea with a spoon. The black bow that rested atop her head twitched, just the tiniest amount. The black haired faunus's eyes darted up to check the room, perhaps sensing the momentary gaze.

Lotus had already looked away by then, having learned her lesson with Coco. Her eyes were now once again busy with the menu. Finally deciding on one of their sandwich specials and a light soup, Lotus made her order, then chose to sit down at one of the other booths along the walls.

Letting herself once again relax into the cushioned seat beneath her, Lotus leaned her head back and closed her eyes, enjoying the relative quiet and lack of people. Only the occasional sound of a cup being set down on a porcelain coaster, or a spoon being dried with a few gentle taps reached her ears. Lotus soaked it all in, and before she knew it, the barista was setting her meal down in front of her, along with a complimentary drink.

"Let me know if there's anything else I can get you," the barista said softly, giving Lotus a smile. Lotus nodded her thanks as she left, and then set about quenching her aching hunger. ' _Were sandwiches always this delicious?_ ' Perhaps her hunger was just getting the better of her. ' _I guess I'll see for myself the next time I'm here_.'

Another thirty minutes passed. Lotus had long since finished her meal, but was content to wait out her time here. The atmosphere was intoxicating, and there was a feeling of safety, being among so many other faunus in a quiet place.

Lotus was firmly reminded that all good things come to an end, as two humans around her age stepped inside warily, eyes darting around the shop. The shorter of the two groaned when he looked at the interior, and the older boy laughed, pushing him into the wall.

"I _told_ you this place wasn't a strip club!" the taller, ginger haired youth announced loudly. His eyes caught on to all the faunus inside, and he sneered, "Although twenty lien could probably buy you a fun night with any of the beasts in here."

The other patrons appeared shocked at the youth's remark.

Lotus was furious.

In only a few seconds, she had crossed the shop to stand in front of him, offering him a sweet smile that did nothing to reduce the frigid stones her eyes had become. "Would you like to repeat that?" she said, a hint of the animosity she felt seeping through the calm tone. Her left hand drifted to the top of her sword's hilt, hand atop the pummel as her eyes bore into his.

The sneer didn't leave his face. The tall ginger looked down at where her hand rested on her weapon, "Go ahead. See what happens." He raised his hands up to Lotus's shoulders and attempted to shove her back. She dug the tips of her appendages into the floor. Lotus didn't budge an _inch_. The ginger's eyes went wide when his strength proved entirely lackluster.

With only a flicker of attention given to her sixth sense, Lotus could tell this youth had aura, as well as his friend next to him. They were both weaker than her, but not by a wide margin. The young spider faunus smiled as she noticed the position the youth was in, still standing in the doorway. ' _Why don't I just move this along?_ '

His expression eased as she let her hand fall of the sword's pummel, only for him to shout in surprise as Lotus's hand drew back and collided with his chest, the full force of her appendage shrouding her arm added to by her other three appendages striking him in the chest simultaneously. He was lifted off his feet and thrown back through the door. The youth _slammed_ into the wall on the opposite side of the alleyway, shattering a section of the brick wall with his impact as he dropped to the ground in a heap, aura entirely depleted by the unexpected blow.

Lotus flexed her fingers, then brought them back into a fist as her eyes set on the shorter of the two boys, "Do _you_ have something to say?"

He frantically shook his head 'no' and ran outside, calling out to his friend as he left, "Cardin! Are you okay!?"

Lotus let the door close behind him and stood facing the it for a few seconds as she calmed back down. She turned around to see the eyes of every patron and staff member on her and gave a nervous laugh, bringing her hand up to scratch at the back of her neck, "Sorry about that."

A few people started a slow clap while she returned to her seat. As they did, Lotus realized something about herself. She might be able to talk a big game when it came to Cinder or Mercury, but having so many people paying that much attention to her was _uncomfortable_. Maybe it was the years of actively avoiding the eyes of others that made her feel that way, all Lotus knew was that she wanted to curl into her booth and _hide_.

The clapping died down as she did just that, keeping her head down as she avoided eye contact and slid back on to her padded bench. The barista headed over to her table, "Would you like anything else?"

"Just the check, please," Lotus replied, giving her a weak smile.

"Nonsense. Your meal is on the house this evening," the barista gave her a heartwarming smile, "Thank you."

"Oh, um… just a refill, then?" Lotus said hesitantly. She wasn't used to being praised for her more… violent tendencies. Not by anyone that didn't also have gallons of blood to their name, anyway.

The barista was quick to fulfill her request, then seeing that she wanted peace, left her alone to head back behind the counter. A few minutes passed, before finally the gentle quiet atmosphere returned full force. There was a light shuffling sound as the bow wearing faunus walked to the counter, speaking in hushed whispers with the barista before paying and leaving.

Lotus was just about to pull out her scroll and send Coco a message when the barista approached her once again, this time holding aloft a small bowl. She set it down gently in front of Lotus and smiled politely, "The young woman that left wished for you to have this. It is a Tiramisu Panna Cotta, made with both kahlua and espresso."

Lotus eyed the dessert sitting on the table before her. It was a small, circular gelatin. White, with fine brown powder sprinkled along the top. Lotus gave the barista a nod and picked up her spoon, slicing down through a portion of the dessert. The thicker outside edge gave way, revealing a much creamier center. Lotus tentatively took her first bite.

"It's _delicious…_ " she mumbled aloud. The barista grinned and stepped back, leaving her to it. Lotus took her time, savoring every bite over the next few minutes. ' _Okay. I'm ordering this every time._ ' Who knew such a hellish world could create something so heavenly? ' _I'll have to thank that girl the next time I see her._ '

Lotus was pulled from her thoughts as her scroll buzzed, the caller ID displaying 'Coco Adel' in bold font across the front. She set her spoon aside into the bowl, now lacking any remains of the dessert and accepted the call.

" _Heeyyyy, Olivia~, we're headed to downtown Vale now. Let us know where we can meet up, okay?_ " Coco's voice came through rather loud compared to the stillness of the shop interior.

Lotus quickly reduced the volume on her scroll and turned into away from the room, "I'm at 'The Daily Grind', do you know where that is?"

" _Oooh!~ Velvet and I love that place! We'll be there shortly to pick you up, alright?_ "

"Sound's good," Lotus smiled back as Coco ended the call, sitting back in her seat as she breathed out a contented sigh.

' _I could get used to this..._ '

* * *

It was another fifteen minutes before Coco and Velvet arrived at The Daily Grind, and another half an hour after that before they were stepping into a very high end clothing store in a much grander district of Vale. The long marble steps that led up to the front door were flanked by tall white columns, rising up to the roof twenty feet above them.

Lotus paused at the threshold, with Velvet behind her and Coco ahead, holding the door open for the pair of them. Lotus curled in on herself, her stomach dropping at the pure decadence she could already see. The attendants that walked the sales floor were all impeccably dressed, carrying themselves with finely practiced grace. The customers were even more so, wearing the fanciest clothes and attire that Lotus had ever seen, aside from some of her higher paid targets.

"Uh, are you sure it's… okay for _us_ to be here?" Lotus whispered sideways to Velvet. A faunus in Mistral would be barred entry, or kicked out within a few seconds if they managed to enter a place like this.

Velvet's answer was to put her hands on the young faunus's shoulders and shove her inside. She stumbled awkwardly through the entryway past Coco, and drew herself back up with an unappreciative frown back at the rabbit faunus. Velvet gave her a reassuring smile in return, and stepped in as well, allowing Coco to let the door swing shut.

One of the employees, a tall, curvaceous woman in a tight black suit and matching skirt headed their way. She held a clipboard under one arm and gave them a well practiced smile as she approached. Lotus waited for the worst. Someone with an obvious lack of social grace such as herself didn't belong in a place like this. Her clothes would say as much to anyone with even a modicum of fashion sense.

Coco took the lead, stepping ahead of both the faunus girls to catch the older woman's attention, "Nice to see you again, Iris! I've brought a friend along today that is in desperate need of a make-over." Coco spun her head back to give Lotus a wink, "No offense, kid."

The woman eyed Lotus up and down. The smile on her face never changed, but the young faunus noticed a spark of glee light up in her eyes. Lotus groaned inwardly, ' _They're going to play dress up with me, aren't they…_ ' She took an involuntary step backwards toward the door, only to be met once again with Velvet's hands on her shoulders.

"We can certainly accommodate the young lady," the older woman's smile became predatory, seeing Lotus's desire to flee as a challenge, "If you'll come this way, I'll take your measurements. Ms. Adel and I can choose some outfits for you to try on after that."

Lotus was nervously led over to one of the dressing rooms for a little privacy. The older woman stepped into the spacious room with her, a mirror on one wall and a bench opposite it. From one pocket she pulled out a measuring tape, then eyed Lotus again.

"You'll need to remove the hoodie if you want accurate measurements," she clipped out lightly, extending out the measuring tape and waiting expectantly for Lotus to comply.

"I, uh… can't just leave it on?" Lotus replied hesitantly, subconsciously gripping the end of one sleeve to keep it down.

"Young lady, hiding your figure is a criminal _offense_ in a place such as this. Yes, you will need to remove it," the older woman said it with exasperation, quirking an eyebrow.

Lotus calmed herself, ' _She seemed fine with Velvet being here…_ ' Even so, after hiding it for so long, Lotus was intensely self-conscious about her faunus trait. She had been able to hide it for so long and so easily, that the thought of willingly exposing the black veins to another person, a human no less, was terrifying.

Very slowly, Lotus reached down to grasp the bottom hem of her hoodie and pulled it up over her head. She hesitated one more time after it had been removed from her torso and head. With the way she had chosen to pull it off, her arms were the last things still covered, safely tucked away in the sleeves.

The older woman tapped her foot once, impatiently. Lotus sighed and exposed her arms as she pulled the hoodie off, tossing it on to the bench behind her. There was a long drawn out moment while Lotus waited to be asked to leave, waited for a disgusted sneer to break the woman's practiced smile.

"Well?" the woman asked expectantly, tilting her head, "Raise your arms, dear. I can't get the measurements with your hands down at your sides like that."

Lotus did as she was asked, dumbstruck by the lack of care the woman had for her faunus trait on display, "Do they… not bother you?"

"Arms?" the woman glanced at Lotus with confusion, already holding out the tape measure as she began sizing her up. Wrist to shoulder, shoulder to waist. She continued as they spoke.

"My veins," Lotus corrected.

The older woman sighed, stepping back for a moment, "My dear, the human body comes in all shapes and sizes. Some have small hands, some have big ears, and some are adorably short. Black veins or not, none of that changes the fact that each and every one of us deserves to feel appreciated and comfortable with our own bodies." She gestured down towards Lotus's legs, "Now widen your stance a little, I need to take more measurements."

Lotus complied wordlessly, quietly accepting the woman's touch as she went about finishing up. Her pencil scratched away at her clipboard as she finished, jotting down each result, "You may wait in here if you wish. I'm certain Ms. Adel and I will have more than enough clothes for you to try on. We will hand them over the door to you."

The young faunus nodded her acceptance, hiding her arms behind her back as the fitting room door was opened. Only Velvet was nearby, though. She gave Lotus an encouraging smile before the door once again closed.

"Does Coco bring you here often?" Lotus asked over the door, knowing Velvet was easily close enough and had the ears to make out what she was saying.

"Oh, once every month or so."

"So… are they all as accepting as Iris?"

"For the most part. Being choosy over customers isn't exactly great for business if it means turning away those that would have otherwise spent money in their store. Then there's always the White Fang to consider…"

"The White Fang?" Lotus could already see what she meant.

"Yeah… They have a habit of burning down places that turn away faunus. Most shops are afraid to even confront a faunus if they're misbehaving in their store. They don't want word to get back to the White Fang that would paint them as a potential target."

Lotus frowned, "That doesn't stop them from being racist outside of their profession."

"No, it doesn't. If anything, it makes the humans more irritable and quicker to anger when they see faunus in public. It's a vicious cycle."

"Do you think Iris is just pretending, then?" Lotus couldn't deny that the woman had a very professional air to her demeanor. It would make sense if her kindness was all an act.

Velvet let out a light laugh, "No, I don't think so. Coco wanted to wait to bring you here because she knew Iris would be starting her shift right about now. She's the one we always go to whenever Coco wants me to try on a new outfit. Iris means what she said."

There was silence for a handful of seconds, with Lotus taking what Velvet had told her to heart. ' _I might as well make the most of this._ '

"So, what kind of faunus are you? I heard something about veins…" Velvet moved closer to the door as she said it, trying to still keep her voice low so that Lotus could retain her privacy.

"...Spider," she replied simply, also keeping her voice low.

"Oh, wow! I've never met a spider faunus before."

Lotus was more than ready to change the subject. Thoughts of another spider faunus were starting to come to mind, and a call she still needed to make, "Did you... go to a combat school?"

"Yup! Coco and I both went to Pharos here in Vale. We didn't really meet until we both came to Beacon and ended up on a team together."

"How'd you not meet each other if you went to the same school?" Lotus asked, confused. ' _Are there just that many students? I might have more competition that I thought..._ '

There was some hesitation in Velvet's voice as she spoke, "I uh… was always the girl on the side lines, watching from a distance. Coco was the outgoing type that was surrounded by friends and admirers. She wasn't really approachable for someone like me."

Coco's voice crooned as she walked within earshot, "I wish you had introduced yourself sooner, bunny. Just think of all that time we wasted!"

A pile of clothes slapped against the door on Lotus's side after Coco hefted it over the wall. Lotus took them off her hands, staring wide eyed at the sheer amount of clothes Coco had brought her in so short a time.

"I already had a decent idea of your measurements. Not saying I was checking you out or anything…"

Lotus could hear the smirk in her voice and laughed out loud as she reprimanded the girl, "Your girlfriend is right there!"

"Vel knows I'm only joking," Coco replied smugly. Lotus could feel her walk over to Velvet and embrace her for a moment before turning back to speak over the door to Lotus, "I put the outfits in order. You had better show them off after all the trouble we're going through! No keeping those curves to yourself."

"Yes, ma'am," Lotus rolled her eyes and set about trying on the outfits she had been presented.

It was several hours later, after many suggestions, alterations, and garment changes by the time Lotus was checking out. Coco had offered to pay for it, as thanks for letting her dress up the young faunus, but Lotus refused. She had more than enough to spare. Spending a little over seven hundred lien didn't even make a dent.

Lotus treated them to dinner while they regaled her with stories. The young faunus was especially interested in their retelling of initiation, and kept a mental note of all the details she could remember. It matched up with the tips that Qrow had given her, reaffirming her gratitude for not having to kill the huntsman.

Once they were finished with their meal, Velvet was able to recommend her a faunus friendly hotel to spend the night in, and gave her the address so that she could track it down from her scroll.

The group parted ways, with a few more thanks from Lotus. She was genuinely appreciative that the older teens had decided to take her under their wing, her determination to get into Beacon only growing by the minute. ' _If this is the kind of people I can expect…_ ' Lotus hadn't thought before that she could be happier about leaving Mistral, but each passing moment was proving her wrong. There was a difference between having high hopes for the future, and seeing those hopes realized.

The trip to the hotel took her a fair way out of the nicer district. She was back among the more common buildings, made from brick and mortar, with none of the finery lining the streets like where she had spent the majority of her day. Lotus didn't mind. This area was still much better than the Mistral slums. ' _At least there's pavement under my feet instead of mud._ '

The hotel she found was oddly laid out at first sight. There was a small building that rested in front, nestled between two taller buildings on either side. Dozens of windows lined the walls facing out towards the street, many of them just now lighting up as the sky began to turn a darker shade of blue.

Lotus opened the jingling door to the front office and immediately felt the presence of the spider faunus that waited inside. Her heart clenched, gripped in panic as her mind flashed through all the things she would need to say to Widow. A moment later, though, her breath came out in a long sigh. This sense was different than the one she was used to. It was not Widow inside, but another young faunus that sat behind the desk.

Their eyes met, each of them sharing in that same moment, gripped by an indescribable fear of the other, before they each smiled half heartedly.

"W-Welcome to the Majestic Refuge. Are you… staying for the night?" the other spider faunus asked hesitantly.

"Y-Yeah. Yeah, I'd like to get a room, please," Lotus replied, her nerves beginning to calm.

"Good! The left building is reserved for our faunus customers," she began rustling around a few papers and then turned back towards the wall behind her. There were two distinct boards, one on the right, and one on the left. Each held a multitude of keys, hung by the pegs on them. A great deal were missing from each side, and Lotus figured that must mean those rooms were taken.

Already, Lotus could see the advantage of hiring on a spider faunus for this job, making it painfully simple to distinguish who was a faunus, and who was human without having to single anyone out specifically. Many hid their heritage, even from other faunus. Lotus had been no different. She idly read the girl's name tag, 'Lily' with a small depiction of the flower next to her name.

"Did you want to be in a quieter section?" Lily asked as she turned back to Lotus, "We try to suit the needs of our guests to the best of our abilities."

Lotus thought it over, "Quiet would be nice. Somewhere away from most people."

Lily nodded her understanding. It could be tough to sleep sometimes if there were too many unknown individuals constantly moving around and getting picked up by your sixth sense. In an unfamiliar place, it was like trying to get some rest while someone shouted at you from only a few steps away.

Both of their eyes scanned the board, and reached the same conclusion. There was a series of vacant rooms all gathered on the top floor, mostly unblemished aside from a few missing keys. Lily snagged a key off its peg, furthest from the rest of the occupied rooms, and handed it to Lotus.

"It's fifty lien a night, plus whatever room service charges you rack up," she eyed Lotus's hoodie. She had reverted to it after spending so much time trying on other clothes. Returning to a bit of normalcy had been comforting.

Lotus saw the hesitation and held her hand up with a smile, "I can cover it, don't worry." She reached into one of the bags and counted out enough lien for the rest of the month. ' _I'll be staying here until I get into Beacon, anyway._ '

Lily's eyes bulged momentarily at the sudden fist full of lien that she was given, and nodded, counting the amount into the till. "Well, alright then! Would you like me to help you to your room?"

"No, that's fine. I think I'll manage," Lotus replied and accepted the key that was offered to her. Lily smiled and gave her a polite wave as Lotus left the front office, stepping back out into the street momentarily to turn to the left building.

Ten minutes later, Lotus had found her room, entered, tossed her bags of clothes on to the floor, and crashed down on her bed in a slump. It had been an exhausting day, more mentally than anything else. ' _Why is trying new things so tiring?_ ' She had never felt this way after a mission as far as she could remember, and those usually ended with someone _dead_.

Lotus felt one of the other floor's occupants pass and head to the room a few doors down. Thankfully, without focusing on her sixth sense, the faunus was just out of range. Lotus relaxed into the bed, feeling the soft mattress giving way beneath her, conforming to her body as her eyes began to droop.

A buzz from her pocket brought them back open the next instant, as her hand reached down for the offending device. It was a text from Emerald.

"We'll be at Junior's in an hour. Merc says he expects you to keep your promise. I do too."

What followed was the address for the club, as well as the specific time that Emerald thought they would arrive, incase Lotus couldn't figure out what an hour from the current time would be.

Lotus groaned as she flipped back over, but was already feeling a sense of renewed energy. ' _What else was all that shopping for?_ '

She hopped off the bed, and started getting ready for a night on the town.


	19. The Belle of the Brawl

The elevator gave a pleasant little chime, countering the annoyance that Qrow was feeling at that moment. Amber was dead, and her assailants had vanished. He had just dropped her off, leaving her body in the care of the medical specialists that were on staff at Beacon. ' _At least we're between semesters. That would have been awkward trying to hide from a bunch of students._ '

Qrow took a swig from his flask as he stepped into the room, eyes taking in the two others in the room. Glynda stood with her arms crossed, riding crop gripped tightly in one hand, with brilliant green eyes that glared at him beneath bright blond hair. Ozpin sat in his desk chair next to her, leaning back with his hands steepled in front of himself.

Qrow just raised an eyebrow in greeting as he walked forward, earning a frown from Glynda. Ozpin didn't speak, instead choosing to take a sip from his steaming coffee mug. He finally broke the silence after a few moments, seeming to relish the time before their inevitable conversation.

Ozpin sighed and raised his eyes back to Qrow, "What could you find at the scene?"

Qrow grimaced, "Not much, Oz. There was plenty of dust residue, tracks, and damage in the area from the fight. Amber definitely cut loose with her powers at some point, so they didn't take her completely by surprise. There _were_ a few things that I noticed. Three people attacked Amber, and judging by the prints they left, I'd say it was two women, and a man. She was hit with an arrow in the back after her aura was depleted, and…"

"And what, Qrow?" Ozpin asked lightly.

"Her… face was disfigured. Something burned into it, but more like a chemical burn instead of a flame," Qrow admitted. He wasn't sure what could have done that, but the pattern was erratic. It didn't look like a liquid. Qrow said as much, if only to leave no information off the table.

"That is troubling, if only because it is an unknown," Ozpin replied, frowning in thought.

"Do we think it was Salem?" Glynda asked from the side, sharing a concerned eye for the both of them, "What should we be doing to prepare?"

Ozpin sighed, "While I hope that it wasn't the work of the Grimm Queen, there are precious few others that know the secret of the maidens. First Vernal… and now Amber… We will have to keep a much closer watch on the vault, at the very least. If our killers knew about the maidens, there's no guarantee that they don't also know about the relics. If it _was_ Salem's doing, then that is a certainty."

Qrow nodded, "I'm sure you two can take care of that for the time being. What do you need me to do?" ' _It was my damn fault._ ' Qrow was ashamed of himself, and his semblance. It had already cost him so many things, and now it had kept him from getting to Amber on time to save her life.

Ozpin's gaze seemed to cut straight through him, understanding the grizzled huntsman with a single glance, "I do not blame you, Qrow. Neither of us do."

Qrow spared Glynda an eye. She gave him a blank expression, but nodded, confirming Ozpin's words. Qrow took another swig from his flask, still waiting for the headmaster to answer his question.

"I do have a use for your… special skills."

Qrow quirked an eyebrow, "You want me to follow someone?"

Ozpin leaned forward, elbows on his desk with his hands clasped together to support his chin across the knuckles, "Tell me about the young woman that you met in the diner."

Qrow frowned, "Her name was Olivia, I think. She was short, with black hair and magenta eyes. Told me she wanted to be a huntress and asked about what they'd be doing during initiation."

"And what did you tell her?" Ozpin raised an eyebrow of his own. Qrow was not known for caring about the rules of such things he thought trivial.

"Well I didn't tell her!" Qrow said quickly, then coughed, "Not at first anyway."

"Oh? Was there something she said that changed your mind?"

Glynda was giving Qrow a very disapproving glare, both her riding crop tapping on her crossed arm, and her foot against the floor menacingly.

"I asked her where she was from, and she said Mistral. The continent, not the city. The way she said it was a bit suspicious, and with Raven being from that area…"

"So you were the one that brought up your sister initially?" Ozpin drew close attention to that fact, wanting to make absolutely certain of how the series of events unfolded.

"Not exactly. I was pressing for a more specific answer, and asked her if she knew anyone that looked like me. She didn't really seem to at first, and was saying as much before she stopped," Qrow shrugged, "I don't think she was thinking about Raven at all, but when I brought it up she made the connection."

"The two of you do share some similarities," Ozpin chuckled lightly, taking another sip of his coffee to let the tension wind down a little, "Did she tell you how she knew Raven?"

Qrow rubbed his neck, hesitating. It was important information, though, if she wanted to get accepted into Beacon, "Yeah… Raven and a group of her bandits attacked the kid's house. She defended herself with her semblance, but her family wasn't so lucky."

"And Raven just let her leave?" Glynda asked incredulously. She had heard enough stories about the woman to have an idea of the brutality she was capable of.

"The kid didn't exactly _escape_. She… killed the bandits," Qrow raised his hands at the shock on both of their faces, "They _did_ just kill her parents and brother."

"So, how did Raven take it?" Ozpin asked after he had composed himself. He had more than just heard a few stories about the woman, he had trained her himself _and_ kept her as a valuable spy and confidant for years before she fled.

Qrow shrugged, "Raven is obsessed with power. From the sounds of it, she offered to take the kid in. Little girl was smart enough even then to know that was a _bad_ idea. She turned her down."

"Anyway, I felt like I needed to make up for what Raven had done, even if it was to just answer a few questions about initiation…" Qrow tapered off at the end, giving Glynda a glance. The woman just rolled a pair of green eyes, though her disapproval had vanished.

"That is understandable. I won't fault you for giving out a few words of advice, Qrow. I hope that you at least didn't reveal how teams are chosen?"

Qrow snorted in a laugh, "Not much _choosing_ that goes on, is there? More like luck, with a dash of danger thrown into the mix." When Ozpin's face soured slightly, Qrow amended his words, "No, I didn't say anything about that. I just told her to practice her landing strategy."

Ozpin laughed, "Ah, but seeing their faces when they realize they're about to be launched off the cliffs is the best part!"

Qrow gave him a half hearted apologetic smile and shrugged, "I promise not to tell anyone else. Even my nieces don't know."

Ozpin's mirth eventually died down a few seconds later, his demeanor returning to one of importance, "I had my suspicions about the girl. From what you have said, though, I think I may have been overreacting."

"You were suspicious of the girl? Why?" Glynda asked in confusion. Qrow could only mimic her, giving Ozpin the same silent question.

The immortal man's face became bitter, "Let's just say that centuries of dealing with deceit and betrayal have done little to ease my fears."

Both Qrow and Glynda were silent after the admission. Raven at least had been one of those betrayals. The list of people that Ozpin chose to trust had dwindled immensely over the years, even during their own generation.

Still, Qrow wanted to be useful, and if it would ease the headmaster's fears… "Do you want me to track her down? I could keep an eye on her for a day or two, just to be sure. I won't pretend like I believe she's guilty of anything, but I will admit that if it _was_ planned, it was good timing."

Ozpin thought on it for a moment, finger tapping away at the side of his cup. He took another sip, and finally gave Qrow a nod, "It would serve to ease my worries. If she _is_ a potential student, then I would like to know for certain."

"I'll get right on it," Qrow announced, turning back towards the elevator. As he stepped inside and turned around, he gave Ozpin one last, apologetic look.

"Sorry about Amber."

"We all are, Qrow. We all are."

* * *

Telling Ozpin that he would track down the girl and keep an eye on her was one thing. Following through was another matter entirely. Qrow scoured the town from above, starting in the area near the diner where he had met the girl. He searched for an hour without seeing her anywhere nearby.

Qrow's wings were getting tired after the second hour spent widening his search. As usual, he was having no luck. With a grumble, he landed in an alleyway and transformed, away from prying eyes. Qrow squinted out into the much brighter sunlight that cascaded down the main street, eyes already locked on to the object of his desire.

The drinks at the place weren't all that special, the service not all that great, but after spending so long around his yellow haired niece… Qrow had learned to enjoy a pun. 'The Crow Bar' always elicited a small chuckle from him when he read the name, and after crossing the street, he was sitting down in his usual spot. The bartender recognized him and gave a short wave, finishing up with a pair of school kids that were sitting off to the side.

The bartender didn't even bother asking what Qrow wanted. He was a frequent enough regular, with a unique enough look that made him hard to forget. The bartender set down the glass of scotch with a smile, already stepping back over to the kids that were talking obnoxiously loud. As he sat there in his glum silence, Qrow couldn't help but overhear the taller boy's angry words.

"That little black haired bitch! Who does she think she is, hitting me with a cheap shot like that?" the ginger snarled then winced, nursing a bump on his head with the ice pack clutched in his hand. Qrow's ears perked up at the brief description.

"Y-Yeah! If you'd had _your_ weapon with you, you could have showed her!" the younger boy agreed, slapping a hand on to the larger boy's shoulder.

Qrow's chair scraped back as he walked the short distance over to the pair, "This black haired girl, what else can you tell me about her?"

The ginger boy began to turn to him with a sneer before he noticed the weapon poking out from behind Qrow's back, "Are you a huntsman?"

Qrow nodded, "What can you tell me?"

An evil grin appeared on the boy's face, one that Qrow didn't fail to notice, "We were just minding our business, trying to get a drink at a cafe we found. She was in there harassing the faunus, and when I confronted her about it, she attacked me."

Qrow didn't believe a word of it, other than the fact that the ginger obviously lost whatever fight there was, "Where was that?"

The ginger frowned, trying to remember, but the smaller boy was the first to speak up, "It was The Daily Grind!" The boy continued, listing off the street it had been on so that Qrow could more easily find it and 'teach that girl a lesson'.

Qrow dropped some lien on the counter to pay for his drink and quickly left, heading back into the alley and transforming into his bird form. With a few short minutes of flight, he had landed on a rooftop adjacent to the coffee shop in question. His eyes scanned the crowd, looking for her in case he might have just missed her, but when he saw no signs of a short black haired girl he transformed back. Qrow sat near the ledge and kept an eye on the shop, content to wait it out.

After another half hour, Qrow spotted two familiar figures break off from the crowd and head into the coffee shop. The rabbit faunus and her teammate from earlier in the morning. Qrow hadn't paid much attention to the other people in the room aside from his glances to ensure that Amber wasn't already there. The faunus girl had chatted him up as well, though, while he was waiting for the maiden's arrival.

In a few short minutes, the door opened back up with a jingle, and the pair stepped out, followed by Olivia. Qrow stretched, then transformed back into his bird form. As they walked up the street, he followed along. A lonely, odd little bird that would fly from one building to the next. Never going too far, never dawdling too long.

The trio eventually made their way into a high end clothing store, and left Qrow to grumble in boredom for the next three hours before they finally reappeared. Olivia carried out four massive bags, each likely laden down with clothes she had claimed for herself. The other two simply looked pleased with themselves.

They led him to a restaurant next and spent another hour inside. Qrow ached from sitting on rooftops for so long, but this was hardly the first time he had tailed someone in a city. He was content to continue his watch, if it would help ease Ozpin's fears. Qrow had his own reasons as well. His niece was going to Beacon at the same time, might as well vet one of her potential teammates. Oum knows Qrow and Raven had hardly been little angels by the time they attended the school, especially after growing up in Mistral.

The trio parted ways after dinner, and Qrow followed her into another portion of town. She went into the front office for a hotel. Qrow knew of the place after spending so much of his life in and around Beacon, and had crashed in this same hotel on more than one occasion.

What Qrow didn't expect was that the girl would head into the faunus side of the building. ' _Well, that's news to me. What's her faunus trait?_ ' Qrow couldn't recall seeing one, although that was hardly something to be worried over. Most faunus that could get away with hiding their trait did to avoid dealing with racist humans. Qrow couldn't blame them. There were a lot of shitty people in the world.

Qrow noted that as one detail to share with Ozpin, along with the girl getting along with a couple students already attending the school. It also seemed as if this was her first day in the town. People didn't normally need to return to the front office unless they were paying for their room day to day, but judging by the amount of clothes she'd bought, Olivia had money to spare.

There was still light outside, so Qrow decided to wait out the time. If the girl had a nefarious side, he was sure it would show itself after dark. ' _There's hardly any need for a second day of this._ ' Olivia seemed good enough in his book. Extra points for being able to beat up that kid twice her size and send him running.

Qrow was surprised when the girl eventually reappeared, wearing a new outfit instead of her hoodie. Her hips were no longer burdened by the weapon she had been carrying all day. ' _So, some night time fun?_ ' The girl kept an eye on her scroll as she walked, glancing between the screen and the streets around her. It was relatively quiet now, with most people headed home after dark.

The thrum of the club down the street caught Qrow's attention, and he smirked. ' _Hope she brought ID. I doubt the bouncers will let the shortie in without it._ ' Qrow didn't really care whether or not she was quite old enough. Anyone going to a school to fight monsters deserved to cut loose now and then. Besides that, he would be a hypocritical _ass_ if he denied someone else a little alcohol.

Qrow had already transformed back into a human and sat down on the rooftop across the street to watch. Olivia strutted confidently past the entire line of people waiting to get in, right up to the bouncers, and handed them a fistful of lien. ' _Yeah, that works too._ ' Qrow silently laughed to himself. Seeing that her plan had worked and that the young faunus was making her way inside, Qrow decided to relax for the time being. From his position, he could see the front door and little else.

Ten minutes later, the sound of a familiar yellow and black motorcycle got him back on his feet.

' _What the hell are you doing here, firecracker!?_ '

* * *

Lotus's eyes swept across the club, looking for a hint of black, green, or grey hair. She finally spotted the group near the bar, both Cinder and Emerald were sitting down next to each other while Mercury stood, looking her way. He waved his hand when she spotted him, and she made her way through the crowd to the trio.

Quite a few club goers turned to eye her up and down as she passed. Lotus had chosen one of the more risque outfits that Coco had brought her. Which for her meant it _still_ had long sleeves, but those were provided by the black coat she wore. The coat consisted of little more than the sleeves themselves, providing a flap of material at the back that only went so far as her lower back, and did nothing to hide her front. The small purple tank top underneath left her midriff exposed, and was tight enough to help accentuate her breasts. Her lower body was covered with a pair of tight black jeans that left little to the imagination. Lotus had outright _refused_ to wear high heels, and had instead bought a pair of _sensible_ and _comfortable_ black shoes with purple laces.

The music was insanely loud, meaning that once Lotus managed to cross the distance between them, she still had to lean in close to make herself audible over the noise, "You picked anyone out yet?"

Mercury eyed her up and down, then realized she had asked him a question and had the decency to look apologetic. Lotus reiterated and swept her arm in a gesture that encompassed the entire room, "Pick a gal, any gal! I'll be your wingman!"

The assassin's face reddened a little, his inexperience showing immediately once it wasn't just gentle teasing and offhand remarks. Mercury's eyes scanned the room, though. They froze on something, and he pointed out who he was looking at to Lotus.

Lotus burst into laughter, throwing an arm up to muffle herself, "Really!? Twins!?"

Mercury gave her a mischievous grin and nodded confirmation, "Let's see if you can back up your claims!"

Lotus accepted the challenge. She grabbed the bartender's attention, a literal _mountain_ of a man and bought herself a drink. She downed it quickly then bought two more before heading off in the direction of the twins.

"Ladies!" Lotus said, still having to raise her voice over the pounding music. The twins turned towards her as one, both eyeing her up and down. Lotus noticed at least one of them crack a smile, and offered both of the drinks she held out to the pair, "These drinks are a gift from the dashing young man at the bar!"

The pair looked over to the bar, eyes catching on to Mercury, "Now, he and I have a bet, and I'm hoping you could give me a little help."

"What bet might that be?" one of the twins quirked an eyebrow. She at least seemed receptive to Mercury. The other was still eyeing Lotus appreciatively.

"I told him he'd never be able to make a girl scream louder than I do! He says he can. I figured I'd find a lucky woman to prove it, but if there's two of you…" Lotus purposefully left the question unspoken.

The first twin grinned her approval, the other frowned and stepped up to Lotus, placing a hand on her neck then ran it gently down to the edge of her tank top, "What if there's someone _I'm_ more interested in?"

Lotus gulped, she really hadn't been expecting that twist, but recovered quickly and leaned in to speak directly into the second twin's ear, "Well, I _do_ owe him one. And if you were to do me this favor, I'd consider that a favor that I owed _you_. With added interest, of _course_. I'll be in Vale for a while, so who knows? You might be able to cash in on that favor quite a few times…"

The second twin brightened and nodded, giving Lotus a kiss on the cheek and running a hand down her side, "Deal!"

Mercury's eyes could not have gone wider when the two twins stepped away from Lotus, grabbed him by the hand, and led him upstairs.

' _Good luck, buddy. You're gonna need it._ '

With a laugh, Lotus returned to where the other two were, choosing to sit next to Emerald so that the girl wouldn't start getting defensive over her crush again.

Emerald spared her an eye, looking past her to where Mercury had gone, "What was that all about?"

"Just keeping a promise," Lotus smirked, "And now that you remind me…"

Emerald paled as Lotus hopped back up to her feet and walked around her to Cinder's side. Lotus's eyes noticed the tattoo on the girl's back, "Was that always there?" Lotus trailed her finger across it and noticed a few goosebumps appear on the older woman's neck.

Cinder gave her a narrowed eye, but still had a smirk on her face, "Newly acquired, actually."

"You'll have to give me the address for the shop. Who knows? I might go a little crazy with my new found freedom and start making reckless, long lasting decisions," Lotus laughed and sat down on the stool next to Cinder before getting another drink from the bartender.

"Wouldn't want to be doing that now, would you?" Cinder smiled, "How is dear Nicholas Arc, by the way?"

Lotus wouldn't let the jibe get the better of her, and turned her frown into a sad smile, placing a hand on top of Cinder's as if to console her, "He's been diagnosed with a terminal case of 'Shouldn't Have Fucked with the Black Lotus' disease. It's relatively new, and has no known cure."

"Oh dear, it sounds serious," Cinder couldn't quite stifle her giggle.

Lotus nodded solemnly, "It's already claimed many lives."

"Perhaps I should keep my distance," Cinder replied, pretending to lean away slightly.

"Oh, Cindy!" Lotus plopped her hand down on the girl's back, "You've got nothing to worry about."

Lotus left it at that for the moment, and went back to her drink. Her eyes roamed around the club while she was thinking, trying to envision a way to get Cinder and Emerald together. Unfortunately, if it was going to happen, Lotus figured it would have by now. The woman just wasn't into Emerald. As a pawn, maybe even a friend? Sure, Lotus could see it. As actual partners, though, there just wasn't much chemistry there. Cinder could see what Emerald wanted out of their relationship. The illusionist was doomed for-...

An insane idea popped into Lotus's head. It wouldn't jump start anything between them, but maybe it would get Cinder to put a little more consideration into it. With the skeleton of a plan in mind, Lotus leaned back over to Cinder, keeping her voice low as if she was conspiring with the older woman.

"Have you ever wondered what else Emerald might be able to do with those illusions?" Lotus tried to make her expression as close to genuine curiosity as she could manage. It wasn't tough, her own idea had started to spark some thoughts that were better left unsaid in the feisty, mocha skinned girl's presence.

Cinder paused, also seeming to take it into consideration. A slight smirk tugged at her lips as she gazed off with vacant eyes. ' _Mission accomplished? Best I've got._ '

Lotus polished off her drink and slid it back across the counter, looking for the bartender. Seeing no one behind the bar, she turned around. Apparently, the large crowd and drinks had served to dull her senses. A group of black suited employees carrying weapons were currently encircling a blond. Said blond had her hand on the bartender's crotch and was very firmly holding him in place.

"Well that's not very civil…" Lotus muttered. In all the years she had killed people, she had never gone so low as to attack someone's unmentionables. ' _That's just poor form._ '

Lotus hopped up from her stool and stepped through the crowd, "Hey, blondie! Look, I know it's tough to find a guy sometimes, but you can't just grab some dude by the junk and tell him to love you."

The girl spun on Lotus, eyes burning red and hair beginning to follow suit, if the yellow glow emanating off it was anything to go by, "Why don't you mind your own business?"

Lotus spread her arms, gesturing to the room, "Having a good time in peace _is_ my business. Didn't your mother ever teach you any manners?"

' _Yup, I hit a nerve,_ ' Lotus realized as the girl threw herself towards the young faunus. The blond's arm drew back, preparing for a heavy right hook.

Lotus shrouded her limbs just in time, and stopped the blow dead in its tracks with her forearm. The girl's eyes widened for a moment, but she quickly recovered by trying for a left handed uppercut. Lotus stopped it with her other hand and pulled the blond's arms out to the sides, exposing her chest for the full power kick she delivered straight to the blond's lower ribcage.

The blond was knocked across the room, crashing through several tables in a heap. Lotus turned to the bartender while she recovered, "What's she want, anyway?"

The mountain of a man just shook his head, "Wanted to see if I knew some woman on her scroll. Got mad when I didn't."

' _That's a petty reason to start a bar brawl…_ '

Lotus held her hands up as the girl stood back up, eyes burning red and hair following suit. Thankfully the music had stopped after she was flung across the room, allowing them to speak without shouting, "Hey, let's just talk this out, alright? No reason to ruin a nice night."

The girl didn't seem to be listening. She shoved aside a table that was between them, marching in a straight line at Lotus. She sighed, ' _I've seen your type before, kid. It's better to fight with a clear head instead of being ruled by anger._ '

Lotus stepped forward as well, giving her a 'what can I do' gesture, "I gave you a chance. What happens next is all your fault."

The girl screamed in rage. Lotus's eyes noticed that her heavy bracelets had transformed into gauntlets, right before she pointed them backwards and blasted across the intervening space. Lotus waited until the moment before the blond's fist was going to connect before sidestepping it. The girl's eyes widened as she started to fly past. Lotus reached out and grabbed the extended arm, turning her momentum into a spin that ended with her getting thrown back across the room.

Lotus capitalized on her downed form this time. The girl had a decent amount of aura, and the two blows had only chipped away a tenth of it. ' _She can take a beating._ ' Lotus's foot connected with the girl's arms as she threw them up to defend this time. The sheer power behind the blow knocked her arms away, giving Lotus a free shot to the sternum with her fist.

The blond was apparently a capable fighter though, and the instant her defense was compromised, flipped backwards to avoid the follow up blow. One of her feet came up, attempting to kick Lotus in the same motion, but her sixth sense was focused on the girl. Her hand caught the girl's leg, keeping her from completing her flip. The blond was held in place as Lotus's fist found its way into her stomach, driving the blond down into the floor, the tiles shattered beneath her.

The blond spun on the floor, forcing Lotus to back away as she finally jumped back to her feet. The girl looked far more wary now, and approached slowly, both arms raised in a boxer's stance. Lotus sighed, ' _I've been in way too many life or death fights for a student to stand a chance._ '

They continued their brawl, the blond becoming increasingly frustrated as Lotus had an answer for every jab, every kick. The spider faunus had simply seen it all before, and with her sixth sense, couldn't be surprised by any of the girl's rapid fire attacks. With one final kick to once again knock away the blond's defenses, Lotus followed it up with another brutal blow against her chest.

The blond was blasted through the window out the front of the building, and skipped across the rough pavement outside. Her aura broke, a burst of yellow that shimmered across her entire body. Lotus had made sure her final blow wasn't too strong. ' _She might end up being another Beacon student…_ '

Lotus stepped out through the front door and walked over to the blond. Her eyes had returned to lilac, and her hair had snuffed out. Lotus waited until she was standing over her to speak, "Are you ready to calm down?"

In a warning flash, her sixth sense screamed _DEATH_. Lotus threw herself backwards, bending her back the instant before a sharp red blur passed a _hair_ away from where her torso had been only a millisecond ago. Lotus rolled back to her feet, looking up to take in this new threat that had burst into range of her sixth sense faster than anyone _ever_ had before.

A younger girl stood defensively over the blond, her black and red corset outlined by the red cape on her back that blew in the breeze left over by her own attack. An enormous red and black scythe rested in the girl's hands, the blade gleaming as the young girl glared at Lotus.

The faunus dropped into a more serious stance than what she'd used against the blond. Lotus had seen many weapons in her lifetime. That scythe was _built_ for killing. Judging by the girl's aura reserves, she was weaker than the blond in that regard, but with her speed, had the potential to be a far greater threat.

"Leave her alone!" the girl yelled, voice cracking as she kept a defensive stance overtop the blond.

Confusion crossed Lotus's face, ' _A friend of hers, maybe?_ '. "Look kid, I didn't start the fight. I just ended it."

When Lotus didn't make any move to attack, doubt started to creep across the girl's face. She glanced down at the blond, looking for confirmation. The girl on the ground was still conscious, and when the girl gave her a questioning look, she sighed.

"It's fine, Ruby," the blond muttered, groaning as she pushed herself up to stand.

Lotus kept her eye on both as she tentatively let her stance drop, body still ready incase 'Ruby' tried to attack while her defense was down. The young girl's face burned with embarrassment though, and she transformed her weapon into a more compact form to attach it to her back.

Ruby directed her own embarrassment into a flash of anger, "Why are you starting _fights_ , Yang!?"

The blond tried to feign indifference, "You do know you're talking to your big sis, right? The Belle of the Brawl?"

"Yaaaaaang," Ruby whined, then turned to Lotus, "It's just, I saw her aura go out, and then you were walking up to her, and…"

Lotus raised her hand, breathing a sigh of relief as she let herself relax finally, "That's fine. If I saw something like that I might have done the same." ' _If it was someone threatening Widow, I would have been more successful in my attempt to kill them, too._ '

"I've gotta say, that's a really dangerous weapon to be using without any consideration… What if my aura had been depleted and you hit? You would have cut me in half."

Ruby paled, eyes widening as she considered her words, "I-I…"

"Just be more careful, alright? Someone your age shouldn't be thinking about _murder_ as their first resolution to a problem," Lotus chastised. ' _Like I'm one to talk._ '

Yang placed a hand on the girl's shoulder to stop her shaking, "You're okay, Ruby. Her aura _is_ still up. You'd never hurt someone like that."

Lotus decided to leave it at that. She didn't want to scar the kid. If it ever did come down to it, and she _hesitated_ in a moment where she needed to be decisive… "Don't let it get to you. For all you knew I _could_ have been about to kill her. You did the right thing by jumping in. Just go with an option that's more… nonlethal first, okay?"

The girl nodded, a few tears rolling down her eyes, ' _Wow, okay. Sensitive girl with a huge scythe. What did she expect when she built something like that? That she would talk all her enemies into submission once they saw it?_ ' Lotus snorted in laughter at her own thoughts and turned to leave.

"Wait!"

Lotus paused, turning back to look into the girl's glistening silver eyes.

"I'm sorry!" the girl cried out, devastated by her own actions.

Lotus walked up to her, wary of the blond that was tensing up nearby, "Hey." Lotus waited until the girl had looked up. She brought a hand to the girl's chin and tipped her face the rest of the way to look her in the eyes.

"I forgive you, okay? I'm fine. Nothing to worry about," Lotus didn't exactly know what to say in this situation. She'd never comforted a crying child before. Lotus awkwardly patted the girl's cheek, "Buck up, kiddo."

With that, she did finally make her way back into the club.

The place was trashed. Tables were knocked over on to their sides, chairs were strewn about in the most random of places, ' _How did one get on the skylight?_ ', and the customers had thinned out considerably during the chaos. The room now consisted of a few remaining party goers, black suited guards, the bartender, and Emerald and Cinder.

Lotus sat back down next to Cinder, and spared a glance at the bartender. He shrugged and made her another glass before pushing it over.

"Sorry, did that ruin the mood?" Lotus asked, breaking into a fit of laughter.

"Well, Mercury isn't back yet, sooo…." Emerald replied, giving a huff and downing the remainder of her own glass.

"Unfortunately, we'll have to cut our celebration short," Cinder mused, "We have further plans in Vale, and some of those that ran were sure to have called the police. I'd rather avoid making a statement."

Lotus nodded her understanding, then paused, "So, uh… who's going to tell Mercury?"

Emerald's face grimaced with disgust, "Leave him."

Cinder smirked, "Well, he _will_ have an alibi…"

"Then we're in agreement. Let the lucky bastard have his fun," Lotus laughed and stood with them. The group was about to make their way towards the door when red and blue lights flashed through the front windows.

Lotus turned to the bartender and dropped another hundred lien on the table, "You got a back exit?"

He pocketed the lien and nodded, guiding them to a back section of the building that opened up into the alley. According to Cinder, they would be dropping contact for a while, but might pick it back up at a later date. The three needed to remain incognito for the time until their next big mission.

Lotus understood, and told them to get into contact whenever Cinder wanted to cash in that 'I owe you'. The trio parted ways with fond farewells.

Twenty minutes later, Lotus crashed back down on her bed, ignoring the fact that she was still fully clothed, and passed out before even bothering to tug a blanket over herself.

* * *

Qrow dialed Ozpin's number and waited for the call to go through.

"Yes, Qrow?"

"Olivia finally went to bed. I think she's fine, Oz."

"And you're sure about that?"

"Anyone strong enough to keep Yang in check _and_ cheer up Ruby is a-okay to me."

"..."

"Oz?"

"I'm going to need more details, Qrow."


	20. The End of an Arc

The morning went by, and Lotus refused to wake up from her peaceful rest. The day before had been another one of those 'best day ever' moments, and considering what had happened the last time she had one of those, Lotus was content to just stay indoors and wait it out.

Eventually though, she started to feel the discomfort of day old sweat sticking to her skin from the clothes she had worn during her fight. Her hair felt greasy, and she could feel stray debris from the fight whenever she ran her fingers through it.

With a groan, she got up and undressed. After a few minutes, she had picked out another outfit for the day, grabbed a towel, and entered the bathroom. The water pressure was tragically weak, but Lotus made due. She dressed in more comfortable attire, still choosing to go without her hoodie for the day. Now that she owned a larger variety of clothing, wearing her hoodie had become synonymous with her old life, and just like Mistral, she was more than happy to leave it all behind.

Lotus wore a simple black button down dress shirt, the buttons down the front and on the cuffs a vibrant magenta, with a pair of designer blue jeans and the same purple-laced shoes from the night before. She _did_ really like them. A growl from her stomach announced her hunger, and with a wistful look around the quiet apartment, she decided to rectify the issue. ' _That cafe was nice…_ ' Lotus spared her weapon one final glance, but decided not to bring it. She didn't plan on fighting anyone today.

Mind set, Lotus left the apartment and headed out, crossing town through the midday heat, a light breeze blowing through the streets that was muffled by the bodies sharing the space with her. Lotus let the exquisite and newly discovered sense of calm wash over her. ' _Nobody knows you. Nobody._ '

A bit of unease wormed its way through her heart. ' _Ren and Nora know you… and they're coming to Beacon too._ ' Lotus had already devised a lie. An entire web of lies, in fact, to try and cover up the trail of bodies that had been left in her wake. She had nearly two years to think on it, trapped in Mistral as she was. The thought of lying to the two that she considered friends still sent a sliver of guilt through her bones. ' _They deserve better than me…_ ' The only thing that kept Lotus going was her determination to become a better faunus. A better _person_. Surely they would recognize that?

Soon enough, she had arrived at her destination. The same sign sat outside, the same smells wafted through the alleyway as she approached. It eased her trepidation, allowing herself to forget her past for the time being. The door of the cafe opened with a jingle as she stepped inside and was greeted by the barista behind the counter.

Lotus let her eyes roam around the cafe, and paused for a moment as they caught on to the bow wearing faunus from the day before. The girl had also looked up when the bell announced another customer's arrival. Their eyes met for only a moment, before the girl turned back to her book, a light smile playing on her lips.

Lotus stepped up to the counter and got the barista's attention, asking in a barely audible whisper, since the girl obviously had a second set of ears beneath that bow, "Can you make that dessert from yesterday and give it to her this time?"

The barista nodded, and Lotus added to her order, getting a coffee for herself and another soup and sandwich. She accepted the food and drink, and went back to the same booth she herself had occupied the day before. The girl seemed like the quiet type, and Lotus was content to allow her to make the first move at her own speed. The spider faunus had very little experience with actual romance, but returning the gesture from the previous day sounded like a good idea in her mind.

' _Maybe she was just appreciative that I dealt with the racist._ ' Lotus couldn't be certain the girl was even interested in her that way. ' _The twin from last night, though…_ ' Lotus would have to hit her up in a few days. There was nothing wrong with a bit of casual fun, and the twin had clearly been into the idea. ' _I hope Mercury didn't disappoint them. I'll have to find out. That would be the_ _ **best**_ _blackmail._ '

Lotus was in the middle of her evil grin when she felt the barista delivering the treat to the bow wearing faunus. Lotus waited until the barista left before sparing a glance around the edge of her own booth. The girl caught her eye again, amber eyes locking on to magenta for a second longer, then gave her an appreciative nod.

With a delicate smile, Lotus turned back to her meal. ' _Score one for team Lotus. Girl got game._ ' The young faunus's internal monologue was busy high fiving itself when her scroll buzzed, breaking her concentration as she pulled it out. Lotus paled when she saw the caller ID. 'Widow'.

With a discontented sigh, Lotus left what remained of her food behind and exited the building. It was far too quiet to have a conversation with her motherly assassin without being overheard. The jingle of the door only dropped her mood, feeling like it was mocking her as she was forced to leave behind the intoxicating atmosphere.

Lotus walked deeper into the alleyway before accepting the call, "Hey, Widow!"

"Are you okay, dear? You didn't call so I was getting worried," Widow's face appeared on the display, a hint of anxiety creasing her features.

"I'm alright. We finished the mission yesterday and I slept in late," Lotus twisted the truth a little. Neither statement was exactly a _lie_ , it was just… missing crucial details, "Where are you?"

"I hired a ship to drop me off in Arcus. Nicholas isn't _here_ , Lotus. He's on his way to Vale," Widow replied, giving her an apologetic smile, "There's no airship back out of here so I'm an hour behind."

"Do you know why he's headed to Vale?" Lotus asked with a frown.

Widow paused, "I went to Nicholas's house and convinced his family that I was another huntress that wanted his help on a mission. They told me I'd just missed him. His son stole his sword last night and ran off to become a huntsman."

A shiver of doubt pierced through Lotus's entire body. A face flashed through her mind of a young boy, spiky blue hair and goggles bent over the drowned body of his father, desperately trying to resuscitate him.

' _It… won't be the same…'_

"Lotus?" Widow's voice came through with a hint of worry, "Don't do anything until I'm there, okay?"

' _Widow won't want to wait. She won't let him plead his case. She'll just kill him and be done with it…_ '

Lotus nodded absentmindedly, "Sure…"

' _I need to do this myself. It's the only way to give him a chance…_ '

"I'm on my way, alright? We'll do this together."

' _I need to do this before she gets here…_ '

"Yeah. I'll talk to you later!" Lotus replied, and hung up.

Lotus sighed, opening up a map on her scroll, and stepped back out into the throng of people heading every which way throughout the city. The road from Arcus would take about a day's worth of travel to reach Vale. If the kid left the previous night, he would arrive sometime in the next few hours. ' _Not much time to plan…_ ' Lotus shrouded her limbs, and made her way back to her apartment at a brisk jog.

' _I should… wear my hoodie for this. One last time..._ '

* * *

A shiver of anxiety ran its way down Widow's spine as the call ended. ' _You were never good at lying to me, little spider._ ' Lotus was going to try something, that much was certain. Widow sighed, ' _I knew she would reach her rebellious teen years at some point. I'm lucky it took so long._ ' At least her daughter had turned into an extremely capable young woman. One that still needed Widow's guidance, _of course_ , but capable nonetheless.

Widow increased her pace. She had lost time to make up for, and a daughter to protect. Both from the huntsman... and from the truth.

* * *

Lotus had kept her eyes out for an abandoned building on her way back to her apartment, but after getting back and changing into her hoodie, still hadn't seen one. The road that led into Vale from Arcus was at least along a different route, and Lotus finally found an empty structure on her way there. It had been a shop of some sort, the bottom level was burned out, while the upper story remained intact. Three claw marks on the outside of the building clued Lotus in. The White Fang had destroyed this place. It seemed like a fitting location, considering her past.

Lotus quickly left to buy some supplies for her plan, and stashed them inside a room on the more intact upper floor. Items in place, Lotus made her way to the edge of the town, on the road that the young Arc would have to take, and waited.

Lotus scoured each and every person that passed her by, looking for some sign of similarity between them and her prey. It wasn't until several hours later when the sun was just beginning to set over top the city behind her that she saw a figure in the distance. His head was topped with blond hair, his upper body clothed in a black hoodie beneath piecemeal armor. The blond stumbled forward with each step, dragging his feet through the dirt, eyes downcast as he moved on sheer willpower alone.

The spider faunus recognized this blond. He had been in one of the pictures she had paid for during her two years stuck in Mistral. A background figure, one that she had not paid any mind to up until now. Lotus had always had eyes only for the source of her hatred, Nicholas Arc. The blond continued his approach, eyes remaining on the road in front of him as he steadily drew nearer to the high walls of the city of Vale.

His head pulled up as he crossed the remaining distance, ears catching on to the sounds of the city in front of him. The blond's eyes widened and a slight smile tugged at his lips before he collapsed on the ground. The boy rolled over in the dirt, chest heaving and limbs shaking from an entire night and day worth of travel.

Lotus had watched him approach and waited for him to draw near, for the chance to begin putting her plan into action. Now she paused, shock getting the better of her when her sixth sense had reached out and felt… not what she was expecting. ' _He doesn't even have his aura unlocked…_ ' Lotus gazed upon the boy with a mixture of both contempt, and pity.

Immediately, the naivety of his actions became apparent. His father's desire to chase him down and bring him back. The sheer incompetence the boy must have to believe he could become a huntsman without the most _basic_ of abilities. ' _Does he not understand the dangers of the life he's trying to lead?_ '

The young Arc didn't notice the pair of magenta eyes that watched him from the shadows. He raised his arms above his head, letting out a pitiful and exhausted ' _wooh_ ', before letting them fall back down to his sides.

Lotus sighed, ' _This changes nothing in the grand scheme of things… Actually, it should make things easier…_ ' The faunus pulled herself back up from the wall she had been leaning against and stepped up next to the gate, looking down on the young Arc.

The boy seemed to sense a shadow crossing over the top of him, blocking out what little light remained from the descending sun, and popped his eyes open. They were hazy for a moment, unfocused until he caught on to the girl's silhouette against the sky.

"Are you okay?" Lotus asked, holding a hand down to help him back to his feet. The boy took it hesitantly, then yelped in surprise at the strength behind the arm that pulled him up.

The blond rubbed his shoulder, "Y-yeah, I'm okay. Just a bit tired," a false bravado played across his features as he attempted to square up his shoulders and put on a confident smile. He held his hand out, "Names Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it."

"Olivia," Lotus accepted the handshake, partially to distract herself from the disdain she currently felt. The faunus had spent far too long among those with actual confidence behind their words to be impressed by the boy's act. It rang as entirely hollow in her ears. Still, she drew her lips into a tight smile, "What brings you to Vale, Jaune?"

"I'm going to apply to Beacon!" Jaune beamed, staying in his upright position and letting a hand fall down to his stolen weapon.

"Is that yours?"

"Uh, yeah! This is Crocea Mors!" Jaune stammered for a second but managed to recover. His hand firmly grasped the hilt as he unsheathed the blade, the ring of steel vibrating through the mostly empty street.

' _Seriously, what is with these people and naming their weapons? It's not a dog, it's a tool…_ '

Lotus eyed the length of unblemished steel, ' _Was this the one used to kill Jace?_ ' She could remember the long slash that had been across her adoptive brother's chest. Anything with a blade could have done it. There would be no concrete way to know without forcing the truth out of Nicholas himself, and for that, she needed Jaune.

"Impressive," Lotus whispered it out, not trusting herself to manage fake praise without lowering her voice. It seemed to do the trick, as Jaune smiled proudly and resheathed the sword.

Lotus stepped in closer, letting a shadow of doubt cross her face, "Hey, so… I was waiting for someone, but I don't think they're coming." Lotus waited for her words to sink in, "And I need to get back home, but it's getting dark now… Would you… escort me?"

Jaune's face flashed from confusion, to pity, and finally to a firm determination as he nodded his assent, "Of course! You don't have anything to worry about while I'm around!"

Lotus could hear the self doubt oozing out of the boy's words, but forgave him for it. He was trying to be uplifting for a 'damsel in distress'. ' _One point goes to the 'I'll spare your life' check box._ '

Time for test two, "Th-thank you! I don't think most humans would want to… protect a faunus…" Lotus remained sharply focused on his eyes, waiting for any hesitation or disgust.

"Oh, no problem!" Jaune gave her a good natured smile and gestured forward towards the city, "Lead the way!"

' _Huh… getting a lot of 'loveable idiot' vibes right about now._ ' With another mark firmly checked into the 'spare him' list, Lotus started to lead the way deeper into the city. ' _If his father was a racist, then surely the son would have followed in his footsteps?_ ' It spoke to Nicholas's character just as much as his son's that the boy didn't show any signs of racism. Jaune hadn't even flinched at the admission. He'd just carried on like helping _anyone_ was natural.

"So, what made you want to become a huntsman?"

"Well, my family line is full of warriors. Heroes of legend that helped make change across Remnant! I want to follow in their footsteps," Jaune replied, eyes scanning each alleyway they passed as if he believed danger was ready to pop out at a moment's notice.

Lotus pondered that in silence as they continued to walk through the city. Jaune glanced her way every now and then, but otherwise kept his eyes in a constant scan around them. ' _At least he's… protective?_ ' Lotus really just saw him as increasingly more naive. ' _Has he not been to Vale before? He has to have been, the trip is only a day away on foot. This place is hardly as dangerous as a Mistral slum._ ' Either way, Lotus added another mark to the side that had received them all so far. Jaune was actively attempting to ease the fears he believed she had.

"So, do you go to school in Vale?" Jaune asked, drawing Lotus out of the murderous debate in her head.

"No, I'm…" Lotus had to quickly think of a lie of her own. ' _I'm the one asking the questions, kid!_ ' Her mind jumped to the first thing she could think of, "I'm a barista at a cafe."

"Oh, that's cool. I'm not really much of a coffee drinker myself."

From there, Lotus kept the conversation firmly directed towards Jaune and his family, hoping for some nugget of information, some slip up, that would let her feel good about exacting her revenge. Unfortunately, after another fifteen minutes of thinly veiled questions, there was still not a single mark against Jaune or his father.

Lotus let the conversation die as they approached their destination. She stepped in front of the burnt out shop, pausing to spare an eye around them. The street was deserted, with only the sound of a few vehicles in the distance. Now was as good a time as ever to put the next stage of her plan into action.

"Umm, are we close?" Jaune asked, eyes scanning the area they had stopped in.

"Hmmm, I think we took a wrong turn somewhere..." Lotus replied, spinning back around to face him. Her eyes went wide as they darted over the top of the blond's shoulder, "Look out!"

The boy tried to turn around, but it was far too late. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head as Lotus's invisible appendage struck him from behind, knocking him forward into her awaiting arms.

Imbuing her limbs with her semblance, she carried the limp form of Jaune into the building and up the stairs. She laid him down against one of the exposed support beams, and chained him to it. With his scrawny figure, and lacking the aura to possess a semblance that might help him, Jaune was well and truly trapped.

With the young Arc now chained in place, Lotus relieved him of his weapon, as well as his scroll. A small amount of blood caked the back of his hair, but a quick check proved it wasn't anything serious. Lotus knew her own strength well.

With a quick nod to acknowledge her own efforts, Lotus pulled his scroll back out. It was time to begin her plan in earnest. ' _Your move, Nicholas._ '

* * *

" _Come to the address I have provided, alone, or your son and his little friend will pay the price with their life. They are my hostages, and I can kill them at a moment's notice. Do. Not. Fuck with me._ "

Nicholas read over the text for the hundredth time as he finally arrived within the silent streets of Vale. ' _A friend?_ ' More likely, some poor soul had gotten wrapped up in this mess. Jaune couldn't have been ahead of Nicholas by more than an hour, and even that was a stretch. His son was not the most fit individual, and Nicholas had been in a hurry.

' _I can't imagine him actually getting accepted into Beacon…_ '

Still, there was the chance that he might be taken in on name alone, and that would be a mistake on the school's part. An Arc his son may be, but a warrior he was not. After what had happened in Mistral…. Nicholas shivered, his mind's eye once again showing him the carnage that he and the other huntsman had been forced to inflict.

' _Jaune can't become a huntsman…_ '

Nicholas would protect him, even from the future his son craved.

The huntsman was too focused on the road ahead to notice the shadow that followed in his footsteps.

* * *

Lotus could feel the presence of the huntsman as he entered the bottom story of the building, picking his way uncertainly through the burnt out shop towards the stairs.

The young faunus flinched as she felt Widow following after. ' _It's too soon! Damn it!_ ' Lotus opened her eyes, shifting slightly as the chains she had bound herself with rattled against the support beam. She felt the huntsman pause, the sound catching his attention, before he continued up the stairs and into the hallway that led to the back room that she and Jaune were in.

Lotus could feel him checking each room along the way. Widow also made her way up the stairs, but stopped at the top, not wanting to expose herself to the huntsman if he were to turn around. Nicholas finally reached the last door, and pushed it open. His eyes darted around the room, not stopping on Jaune or Lotus as he checked for whatever dangers might threaten all of them.

"Help… please…" Lotus whispered it out, shuffling slightly so that the chains around her body would once again catch the huntsman's attention. Jaune was still unconscious, but his chest rose and fell, clearly alive.

A ripple of fear passed through Lotus. There was no doubt that Nicholas was an 'S' rated huntsman. It was not only the way he carried himself that spoke volumes to his experience, but also the _titanic_ aura reserve the man possessed. It dwarfed Qrow by comparison, a pebble measuring itself against a mountain.

Without his weapon and the element of surprise on her side though, Lotus could still see the fight going in her favor. Nicholas finally seemed to settle a little, and stepped further into the room. His eyes caught on to Lotus, the only other person in the room that was still conscious.

"Do you know who did this?" the huntsman's voice came out, tense yet assured. He wasn't afraid for himself, only for the pair chained up in front of him.

Lotus shook her head, then winced, pretending that the action had given her a headache, "I-I don't know what's happening… I met that boy, and he was helping me home… and then someone hit me from behind…"

Nicholas nodded and reached the center of the room. Lotus could feel Widow now making her way from the stairs and along the hallway. The older faunus must have sensed Nicholas moving away from the door. Lotus could feel Widow drawing her daggers, preparing to strike.

As Nicholas reached Jaune, Lotus struck first. The pair of 'hostages' were only five feet apart, and with the length of her appendages, Lotus could attack while remaining as she was, giving no outward signs that she was the one hammering against the huntsman's aura.

When the first blow hit, Nicholas spun, raising up his arms as if to defend. Lotus let her eyes widen, pretending to be confused and afraid of the huntsman's sudden activity.

Invisible appendages rained down blows on Nicholas. His eyes darted around, trying to find the source of the attacks. His aura shimmered under each strike, every attack chipping away at his reserves.

"Wh-What's going on!?" Lotus screamed, pulling herself away from the huntsman to avoid whatever it was he was fighting. Jaune's head shook, the noise slowly bringing him back to consciousness.

Nicholas set his feet, planting himself firmly, raised both arms, and _caught_ one of Lotus's invisible limbs. With an almighty growl, muscles rippling, he ripped his arms back, trying to drag the sourceless _thing_ along with him.

Lotus was yanked on to her feet in her surprise, and pulled taut against the chains holding her against the support beam behind her. Nicholas noticed immediately, face hardening and eyes growing cold as the one responsible was revealed.

With the sweep of one leg behind herself, Lotus shattered the metal chains holding her in place. The chains dropped with a heavy clatter to the wooden floor beneath. She paused her barrage for the moment, eyeing Nicholas up and down.

"You should have looked the other way when the SDC asked you to help murder the White Fang, _Arc_ ," Lotus let her frustrations over the last five years seep through, glaring at Nicholas even as he still struggled to hold her appendage in place.

A deep seeded regret befell the man's features, his face softened when he understood why she was fighting him, "We didn't want to kill any of them!" His voice was desperate, eyes roaming over Lotus's face, hoping to see some doubt there.

The words had only served to reaffirm her anger, the lie mimicking the one said by Carob, who had stolen her brother's weapon to use as his own. " _Liar!_ " What prizes had Nicholas claimed, she wondered?

Lotus relaunched her strikes, sparing a satisfied grin for the ripples across his aura. Each individual wave across his body met another, like dropping multiple stones in a pond.

Nicholas knew that he couldn't allow this to continue. The girl, through whatever semblance she had, was dropping his aura at a frightening rate. With an angry shout of his own, he barreled forward through the attacks, throwing his weight into the blows that tried to force him back.

The man was a _brute_. Lotus backed up too slowly to avoid a head on collision with the train that slammed into her. She was lifted off her feet and into the wall behind her. The support beam snapped under the pressure, forcing Lotus back further into the wall. The spider faunus dug her appendages into the floor, as the boards behind her creaked. ' _Is he going to push me through the wall!?_ '

"Dad!"

The single warning from Jaune was all Nicholas received before Widow was upon him, dual daggers slashing across the aura on his back. His reserves plunged once again, now trapped between the two separate faunus trying to end his life.

Lotus heaved with all her might, pulling herself away from the wall as Nicholas's attention was diverted to the hellion behind him. He grunted and shifted his body, suddenly dragging her away from the wall instead of holding her back. Lotus was thrown forward by their combined strength, colliding with Widow in a tangle of limbs as Nicholas used her own limbs against her. The pair slammed against the opposite wall, closer to the door.

Nicholas breathed heavily, the strain clear on his face. Lotus could feel his aura finally giving, a hair away from being fully depleted. Both she and Widow pulled themselves apart, lowering into a stance in preparation to resume their attack.

Lotus paused, noticing a flicker or recognition pass through the man's eyes. He frowned, eyes on Widow, and opened his mouth to speak.

No sound came out, despite his attempts to communicate.

Lotus held her hand out in front of Widow along with an appendage and let herself calm down. The fight was as good as over, with Nicholas so close to having his aura completely broken. He wasn't a threat anymore. Lotus could speak from a position of power, now, and make sure that Nicholas listened.

Lotus stepped further between the two and spared Widow a glance. The older woman's confusion was clear, "Let him speak."

"That would be a mistake, little spider. You will not get the answers you seek, only lies crafted to protect himself and his son," Widow warned, still not dropping her semblance from the man. Nicholas had placed his hand up to his own mouth, and was trying futilely to yell something at Lotus. His eyes were wide, face taut in fear.

"Just do it, Widow. I… spoke with his son, before I brought him here. He isn't bad. I want to hear what Nicholas has to say. It's the last chance for any of them to defend their actions."

Unease began to grow in Lotus's heart when Widow continued to refuse. Her semblance remained in place, blocking out any words that Nicholas was desperately attempting to shout out.

"Widow…"

"I can't, little spider. We need to get this over quickly. Once he's dead, we can get rid of his son as well," Widow moved as if to step past Lotus's outstretched limbs.

"No!" Lotus demanded. Her appendage struck out, pinning Widow to the wall near the door. The older faunus shouted in surprise, hands dropping down to grip the invisible limb that held her in place, "We aren't killing Jaune! I won't ruin another kid's life, and I won't take away his father either if I can help it!"

"Lotus! Put me down this instant! What have you been working towards all these years!? Forgiveness for the man that took away everything!? Let's kill them and be done with it!" Widow screamed. Her hands hammered down against the limb that held her in place. They both knew it was a wasted effort. Lotus could hold her there all day and she would never escape.

"Widow," Lotus pleaded, eyes going back and forth between her mother and Nicholas, "I don't _want_ to start my new life with another murder!"

"It isn't murder! It's revenge!"

Lotus allowed herself a moment to calm down, breathing out a long sigh. Her eyes turned to Widow, staring into the older woman's eyes, "No one will leave this place until he is allowed to speak." As if to show her commitment to that statement, Lotus added another limb to the first, firmly holding Widow in place. Her other two hovered in the space between herself and Nicholas, poised to strike if she didn't like his explanation.

Widow's eyes could get no bigger. Like a caged animal, she still struggled against the limbs for another few minutes. Eventually, her body slumped against her bonds, admitting defeat.

"Lotus…"

"Let him speak."

Widow looked deep into Lotus's eyes, and sighed in defeat at the determination she saw there, "I tried, little spider."

With a gasp, Nicholas was finally audible again. He rubbed at his throat, then looked back up at Lotus and the faunus pinned to the wall behind her. Nicholas raised one hand, pointing a shaky finger at Widow, " _She_ told us where the White Fang were!"

Silence fell over the room. Lotus had eyes only for Nicholas.

' _That's… the worst lie I could have imagined…_ '

Lotus struck with one appendage, shattering Nicholas's aura and pinning him to the wall with it in the same motion. The large man shouted in pain, hands going up to struggle against the invisible limb, but without his aura he lacked the strength to pry himself free.

"Speak such an obvious lie again, and your son will pay the price," Lotus said in a low whisper. She dragged her remaining appendage across the floor, gouging out a line through the wooden boards that led to the young blond.

Nicholas waved his hands in front of himself, "I'm speaking the truth! She led us there! It-It was here semblance that made it all go wrong!"

Lotus frowned, ' _Does he not care for his son?_ ' That clearly was not the case, though. Nicholas had chased Jaune all the way to Vale to protect him, even from himself.

"Widow's semblance is noise cancellation. How would _that_ drive you to murder everyone there?" None of this made any sense.

"It isn't noise cancellation!" Nicholas shouted, eyes staring past Lotus at Widow behind her, "It's sound _manipulation_! During our fight, she was making everyone _hear_ things! I heard myself shouting things that I would never say, death threats that I would never make! We had planned on taking them in alive!"

That was… preposterous. Lotus had never seen or heard Widow using her semblance that way. Not in all the years they had spent together. Surely the older faunus would have divulged something so useful?

A memory flickered through the young faunus's head. The first time she had met Widow. The approval the woman had when she realized Lotus was trying to hide her semblance's true strength.

How much sooner she had sensed Crim. The sheer difference between how far their senses functioned. Lotus had never been able to sense anything as far away as Widow could.

Another memory. The events leading up to everyone's death. Widow had suggested that Lotus go alone on the mission. Had given her a keycard for the terminal that Widow could have just as easily used herself. If she already swiped it beforehand, then what had stopped her? The terminal had not been difficult to get to. Why had Lotus been sent in her stead?

_Lotus sensed the presence of the older spider faunus above, and scaled the building until she reached the roof. Widow stood at the edge, looking down on the bodies of the White Fang below. 'We were too late, little spider.'_

"Where were you?" Lotus whipped around to stare at Widow, seeing now the panic in the older woman's eyes, "On the night everyone died. Where were _you!?_ "

Widow could not answer. In her silence, though, Nicholas spoke again.

"She was working with _us_."

Lotus fell to her knees, eyes searching Widow's face. Desperately hoping for a spark of resistance to the man's words. Her mother only looked at her in shame.

"I… I had to do it, Lotus. They were going to take you away from me," Widow's eyes brimmed with tears, her voice catching in her throat, "I couldn't… Not another daughter… Not again…"

' _What? Another… Again…?_ '

Lotus had eyes only for Widow. Her appendage pulled loose from Nicholas, allowing the man to drop back to the ground and run over to stand next to Jaune. All of her limbs now focused on Widow. Two to pin her to the wall, and two incase she…

"Why!?" Lotus screamed it, causing Widow to flinch at the pain that one word held. The young faunus's entire world was crashing down around her, and Widow was to blame.

"I… I wasn't _alone_ in the mines, little spider… My husband and I… we were sent to the frontier… There's no law there. Nothing to stop the guards from doing as they please. It's… far worse than the regular mines… Slate and I… We came up with a plan. He wanted to save me from the mines, and we heard rumors of a way to do it. To get a female faunus sent back to Mantle…"

Widow paused in her retelling, tears now truly streaming down her face, eyes pleading for Lotus to understand. For the young faunus to believe what she said.

"I got pregnant… We were able to hide it for three months, until the point where they would _have_ to let me leave… They didn't… The warden was furious. Instead of letting us go, he had his men drag us out into the center of the camp. He wanted to make an example of us… The warden killed my husband… beat him to death right there in front of everyone."

Widow sighed, "And then he started on me. The warden didn't want me dead though, little spider. No… he had far worse in store for me. A post was driven into the center of camp… They chained me to it, night and day, beating me with fists… lashing me with whips… _Anything_ to relieve their sick pleasure. After the weeks had gone by… I snapped. My semblance activated. I wanted the voices to stop taunting me… But that didn't stop the beatings. I tried to cry out for help, but it wasn't my throat that made the noise. My throat was ruined, half collapsed under the strain. My _semblance_ was how I screamed in pain, how I pleaded for the faunus around me to help."

"I told you before, little spider. It's dangerous to believe that what happens in the mines won't happen to you. All of the faunus there… they were being treated nicer, while the guards had their fun with me. The warden had someone else to take his anger out on… They ignored me, ignored my pleas... 'As long as it isn't me', they thought..."

"So, I had to fight for myself. If I could make noise without speaking, then what else could I do? I soon discovered that I could mimic _anyone_ who's voice I had heard since unlocking my semblance. I started to sew chaos. A whispered threat here… the sound of footsteps there…"

"Everyone was afraid. Everyone was staring at shadows. The… The Grimm attacked, and… I was finally able to make my escape. I stole their transport vehicle while they fought the Grimm, and left them _all_ to die."

Lotus was speechless. She couldn't comprehend it. No one who hadn't experienced the same ever could. Lotus understood loss, though. She had lost more than one family, and Widow was responsible for the second. Still, there were questions unanswered, "What… What about your daughter?"

Widow's head fell down against her chest, hair falling with it to cover her face, cover the anguish that twisted her features. She never wanted Lotus to see her like this, see her so vulnerable…

"I made it back to Mantle… I had been being used by the guards and the warden for months… And then... When my daughter was finally born…" Widow's eyes lifted to stare at Lotus, her shoulders shook in earnest and her chest heaved in the misery she felt, "My daughter… my poor little spider… I knew something was wrong. After all the beatings, she never moved again. She never kicked… She was… She was stillborn…"

Lotus's appendages retreated in shock, withdrawing back to herself and allowing Widow to drop back down to the ground. The woman couldn't keep herself up, though. She dropped to her knees, curling in on herself as she buried her face in the floor. Her arms wrapped around her head protectively, trying to hide from the world around her.

"I'm sorry, little spider. You were going to leave me. I couldn't let you! You were my second chance! A daughter without parents, that found her way to a mother without a child!" Widow's eyes swept up, the ferocity behind them dimmed only slightly by the tears still in her eyes, "It was _fate_. We're meant to be together, little spider!"

Lotus shook, and hugging herself tightly as she trembled. ' _This isn't how this was supposed to go! None of this is right!_ '

"I… I know you're confused, little spider. Perhaps…" Widow shivered and stood back up, "Maybe it's best if you go to Beacon… It will let you see the _truth_. The faunus might share physical traits with beasts, but humans _are_ beasts. They just hide it better…" Widow nodded, "It will be good for you. You can find out for yourself what they're like."

With that, Widow left. Her presence vanished entirely from Lotus's sixth sense after she stepped through the door. ' _The senses we feel are just like sound, vibrations through the air_.' Lotus realized right then and there that Widow could have hidden herself from Lotus at any time. Widow's semblance increased the range of her senses… and could just as easily mask her from anyone else's…

' _I'll never know for sure if she's nearby… If she's waiting to try and take me back…_ ' Lotus shivered and spared one last glance to the huntsman and his son. No words passed between them. The two were in shock as well. The young faunus left, uncaring about where her feet took her.

She just needed to be anywhere but there.

* * *

Widow composed herself, and waited for her daughter to leave. The young faunus eventually did, not bothering to check any of the rooms on her way out. Widow didn't blame her. The older assassin's semblance was working overtime, cutting off any vibrations leaving her surroundings. Like this, she was invisible to any other spider faunus that didn't directly have eyes on her.

Once Lotus had vacated the building entirely, Widow entered back into the room they had been in before. The huntsman, Nicholas Arc, was there. The one that had caused a rift between mother and daughter, bent over his own son as he tugged at the chains, attempting to free him.

Widow's dagger pierced into his back. The large man screamed at the sudden pain, twisting to try and defend himself from his attacker. In a flash of cold steel, her second dagger ripped across his throat. Nicholas dropped to the ground next to his son, one hand trying to stop the blood pouring from his open wound, the other held protectively over his child.

The faunus paused, staring at the blood that dripped down the edges of her blades, "You have made a mistake, this night. If you had kept my secret, then my daughter may have convinced me to spare your son. Now?" A cold fury was in the woman's eyes as she glared down at the pair. The huntsman's arm swayed, his body weakening as the world around him started to spin out of focus.

"No! Dad!" the young blond shouted. He struggled against his chains, trying to throw himself in front of his father. Tried to shield him from the next blow the spider faunus was about to deliver.

He could not move, though. Widow's dagger plunged into the huntsman's chest, worming its way down into his heart. She leaned closer to whisper in his ear, "You can't blame me, can you? I would do anything for my child. Wouldn't you say the same?"

Without looking, her second dagger slashed out, and cut across the boy's throat as well.

The last thing Nicholas Arc ever saw was his son collapsing in a pool of his own blood.

Satisfied with her revenge, Widow rose back up and wiped her daggers off on the man's shirt, ' _Lotus did always have a soft spot. No matter how many missions I took her on, no matter how many people she killed… I guess she truly will have to experience humanity for herself._ '

And Widow would be there. When the entire world fell apart around her, when all her friends abandoned her… Widow would be there to pick up the pieces... and forge them into a weapon that would _never_ hesitate again.


	21. A Midnight Chat

Ozpin sat in his office, going over some of the early student applications that had arrived. The room itself was dimmed, the only light cast by the holographic screen in front of him, and the dull green glow that always encompassed the top of the CCT. He had a steadily growing stack of names that he found interesting, first year students that he would need to keep an eye on.

' _Weiss Schnee. Interesting that she would choose to come to Beacon instead of attending the academy in Atlas… Perhaps some familial differences? The faunus relations would certainly benefit…_ ' Ozpin set that paper aside, picking up the one beneath it, ' _Which brings me to the next applicant..._ '

' _Blake Belladonna. Daughter of Ghira Belladonna, Chieftain of Menagerie and original creator of the White Fang… A rather skilled young woman, despite her lack of any transcripts. It does beg the question… where did she learn such skills? If she was on the same team as Ms. Schnee, then that might bring about further change in the young heiress and cause great strides in human and faunus relations..._ ' That paper was neatly set on the stack as well, before Ozpin picked up the next.

' _Ah, the cream of the crop. Pyrrha Nikos. Four time Mistral Regional Champion, top of her class at Sanctum… Definitely one to keep an eye on._ '

Now out of transcripts and test results to peruse, Ozpin's mind strayed back to the night before. Qrow's rendition of events rambling on through his head, ' _I wonder when Ms. Olivia is going to apply._ '

A warning icon flashed red across his desk, immediately drawing Ozpin's attention to the screen in front of him. The headmaster rubbed his eyes and squinted, ' _I've been reading papers for far too long._ '

**GRIMM SWARM : EMERALD FOREST : THREAT LEVEL III**

The words continued to flash until Ozpin switched the display to an overhead map of the Emerald Forest. The sensors hidden within were detecting a massive influx of Grimm all converging on one sector, near the edge of the city.

' _What on Remnant could have gotten the Grimm so riled up?_ '

Ozpin changed the display once again, eight different cameras in the area appearing all at once. Motion on one of them caught his attention.

' _Hmmm…_ '

In a moment, Ozpin's scroll was in his hand, his fingers dialing the number of one of his most trusted lieutenants.

" _Eh? What's up Oz, you need somethin'?_ "

"Your little friend has decided to take a walk through the Emerald Forest, Qrow. She's about to be surrounded by Grimm, and _you_ can get there faster than I can."

"... _Tell me where, Oz._ "

* * *

Lotus let her feet decide where her body went. Tears steadily streamed down her face, her chest racked with heaving sobs that she could not contain. Her mind was a delirious swirl of competing memories and emotions, mixing together in such a way to keep her from coming to any conclusions. Her heart ached for what Widow had gone through, but at the same time, _refused_ to feel that pity.

' _Everyone died because of her!_ '

' _There were fifteen White Fang members there. Have you not killed far more than that?_ ' A myriad of faces. So many that Lotus could never have hoped to memorize them all. Names, at least of those she knew. All dead by her hand.

' _I knew_ _ **them**_ _!_ ' Crim, July, Jace!

' _Everyone knows someone._ ' A boy with blue hair and goggles, dripping wet from jumping into a pool to try and save his father, far too late to make a difference...

' _Th-That was an accident!_ '

' _The results were an accident. The intent was entirely planned._ ' Dragging the man into the water. Pushing him beneath the rippling pool and holding him there. Waiting for his last breath.

' _Widow tricked me into doing it!_ '

' _Can you truly blame her? Can you say with utmost certainty that you would not have done the same, if you had experienced the same horrors as she?_ ' Her appendage through a man's chest. A man pinned in place. A hole appearing through his head when Lotus pulled the trigger.

' _I-I don't know! She still lied to me for so long!_ '

' _Just as you are planning on lying to everyone about your own past?_ ' Ren and Nora, smiling as they sat next to her in the grass. Their faces changing as they realized the truth about her. That she was a murderer.

' _That's different! I want to be better! I will be better!_ '

' _That remains to be seen…_ ' More names, more faces. Contracts she had taken not because she needed to, but because she just wanted to pass the time.

' _I haven't killed anyone since leaving Mistral…_ '

' _Not by choice. You would have killed Qrow when the opportunity presented itself. It did not. You did not spare him. You got unlucky._ ' Coco and Velvet, standing nearby and watching her as she waited for them to leave, fully prepared to end the life of the huntsman nearby. Willing to kill the innocent witnesses in the diner...

' _But I still didn't! My hands are clean!_ '

' _Your hands are stained with just as much blood as Widow's._ '

' _I spared Nicholas and Jaune! Widow wouldn't have done that!_ '

' _And in doing so, doomed yourself. Do you think they won't report what happened? You will_ _ **never**_ _get into Beacon now._ '

Lotus stopped, realizing she was standing at the eastern gate that bordered on the edge of the Emerald Forest. ' _I… I really can't get into Beacon, now…_ ' Lotus let her feet continue carrying her in a slump, into the forest that was home to the Grimm. She needed to do something… anything to make up for all the carnage she had left in her wake.

' _Jace was wrong… I am a weapon. Whether I'm being used to kill humans, or Grimm… It's all I'm good for…_ '

It was only a few minutes before Lotus heard the first Grimm charging at her through the forest. An ursa, it's enormous body trampling over the smaller vegetation that lay in its way. Lotus shrouded her arms and legs with her semblance, and dashed across the remaining space with tears in her eyes. She drove all of her emotions into the fist she delivered to the ursa's chest.

The ursa's growls were cut short as inky black blood and gore exploded across the nearby foliage, then on to Lotus herself as she withdrew her arm from the hole she had made through the ursa's chest. Howls rose in the distance as Lotus continued her walk through the woods. Two dozen answered the call.

The enraged spider faunus charged the beowolves when they finally appeared, wasting no time in laying waste to the pack that was being drawn in by her own negative emotions. Lotus let herself fall deeper and deeper into her own despair, becoming a flame to the moths that stalked these woods.

Once the first pack had been taken care of, Lotus continued deeper, a trail of black ash rising in her wake from the Grimm that could not resist their temptations. The flames of her self loathing and hatred only grew, and with it came more Grimm.

After what seemed like an endless tide of Grimm, Lotus stopped in the clearing she had been fighting in, the woods around her hidden behind walls of black ash that rose into the sky above. Her ears warned her of some distant behemoth carving a path of devastation through the forests. The rumble and snap of falling trees drew her eyes to her left. An ancient deathstalker plowed into the clearing, knocking aside a copse of large oaks that stood between it and its faunus prey.

Lotus eyed the thick white armor plating that coated its exterior and the red markings that covered them. An enormous pair of pincers snapped threateningly as it stalked towards her on its eight black, spindly legs. Cracks decorated its carapace, intermingled with the moss that grew across its back.

The spider tensed, unfurling her appendages so that they were detached from her own limbs. Freeing her appendages would give her the best chance at survival. Each rose above her, fifteen feet in length and ready to strike at a moment's notice.

Lotus prepared herself, keeping an eye on the stinger that swayed above its head, mimicking the way her own appendages prepared to attack. It was the largest Grimm she had ever encountered. The fear she felt was overridden by the thrill of what was to come.

The deathstalker charged, rushing forward to snap at Lotus with a pincer that promised death if she were caught in its grasp. The faunus brought an appendage forward to meet it, stopping the pincer in its tracks. Lotus was pressed back, her feet digging into the ground beneath the sheer weight pushing against her.

The second pincer struck, barreling in from the side to be met by two more of the spider's invisible limbs. The deathstalker shrieked in frustration, wanting more than anything to rip the little morsel in front of it to pieces. Lotus was forced to throw herself backwards as the stinger slammed downwards and carved a deep furrow into the ground. She couldn't trust one appendage to be enough to stop the terrifying amount of force behind such an attack.

Dirt sprayed up into the air as the stinger was ripped free, showering Lotus in pebbles and stones and causing her to avert her gaze. Her sixth sense worked over time, warning her to dodge once again, both pincers now trying to catch her simultaneously. There was a deafening snap as they closed in the air, mere inches away from where she had been before.

' _It would only be karma catching up with me if I die here…_ ' Lotus watched the stinger trail through the air, then dodged it once again as the muscles flexed, announcing its intent.

Another furrow, another shower of stones, but Lotus had moved further back this time. Her eyes remained on the creature of Grimm before her. ' _I need a plan…_ ' The Grimm's bone structure was thicker than any other she had seen before. Lotus could identify a few weak points on its body. Areas where it lacked the armor plating, but piercing into them with her appendages wouldn't be enough to sever them. She needed something that could slash. ' _Great, the_ _ **one**_ _time I actually need my weapon, and I left it at home._ '

She needed time to think. Lotus dropped her semblance, choosing to shroud her limbs instead, and retreated into the surrounding woods. The young faunus was faster this way, able to cover more ground in a single step than what she could have in five normally. Lotus kept herself at a reasonable pace, though. The deathstalker followed, plowing through each tree that separated it from its prey.

Were there cliffs around the school? Beacon itself was on a plateau, overlooking the surrounding landscape. Lotus didn't know. She had studied the map of the city for its buildings, not its topography. ' _I can hardly lead it up to the school and then knock it off…_ ' For one, she didn't even know if there _was_ a way to the top of the plateau without taking an airship, and for two, that would just be _rude_.

' _Hi-I-want-to-apply-here-by-the-way-I-brought-a-deathstalker-with-me-hope-you're-cool-with-that-bye!_ ' ...She would never hear the end of it.

Lotus had let her mind wander too deeply. With a brief warning from her sixth sense, she threw herself to the side as one of the pincers attempted to close around her. She rolled to her feet, and immediately jumped, narrowly avoiding the stinger that slammed into the earth where she had been standing only a moment before.

' _Okay, I don't have much of a choice. It's either kill or be killed here._ _I'll just have to bleed it out.'_

A flap of wings, the whisper of metal through the air, and Lotus was forced to duck as a figure blurred over her shoulder towards the Grimm's buried stinger. The huntsman's scythe arced wide, slashing through the vulnerable point on the deathstalker's tail, and severing the yellow tip from its body.

The Grimm shrieked in pain, backing up a few paces as its pincers snapped threateningly, trying to keep the huntsman at bay. He didn't follow, but instead turned an eye to Lotus, a smug grin on his face, "Good job surviving this long, kid. I'll take it from here."

Qrow stood before her, his cape idly shifting back and forth as he rested the haft of his weapon across his shoulder. His eyes focused back on the deathstalker, narrowing as he readied his weapon once again.

' _My hero…_ ' Lotus couldn't help but add a little sarcasm to the thought. Here stood the man she had been prepared to kill only a day before, fighting to save her from a Grimm that was out for her blood. Guilt washed over her. ' _I'm not worth it… In a few days, he'll hear about what I did to the Arcs... He'll regret trying to save me…_ '

Lotus balled her fists in rage. She was angry at herself. Angry at Widow. Angry at whatever God was responsible for her life being twisted into such a mess. She was sick of it all. How nothing _ever_ seemed to go her way. ' _All I ever wanted was to be the hero!_ '

The deathstalker sensed her mounting frustration, it's hunger for humanity overcoming it's pain. With a few impatient snaps of its pincers, it rushed forward once again. Qrow turned and shoved her out of the way of the coming pincer, in the same instant transforming his weapon back into its greatsword form to block the Grimm bearing down on him.

Lotus got back to her feet and flexed her legs before launching herself skyward and landing on top of the deathstalker's back. Without the stinger to threaten her, she would be safe from it's attacks. Lotus pierced down into its armored exterior with two of her appendages. They worked to stabilize her. The Grimm thrashed in place, attempting to shake the uninvited passenger off its back.

Now standing above its head, Lotus reared her arm back. The shroud around her fist sharpened, partially forming into the regular shape of her usual appendage. The faunus transferred the strength from her other arm as well, putting the power of _both_ into one. With a scream of rage, Lotus's hand blurred down. Her fist penetrated its head, burying her arm into its head, all the way down to her elbow. It's thick armor shattered in place, fissures cracking outwards from the point of impact and spider webbing across its carapace.

The deathstalker stumbled from side to side, its body growing weak as it struggled to stand. With one final chittering shriek, the Grimm dropped heavily to the ground. The earth rumbled beneath it, shaking the nearby trees and causing leaves to fall as the Grimm stilled, legs twitching in its last dying spasms.

Lotus's breathing was ragged. She withdrew her arm, inky black blood coated it all the way down. It dripped from her still clenched fist as the faunus hopped off, landing shakily then falling to her knees in the grass. She leaned forward, supporting herself with both hands as well while she sat there, trying to get her emotions under control.

The metallic sounds of a weapon shifting forms was followed by the footsteps of Qrow, moving to stand next to her. She could feel the amused grin on his face, "Only ever wanted to be the hero, huh?"

' _Damn it… seriously, why do I lose control of my_ _**own**_ _internal monologue when I'm emotional? Stupid, stupid, stupid!_ '

Qrow interrupted her self deprecating thoughts with an offered hand, "Looks like you're on the fast track to success, as far as I can tell."

Lotus begrudgingly accepted, acknowledging what would likely be one of the last favors the huntsman ever showed her. She could already imagine those eyes looking down on her with disgust, instead of the twinkle of amusement that was there now.

"How'd you even find me out here?" Lotus asked, pulling them off the topic of her unfortunate outburst.

Qrow smirked, well accustomed to people trying to avoid embarrassing conversations. He chose to give her a little reprieve, "We have sensors and cameras all throughout the forest. Oz called me when they caught the Grimm being more active than usual."

" _Oh_ ," Lotus had a flash of panic, but dismissed it. If the cameras or sensors had picked up the airship then this conversation would have already ended in a fight, not idle chatter, "Thanks, I guess. I could have taken him if I had my weapon with me…'

"Seems like you did well enough without it. That's a good lesson for the future, though. It's hardly safe to walk into Grimm territory without being prepared," Qrow started walking as he spoke, leading the two of them back towards the city, "Why'd you come out here anyway?"

"Uhh," Lotus paused, then decided on a half truth, "I needed to vent. Better to get my frustration out on the Grimm than anything else, right?"

Qrow laughed, "That's a dangerous stress ball you're messing with. Maybe try screaming into a pillow or something. I've heard that does wonders for teenage girls."

"So you've done it a lot in the past, then?" Lotus smirked, giving Qrow a glance as he whipped his head to the side.

"How cute. The little faunus has _fangs_ , huh?" Qrow laughed when he noticed Lotus's surprise, "I've crashed in that hotel you're staying at a few times in the past. I know how they operate."

"Were you following me!?" Lotus felt the panic return. If he had seen that, then what else had he seen? She might not even have a few days before the search for her began.

"Woah!" Qrow brought his hands up, "It's not like that, kid. I was just uh… passing through and saw you come out of the office. You just caught me eye since I recognized you from earlier."

Lotus's eyes narrowed, ' _That sounds like too much of a coincidence…_ ' "Were you staying there?"

Qrow chuckled, "Well, I can't afford much better on a teacher's salary."

' _He didn't actually answer my question…_ ' The admission did catch her off guard, though, "You're a teacher? Do you work at Beacon?"

"Nah, I teach at Signal. It's a school on Patch. That's the island off the coast," Qrow pulled up a map on his scroll to point out Patch, only a short distance from Vale itself.

"Are there a lot of people that live out there?" Lotus considered it. An island would be safer to live on, and would help to keep away from the Grimm. ' _Wait, can Grimm... swim?_ ' The idea of a beowolf floundering its way across the ocean caused her lips to tug into a small smile.

Qrow shrugged, eyes still scanning the forest around them as they talked, "There's a decent sized town out there. I live with one of my old teammates and my nieces."

Lotus eyed him with a frown, "You don't have a place of your own?"

"Eh, I help take care of my nieces. They'd be too big of a handful for Tai to keep up with by himself," Qrow smiled, thinking about something that Lotus wasn't privy to, "Yang and Ruby are still too much even with the both of us."

' _Why are those names famili-_ '

" _Those two_ are your nieces!?" Sudden realization hit Lotus full force, her eyes taking in Qrow anew, "Then that makes her mother…"

Qrow's eyes went wide, turning to Lotus with a little panic in them, "Shit. You _can't_ tell Yang about Raven. She isn't ready to know about that yet."

"Is that really for the best? The longer you wait, the more her curiosity is going to get the better of her. Yang tried to pick a fight with an _entire club_ before I put a stop to her," Lotus couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl, and she felt a flash of irritation directed at the huntsman next to her, ' _What else was Widow keeping from me, 'for my own good?'_

"Trust me. You've only seen a little of what Raven is capable of. You're lucky you were so young. She wouldn't have shown an _ounce_ of mercy otherwise," Qrow eyed Lotus up and down, "Being the same age as Yang probably helped, too."

Lotus sighed, "I'll think about it... I don't exactly have much patience for adults trying to keep secrets from me… It wouldn't feel right doing the same."

Qrow grumbled, "Promise not to tell her and I'll give you a few more secrets about initiation~"

"I'd rather talk about something else…" Lotus _knew_ she wasn't getting into Beacon anyway, not with recent events hanging over her head, "Were you and Raven both bandits?"

Qrow rubbed a hand across the back of his neck, "We were born into it, yeah."

"And they still let you into Beacon?"

Qrow gave an amused chuckle, "Old Oz has an eye for promising students. He accepted me and my sister despite our last names," he shrugged, "He fixed _one_ of us, at least."

"One out of two isn't bad…" A small seed of hope started to sprout, but was brutally crushed under the weight of her past actions, ' _As if the pair did anything as bad as I have…_ '

"Are you going to apply soon? I'm guessing you didn't go to a combat school so you don't have any transcripts. From what I've seen, though, you're more than capable. You have until the week before the semester starts to take the entrance exams."

' _Nearly three whole weeks before Beacon even starts…_ ' There was no way she could clear her name in that time. Nicholas would give a description of her, some random shop camera would have her image, and her face would once again be posted for all eyes to see. Lotus couldn't bring herself to respond. Lying to Qrow would feel like lying to herself.

The older huntsman gave her a quizzical glance, noticing her silence, "We could _really_ use someone like you, kid. Give it four years and you could be unstoppable."

"I…" Lotus considered spewing out the truth, at least a fraction of it to explain what she was feeling. Qrow was nice… but dangerous. A cold shudder passed through her body, ' _What do I have to lose…? This was my last chance for a better life…_ '

"I'm... not a good person, Qrow."

The two walked in silence for a minute, the huntsman processing the young girl's admission. Finally he spoke, a grimace on his face, "At least you're trying to change yourself for the better. Do you want to know why my sister and I joined Beacon? Why two kids from a bandit clan out in Mistral made their way to Vale to go to school?"

"To get away from it all?" Lotus guessed.

Qrow shook his head, "Our _clan_ sent us. We were supposed to learn from the huntsman and grow stronger. Strong enough to _kill_ anyone that threatened the tribe."

Lotus lurched to a stop, and Qrow did as well a moment later, "And Ozpin _still_ let you into the school?"

Qrow nodded, "I'm sure he had his suspicions. Oz won't ever give up on someone that might make a change for the better, though. He saw good in us. It just took a few years to bring it out."

"But your sister…?"

Qrow grimaced again, "It worked on Raven for awhile. She got hitched with Tai, had Yang as a result, but… I don't know. It was too much for her, maybe. She left, and Summer picked up the pieces."

"Is that Ruby's mom, then? Her and Yang don't exactly look alike," Lotus pointed out the obvious. She was still reeling from Qrow's statement. ' _Will Ozpin accept me into Beacon anyway?_ ' The seed of hope returned full force, sprouting from her heart and quelling the pit that had formed in her stomach. ' _I still have a chance…_ '

Qrow's eyes were downcast as he replied, "Summer _was_ , yeah. I wouldn't bring that up with the pair of them either."

Lotus nodded, understanding now why Yang had acted the way she did. Her first mother had left her with no explanation, and the woman that tried to take her place _died_.

' _I'll go a bit easier on her if I ever see her again…_ ' If anyone knew what it was like to lose someone they cared for, it was Lotus.

Qrow recovered, eyeing the young faunus for a moment as they once again set off towards Vale, "So… I don't know if a kid like you could have reasons for going to Beacon worse than mine were, but… you wanna talk about it?"

Lotus sighed, "I might not have _meant_ to yell what I did, but it _was_ the truth. Ever since I was little, I wanted to be like the heroes in my comic books. After my family died, though… I've had to do a lot of morally _questionable_ things to get by."

Qrow nodded, "Remnant is a hard place to live in when you're alone. You need others that you can trust to watch your back."

Lotus scoffed out loud without really meaning to, "I'll _never_ trust someone again."

Qrow eyed her sideways, "Is that what got you out here in the first place? What happened?"

Lotus took a minute to word her answer. ' _The more I tell him now, the less shocking it will be later if they find out who I really am…_ ' Still, she didn't know how intimate Qrow was with Mistral. Too much information and he might connect the dots too soon. 'The Black Lotus' would _never_ be accepted into Beacon.

"I… found out my mentor betrayed me. She got a lot of people killed. People that I liked… People that were like family to me."

Another minute of silence passed before Qrow stopped this time. He placed a gentle but firm hand on the faunus girl's shoulder, drawing her eyes to his. There was a deep seated sadness behind those eyes, one born of countless losses. A tole that was too great to bear, "For what it's worth… I'm sorry, kid. _No one_ deserves to go through something like that, least of all someone so young. You _can_ trust people, though. You just have to learn from your mistakes. Not everyone is out for themselves."

A few faces came to mind. Copper, Jace, Ruby, Coco, Velvet, Jaune… Lotus sighed, "Yeah, you _might_ be right…" Less than an hour ago, Widow would have been at the top of that list, though. Copper and Jace would never get the chance, but how many of the _others_ would join Widow in betraying her? Jaune was already close to it. She doubted he would keep his _own_ kidnapping a secret. ' _He doesn't owe me anything._ '

"Hey, you can trust _me_ , kid. I can tell you have a good heart. If there's some dark secret you've got hidden away, I'd let you explain yourself before I judged you. Everyone deserves at least that much. If that wasn't the truth, _I_ wouldn't be here."

' _Even if one of those secrets is that I tried to kill you?_ ' Lotus couldn't help but shake her head, ' _ **You**_ _can't trust_ _ **me**_ _, Qrow._ '

The young faunus didn't voice her inner monologue this time, instead choosing to change the subject, "So, where do I go to apply for Beacon since I don't have transcripts?"

Qrow smiled, thinking he had set her back on track, "At the combat school in Vale. It's spring break right now, so the place is only open for kids trying to get into Beacon. They're open most of the day, just show up, fill out a few forms, and they'll have you display your skills."

"And by _display_ , you mean…?"

"You won't have to fight any Grimm. They keep a stockpile of battle droids from Atlas. You fight those," Qrow smirked, eyeing the black blood still caked onto her arm, "You shouldn't have any issues."

Lotus nodded, she had fought SDC droids before. They were pathetically weak, little better than _fodder_ against human opponents. It made sense that Atlas mainly used them against the Grimm. Mindless AI verses mindless beasts. A match made in hell.

"I don't suppose _you_ could just put a word in for me? Let me skip that entirely?" Lotus spared him a timid smile. From how the man's smirk only widened, she knew it was a lost cause.

"Sorry kid, I don't have the sway for that. Like I said, I don't teach at Beacon. Besides, the _fight_ might be easy for you, but the tests are important. It helps the school figure out what classes to place you in. There's crash course programs for getting students up to speed if they didn't attend a school beforehand."

Qrow ruffled her hair, "I don't want to seem condescending or anything, but if you _did_ grow up in the Mistral boonies, then you're not much better off than I was when _I_ joined Beacon. Trust me, apply soon so you can get as _many_ of those lessons out of the way as you can. You _don't_ want to be stuck doing them alongside regular classes."

Lotus nodded, "Thanks for the tip. I'll try and go there tomorrow, then." ' _If my face hasn't already been plastered on every street corner, anyway._ '

They were now approaching the gate back into the city, the wall loomed to both their right and left, thirty feet high and five feet thick. A king taijitu could scale over it, but not before every huntsman in the area had been alerted.

"I guess I'll head back to my apartment," Lotus gave Qrow a tentative smile at first, but it firmed as he caught her eye, "Thanks for the assist, and… everything else."

Qrow bit his lip, eyes glancing around the darkened streets. His voice started hesitantly, gaze going back to Lotus as he watched to see her reaction, "Actually, I was wondering…" He faltered, though, losing what he was about to say, "Ah, nevermind. You wouldn't want to."

"Wouldn't want to _what_?" Despite herself, Lotus's curiosity was piqued.

"I just think it would do you some good if you didn't wake up alone. Tai makes a mean breakfast, and you could hang out with my nieces. I'm sure you could teach Yang a thing or two..."

' _Is he… inviting me to their house?_ ' The offer was… Well it was tempting. Qrow had promised to hear her out once the truth was revealed, but… ' _It's way too much of a risk. If things go wrong, I'll have nowhere to run._ '

Qrow seemed to have read her expression and held his hands up, "It's alright if you don't want to. I just didn't like the idea of you having to deal with everything by yourself. It's nice to have other people around when you're going through a rough patch."

Lotus thought about it. Thought about going back to her apartment, falling asleep in her bed, away from _everyone_ , where she could be _alone_ , undisturbed…

' _The perfect target for when Widow decides to come back for me…_ ' Lotus's horror was rekindled. Widow could be out in the woods with them right now, and the spider faunus's sixth sense would never pick her up unless Widow let it happen.

She shivered, drawing her hands up to hold herself for a moment, "O-Okay. I'll come with you. We just need to stop at my apartment for a change of clothes… and my weapon."

Qrow's face brightened, "Yeah, of course. Honestly, I wouldn't get in the habit of leaving it there, anyway. It isn't unheard of that someone's room gets broken into."

' _Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of._ ' Lotus nodded, and the pair set off towards her apartment building.

"I hope you aren't planning on telling any of them what I told you," Lotus said after a few minutes of silence, shooting Qrow a worried glance.

He raised his hands placatingly, "Wouldn't dream of it. You can tell them whatever you want when you're ready," Qrow laughed, "Just keep in mind that Yang might end up on your team. Best not to do anything that might set her off."

"That's going to be hard," Lotus muttered, "Teasing is my _default_ setting. It only gets worse with time."

Qrow gave her an amused smirk, "Just don't push it too far. Yang can dish out as good as she gets most of the time, but my little firecracker's temper can get the better of her."

"Oh, I _noticed_. She really flew off the handle at the bar. Though, I suppose that makes more sense now that I think about it," Lotus thought back on the exact words she'd used when confronting the blond menace, "A _lot_ more sense."

Qrow gave her a glance, "What did you say?"

Lotus rubbed the back of her neck, "Ehh, I... asked if her mom had ever taught her manners."

The huntsman winced, sucking air in through his teeth, "Yeah, _that_ would do it. I hope I don't need to tell you that mentioning anything along those lines again would be a _bad_ idea."

"If you had seen how messed up that club was after we got through with it, you wouldn't even _need_ to ask," Lotus laughed, "I don't think a teacher's salary is enough to afford a new _house_."

They arrived outside the apartment and Lotus excused herself, heading up to her room. She paused, feeling outwards with her sense out of habit, then once again realized that wouldn't matter. _Years_ of Widow being a constant presence were hard to forget.

Lotus unlocked her door and activated her semblance before slowly stepping inside. Her eyes darted around the room, checking every corner as she made her way across it to the dresser. Lotus grabbed one of the bags from the store that she had already emptied and refilled it with a couple pairs of clothes. Looking down at herself and the Grimm blood still covering her arm, she decided to change right then.

' _I'm never wearing this hoodie again…_ ' It was tied with too many bad memories. Too much bloodshed, and now, betrayal. Widow had been the one to buy this hoodie, a replacement for the one lost in the raid. ' _The raid she caused…_ ' Lotus wondered if the older faunus had felt guilty about her actions. If that was her way of giving Lotus back something she had lost.

With the hoodie in the trash, a fresh pair of clothes on her back, and her weapon firmly strapped to her hip, Lotus returned to Qrow.

The pair set off towards the docks, through the slumbering streets of the city. There was only one burning questions that remained, something that Lotus was desperate to know about the huntsman. As they stepped on to the night ferry and began the trek across the frigid waves to the island of Patch, Lotus turned to him and finally asked.

"What's with the cape?"


	22. Conflicted

After the ten minute trip across the icy waters had come to its end, Lotus was more than ready to welcome her feet back on to dry land. She collapsed to her knees on the wooden deck, its supports thankfully connected to the bedrock below, as she retched for what felt like the thousandth time.

' _I'm never stepping on a boat again…_ '

The rolling waves had been a nightmare on her sixth sense, and had immediately turned her into a vomiting mess. Everything beneath her had just _moved_ so much. The rocking of the ship had sought to empty her stomach, and had more than achieved that goal.

"You alright now, kid?" Qrow laughed good naturedly, patting Lotus on the back.

"Ugh…" Lotus spit on to the deck, trying to remove the sickening taste of bile from her mouth, "I'm just glad I didn't eat much today."

Qrow put a hand under the young faunus's arm and helped her unsteadily back to her feet, "Come on. The sooner we get to my place, the sooner you can rinse your mouth out."

They made for a peculiar pair, the much taller huntsman having to stoop to help the wobbly legged girl off the docks. Lotus finally found her footing again once they were back on dry land.

'I don't suppose we can take a bullhead back?" Lotus groaned out, pausing to let herself recover now that the ground didn't feel like it was about to roll out from beneath her. She didn't even want to _look_ back at the hellish contraption that had tormented her for so long.

Qrow grinned and gave her a quick nod, "There's a bullhead during the day. Costs a bit to hire, but I doubt that will change your mind."

Lotus detached herself from the huntsman's grasp and straightened, smoothing out her clothes and checking for any residue. She breathed out a sigh of relief when she found none, "Spider faunus aren't built for the ocean. _Bullheads_ are fine."

The pair continued on, following a winding path up through the trees that eventually opened out into a rather large clearing. The town sat nestled inside of it, large enough to warrant a school of its own. There was a single mainstreet, crossed at its midpoint by the other largest road the town had to offer. Lotus frowned at the lack of walls to defend its borders, her earlier question boiling back to the forefront.

"Can Grimm _swim_?"

Qrow shook his head, "They aren't buoyant enough."

"Then... is Patch entirely free of Grimm? You don't have any walls, sooo..."

The older huntsman pointed off towards a corner of the town, at a tall spire that loomed over top of the surrounding buildings. There was a light near its peak, one that Lotus could see movement around when she focused on it. ' _A watchtower?_ '

"Grimm don't come out here very often. They can't swim, but they _can_ still travel across smaller bodies of water if they're persistent enough. Grimm don't need to breath, so they can't _drown_. They walk along the seafloor."

Lotus paled, imagining relaxing at the beach, an iced tea in one hand, her scroll in the other. Then looking out into the waves to see beowolves rising up out of the tide, dripping wet from the leagues worth of ocean they travelled across to get to you, "That's… _actually_ pretty terrifying."

"Lifeguards become a bit more _literal_ once beach season rolls around," Qrow laughed, "They're entirely comprised of huntsman and huntresses. You can make a few extra lien over spring break if you land one of those jobs." Qrow gave her a wink, as if this was some fantastic tip he was sharing.

"I think I'm good. Grimm I can fight… but if someone's drowning they're shit out of luck if _I'm_ on duty," Lotus winced just thinking about it. Being on the boat had been bad enough, but being _in_ the water? Her stomach grumbled loudly in protest.

They made their way through the quiet town and out past it, along one of the many roads that snaked into the surrounding woods. The road was roughly paved, more just cleared of rocks than with actual concrete. Every now and then the road would branch off, leading down a smaller trail towards lights barely visible in the distance.

A thought came to mind, a question driven by the fight against the deathstalker in the forest, "Did you teach Ruby to use that ridiculous scythe?"

Qrow smiled proudly, "Sure did. She went to Signal of course, which just meant I had twice as many opportunities to train her _almost_ everything I know," he smirked, "I'm still holding out on a few tricks. I can't let the runt outclass me yet. My pride couldn't take it."

"She seemed…" Lotus searched for the word. ' _Naive? Innocent?_ ' Better to not say something that Qrow might take as an insult, "Nice… She seemed nice."

"Yeah, she's an excitable kid. You might want to leave your weapon in the guest room in the morning. Unless you want Ruby to talk your ear off about it," Qrow spotted the look on Lotus's face, "I am _not_ kidding. Kid loves to talk shop."

They finally turned down one of the side roads, heading a short way through the trees. A large wood cabin appeared, set in a clearing on top of a low rise with a few other smaller buildings around it. The trail was much nicer than the one they had been on, apparently at least one inhabitant cared about the place looking nice. The grass was green and cut short, and placed outside the front of the house were several wooden troughs, filled with a variety of plants and flowers that looked well kept.

The huntsman swept his arm wide as he opened the door for Lotus, gesturing for her to enter while adding a thick tone of false bravado to his voice, "Welcome, to Casa de Qrow."

Lotus stepped past into the dimly lit interior. The door opened up into a living room, two couches sat around the edges of a large coffee table. There was a sizable holographic screen against the wall opposite the couches, raised from the floor by a few feet to allow the densely packed shelves to fit beneath it. Lotus spotted a console on top, askew with a few games left open nearby.

To her right, Lotus could see into the kitchen through an open door, along with a large dining table. Directly ahead of her, a hallway that branched off into a few other rooms, along with a staircase that ascended up to the second story of the house.

Focusing on her sixth sense, Lotus could feel the occupants. On the ground floor there was a man in one of the rooms, lying in bed. Asleep, from the lack of movement. Up the stairs, there were two girls. Lotus recognized them from her sense, the blond and the child. Each had their own separate room.

As Qrow stepped into the house and shut the door behind himself, Lotus tensed, feeling something small rapidly darting its way across the interior in their direction. Her semblance activated, poised to strike at whatever this threat was currently barreling down on them.

The skittering of small claws announced the presence of the creature. A black and white corgi came into view, eyes alight with excitement and tongue lolling out to the side as it charged the pair of them in a flash of fur.

" _No, Zwei!_ " Qrow whispered quickly, a moment too late as the small furry torpedo launched itself up into Lotus's chest and knocked her back into the huntsman.

The young spider faunus was defenseless against the dog's sudden assault. It sniffed wildly, struggling in her grasp to get itself close enough to waylay her with tongue administered affection.

Qrow fled, leaving her to deal with the adorable monstrosity on her own as he entered the kitchen in search of a treat to appease the beast. He returned moments later with a bone in his hand, and gave a gentle whistle for the dog's ears alone.

Zwei's head whipped in his direction from his place in Lotus's hands, his nose now pinpointed at the source of this new smell. He struggled in the faunus's grasp, and she set him down, giving a quiet laugh as his attention was wholeheartedly subverted to the treat.

Now free of the little terror, Lotus followed Qrow back into the kitchen. He grabbed her a glass and filled it with water, letting her rinse her mouth out finally.

"Ah, that is _so_ much better," Lotus whispered, taking one more swig to thoroughly gargle and spit out any residue into the sink. Her mouth now felt blessedly clean by comparison.

"I'll show you to your room," Qrow waved her to follow. The pair quietly made their way up the stairs, to a room on the left of the hall. Qrow opened it slowly, wincing as the unoiled hinges creaked loudly. They both paused, waiting to see if anyone had woken from the noise.

Lotus gave him a thumbs up, her sense didn't detect anyone stirring in the nearby rooms. She stepped past and gave Qrow a thankful nod before he closed the door behind her. It was a nice little room, fitted with the necessary furniture. Lotus opened a drawer and set her weapon inside, taking Qrow at his word about Ruby's potential antics.

With a heavy sigh, Lotus felt the weight of the day come crashing down, no longer pent up as it had been before. Now alone with renewed privacy, a few tears returned to her eyes unbidden. She changed into her tank top and climbed into the bed, thankful for the thick warm blankets that hugged her against the mattress beneath. Lotus curled in on herself as she lied down.

It was several hours before sleep finally claimed her.

* * *

Qrow walked into the kitchen, blinking at the harsh light filtering through the windows from the morning sun and gave a tired wave to Tai before slumping down at the table, his head finding its way into the hand he propped against the wooden surface.

"Long night?" Tai asked, pouring coffee into a mug and handing it over to Qrow. He had grown used to drinking it black. You couldn't always have cream and sugar on the road.

"You could say that. We've got a guest in the upstairs bedroom," Qrow replied, taking a steady sip from the mug after he finished speaking.

Tai gave him a raised eyebrow, looking up through the walls and ceiling as if he could see into the room from there and smirked, "Not another one of your lady friends, I hope."

"Ha, Ha, Ha," Qrow sarcastically replied. They both knew Qrow had never had any luck with the ladies. He sighed and raised his eyes up to meet Tai's, "Everyone in the house has met her except you, actually. Although I wouldn't say your kids are on the best terms with her."

"Who is she?" Tai asked, sitting down across from Qrow with his own cup held in his hands.

"A Mistralian kid that came to Vale to attend Beacon," Qrow answered, taking a moment to arch his back before continuing, "Oz has some interest in her."

"If you bring home every kid that catches Ozpin's eye we're going to end up running a nursing home, Qrow."

Qrow idly swirled the coffee in his mug, refusing to meet Tai's gaze as he replied, "It would be more of an orphanage in this case… The Branwen tribe killed her family." At the sound of Tai's lightly exhaled breath, the huntsman finally raised his eyes, "I'm just trying to make things right. As much as I can, Tai."

The blond man nodded, "That's… alright with me, Qrow. You do what you have to. Is Oz right to have his eye on her?"

Qrow gave a light laugh, "She bested Yang in a brawl, then dodged a full speed attack from Ruby without even _looking_ at her."

Tai whistled appreciatively, "So she's another hand to hand fighter then?"

Qrow smirked, "Nope. Saw her before with a sword. She didn't have it on her when she fought Yang."

Tai sat and stared at Qrow in silence for a minute, waiting for him to announce that he'd been joking. When no admission came, he was forced to accept his words, "I've gotta see that for myself."

Qrow held his hand up in a warning, "She's a little high strung right now. I want her to feel comfortable, so _no_ asking for a spar, Tai."

"Who's high strung?" Ruby asked innocently as she stepped into the room, giving a suspicious eye to her father and uncle as they sat at the table, _conspiring_ about something.

"How long were you listening in, Ruby?" Qrow's eyes narrowed, causing the young girl to turn red and kick absentmindedly at the ground.

"Uhh, long enough to figure out you're talking about the girl that beat up Yang?" When the pair of adults continued silently eyeing her, she continued in a rush, "But I didn't hear _anything_ before that!" She held her hands up defensively to stave off their current inquisition.

Tai sighed and patted her on the head affectionately, "That's fine, kiddo. Go ahead and get changed out of your pajamas, breakfast will be ready in a few minutes." The thick smell of whatever was baking in the oven had already begun to waft its way throughout the house. The small girl's stomach rumbled and she glanced at the pair in embarrassment, cheeks reddening.

In a blur, Ruby disappeared back up the stairs.

" _Ruby Rose!_ What did I tell you about running up the stairs like that!?" Tai shouted after her then turned away, shaking his head, "I _swear_ if I have to replace another step because she trips again… Do you know how much damage an aura enhanced knee can do at _Mach one_? It took me weeks to fix!"

Qrow laughed loudly, "Count yourself lucky you weren't the one that trained her. It took her awhile to get _trajectories_ down. I have a permanent dent in my chest from the amount of times her head slammed into it on accident."

The pair sat in silence for a few minutes, reminiscing of a time long past, when the adorable little girl hadn't been capable of putting every track record on the planet to shame.

A swish of long blond hair appeared around the corner as Yang stepped into the room, fully dressed in one of her more casual outfits. She froze as her eyes caught on to Qrow's presence, shifting slightly over to her father. Yang spun on the spot and began to tiptoe out, as if the two adults weren't staring directly at her.

"Hey, firecracker~" Qrow called out, stopping the blonde in her tracks.

Yang turned back around partially, enough to face Qrow, "Yeah?..."

"Where were you the night before last? Were you out having _fun_?" Qrow gave her a knowing grin.

"How did you…!?" Yang coughed, realizing finally that he hadn't told Tai yet, otherwise her father would be the one that brought it up, instead of just sitting at the kitchen table in confusion. Qrow was giving her a chance to come clean on her own terms.

Yang took one look at her father, and panicked, "Nope! Don't know what you're talking about!" She started to turn back towards the stairs but stopped as her father's voice barked out behind her.

"Yang Xiao Long, you tell me what you did right this instant. I already know you were in a fight. How did _that_ happen?"

Yang cursed under her breath, not for the first time wishing she had Ruby's speed to get herself out of a tough situation. The stairs still beckoned to her, but she knew that they might as well not exist as far as she was concerned. Her father would never let her hear the end of it.

The blond adopted a fake grin as she turned back around, "What can I say? I really know how to cut up a dance floor."

"Yang…" Tai gave her a disapproving frown.

Yang sighed and held her hands up, "Okay, okay. I got in a fight at a club in downtown Vale. I'm fine though, see?" Yang gave the two adults a little spin to show off that she was indeed just fine.

"Can't say the same for the club…" Qrow muttered, getting up to go refill his mug. There was still half a pot left, much to his satisfaction.

Tai arched an eyebrow at his daughter, "Should I be expecting a bill in the mail for any property damage?"

Yang waved away their concerns, "Nah, Junior isn't exactly the type to go-"

Ruby's scream from upstairs cut off what she was about to say, as three sets of eyes widened in alarm. Yang was the first to rush up the steps.

* * *

Lotus whimpered beneath the blanket that she had twisted around her body in her sleep, her form half covered and half not. Her mind repeated the same scenario, time after time.

' _She was lying in bed in her apartment, with only the dull red glow from an alarm clock to light the room. Everything unlit was bleached grey, her night vision allowing her to see, if not in color. She shivered in place, drawing her knees up, reaching out with her sixth sense to feel for Widow, the cause of her fear. A scratch at the door, her ears catching the small sounds that reached her. Lotus tensed, allowing her semblance to rise above her, ready to strike Widow when she entered. The scratching continued for a while, and with a final click, the door opened._ '

Lotus's eyes fluttered open as her sixth sense warned her that she was not alone. _DEATH_ had returned for her, and with her appendages already poised to strike from above her now conscious form, she did just that.

The figure that had begun to open the door screamed as a hole was ripped through the wood in front of her, brought short only by the distance between the bed and the hallway. Chunks of white painted wood sprayed outward from the strike, scattering across the hallway.

Lotus's vision cleared as a familiar corgi sprinted into the room past the now open door and barked repeatedly. Her mind slowly came back into focus, ' _I'm not in my apartment… Where am I? I'm on... Patch, at Qrow's house… and that girl was…_ '

The young faunus untangled herself from her blanket and jumped up from bed, running to the door, frantic to check and make sure that the young girl was okay. She was met by another familiar sight, the blond from the bar. Yang took one look at her panicked sister, the hole ripped through the door, and the girl she hadn't expected to be there, before launching into a series of strikes.

"No, wait!" Lotus yelled, throwing her own hands up to defend herself. The first few blows knocked her back, her arms unshrouded and her appendages slack behind her back. The blond wasn't listening, her eyes had turned scarlet and her hair was ablaze. Lotus could feel the heat rolling off of her with each punch.

A man's hand gripped down on Yang's shoulder from behind and pulled her away. Lotus had backed all the way up to the bed in the barrage, and slumped to sit down on it, breathing heavily from the exertion immediately after waking up.

"What are you doing, Qrow!?" Yang shouted, struggling to break free. The older huntsman kept a tight hold on her, then passed her off to another man behind her.

"Calm down, Yang," the huntsman demanded, blocking her off as he stepped fully into the door frame. The girl's struggles started to die down as she heard the sniffles of her younger sister. Yang spared Lotus one last glare before turning to Ruby. Lotus could hear her trying to console the smaller girl.

Qrow nodded and closed the door behind himself before crossing the intervening space to look down on Lotus. He stopped a few feet away, arms crossed, " _What happened?_ "

Lotus put her head in her hands and rubbed them across her face roughly, trying to dispel the last vestiges of sleep from her mind. "She just surprised me is all. Is she okay?"

Qrow quirked an eyebrow, "Just _surprised_ you?"

Lotus pondered how best to explain it, and figured a demonstration would be the best way to start, "Keep a hand behind your back and I'll guess how many fingers you're holding up."

The older huntsman frowned, but did as she suggested. Lotus felt outwards with her sixth sense as Qrow started changing the number of fingers he was holding up, announcing them as he did so, "Three… Two… Five… Zero."

The man's eyes went wide as she got each answer correct. It was a simple enough trick for the young faunus, but not one that many could understand without a little test to see it for themselves.

"Spider faunus have an extra sense to detect movement. I was having a nightmare and felt someone approaching my door. After our… _interaction_ a couple days ago, she was still in my head as a threat. When she opened the door and woke me up… I attacked on instinct."

Lotus tried to peer past Qrow through the hole into the hallway. She could still feel the three occupants standing on the other side of the door. The young faunus had the presence of mind to not fight against the embarrassment she was feeling at the moment. It would go a long way in keeping her on Qrow's good side if she was apologetic.

When the huntsman just continued standing there, Lotus shifted nervously on the bed, giving him an uncertain glance, "I'll pay for the door…"

Qrow sighed and shook his head, "That's fine. Just go tell Ruby you're sorry."

Lotus nodded and stood up, brushing past Qrow to walk to the door and pull it open. Instead of the tear streaked face she had been expecting though, a very wide eyed Ruby stared at her and put both her own hands behind her back, "How many fingers am _I_ holding up!?"

Lotus was taken aback at the swift one eighty, but managed to recover quickly and play along, "Seven… Two… Five…"

Ruby threw her hands up, "That is so _cool_ ~!"

Yang shooed Zwei away from Lotus's leg and gave her a critical eye. Lotus coughed into her hand, looking back to Ruby, "Sorry about that. You uh, caught me off guard."

Ruby shook her head, "I'm fine," she bent down and picked up the corgi to hug him to her chest, "Zwei wouldn't leave the door alone so I decided to investigate."

Lotus shrunk under the eyes of the older blond huntsman, and tentatively held out a hand, "Hi. Sorry about that. I uh… wasn't kidding, I'll pay for the door." Her eyes caught on to the wooden shards lying across the floor, "Do you have a broom?"

Tai uncrossed his arms and accepted the girl's handshake, gripping it firmly but not unkindly, "Are you going to be fine living in a dorm with three other people? That seems like a rather _destructive_ response to someone opening a door."

Lotus held her hands up and shook her head profusely, "I'm not usually like that! I just… had a lot on my mind."

Tai opened his mouth to reply when there was a high pitched ' _beep!_ ' from the first floor. His eyes went wide, " _My casserole!_ " and launched himself down the stairs three steps at a time to run into the kitchen.

The silence left in his wake was interrupted by the young blond next to them, "Guess he needed to... break _fast_?"

Three sets of eyes swivelled to look at the blond that grinned smugly, waiting for praise. Ruby placed her head in her hand with a muffled sigh, "No, Yang. Just no."

"You guys are no fun," Yang replied with a huff.

"Saved it~!" Tai's voice called back up to them from the kitchen, followed by the sound of the oven banging back shut and the clatter of the dish getting roughly set on to the counter.

"Come on," Qrow waved for them to follow as he walked downstairs, calling back up over his shoulder, "You can sweep up the mess later. Let's eat first."

Lotus followed Ruby down the steps, as it seemed Yang at least was intent on keeping an eye on her. The young faunus sighed, ' _Great start, really. First I beat her up, then I attack her sister. We'll be besties in no time._ ' Lotus could only shake her head and hope they wouldn't end up on the same team. ' _That spot is reserved for Ren and Nora… if they'll hear me out._ ' The faunus supposed she wouldn't mind so much if Yang was the fourth. They would have quite a few years to work out their issues.

Tai was busy blowing on his reddened fingers as they all entered and sat at the table. His aura was slowly repairing the damage done to his skin. He hadn't taken the time to grab the proper protection before pulling out the porcelain dish.

The blond huntsman pulled a few plates out of the cabinet and started divvying out large portions of the fluffy looking breakfast casserole. He passed out the plates to each of them, along with some silverware before serving himself and joining them at the table.

Lotus focused on the food instead of the others in the room as she started eating. It was a delightful mixture of eggs, bacon, cheese, and ham. The outside layer had hardened slightly, but Lotus didn't mind. If anything it just added to the texture. The others followed suit, quietly enjoying the blond man's breakfast confection.

Tai turned on the smaller projector in the room to drown out the silence, switching the channel from the cartoons it had been left on to the news.

"-nk you for tuning into to the Vale News Network. I'm Lisa Lavender, here with your morning announcement!"

"What have you got for us this morning, Lisa?"

"Tom, I'm sorry to report that the bodies of two unidentified males were found on the top floor of an abandoned shop this morning. Vale Police have confirmed that they were given an anonymous tip to investigate the building."

Lotus's fork clattered to her plate as she stared at the news report, her mind blanking out the rest of the room around her. ' _Widow must have gone back for them… Damn it, Widow! I wanted to leave them alive!_ ' Another feeling gripped Lotus's heart, and it took her a moment to recognize what it was… relief. ' _That's terrible! How can I feel happy about this!?_ '

The young faunus knew why, though. With both of the Arcs out of the way, her path to Beacon had been cleared. She no longer needed to worry about being accused by the two humans.

' _Is that why Widow did it? She_ _ **did**_ _tell me to go to Beacon… Did she do what I couldn't bring myself to? Covered my tracks by silencing the witnesses?_ '

Lotus's conflicting emotions battled each other out while Qrow and Tai spoke. They wondered aloud who could have done it and why. The news report continued to point out the fact that the murders had taken place in a location that was previously hit by the White Fang, and the gruesome manner in which they had died.

' _I know who did it…_ ' Lotus could hardly tell them that, though. Sharing that information would be the start to a slow unravelling of her identity, and she was not about to waste _another_ chance. Lotus realized as well that even after everything had been revealed, the thought of giving up Widow like that would be a betrayal that the faunus just couldn't go through with.

' _She got everyone killed!_ ' her own mind warred against herself.

It didn't matter, though. Her heart would not be swayed. Widow _was_ still her mother, in some convoluted mess of emotions that would take months to unpack in front of any qualified counselor. Lotus couldn't easily forget the years they had spent together and chalk it all up as lies. ' _Widow_ _ **does**_ _care about me…_ ' The woman was just... unhinged.

' _Can you blame her?_ '

Lotus couldn't, but that didn't mean she was going to sacrifice the life she wanted for herself in favor of appeasing the woman. ' _I'll take any good luck I can get at this point._ ' The young faunus returned to her food, a light smile playing at her lips despite the battle that continued to rage on her in mind.

The pair of huntsmans' conversation died out, before Qrow peeked outside. The sun had already started to climb above the treetops, rays pouring in through the open windows to light the room. His eyes turned to Lotus, "Let me know when you're ready to head out. I'll take you back into town and show you to the bullhead."

Lotus nodded, not wanting to seem rude by speaking with food in her mouth and held up a finger. She was interrupted by Yang.

"You _can't_ leave yet. I want a rematch," the blond glowered at Lotus, eyes narrowed to stare her down intently over the top of the kitchen table.

The spider faunus snorted, nearly choking on her food in doing so, but managed to recover after beating her chest. She gasped a few more times to clear her airways and recovered her composure before replying, "I was planning on using a broom to sweep, but I guess I could mop the floor with you again instead." Yang's eyes flared red.

Qrow sighed, "Children, children. _Nobody_ is fighting _anybody_. You'll have enough time to spar at Beacon. That's the entire _point_ of combat classes."

Ruby looked nervously between the three and put a hand on Yang's forearm, right below her clenched fist, "Yang, it's _fine_! She didn't hurt me or anything, _and_ she apologized already."

Yang took a moment to look at Ruby, her eyes flickering back to lilac. She sighed and gave her sister a sheepish smile, "Alright, Rubes."

"Where's a broom?" Lotus turned away to ask Qrow, but it was Ruby that replied in an excited rush.

"I'll get it!" the little bundle of excitement turned into a blur of red and black, zipping across the room to a back closet and pulling out a broom and dust pan. Lotus stood and accepted them from her when she returned, then headed back up the stairs.

Ruby followed, only a step behind as Lotus made her way back to the second floor, " _So!_ Nice to meet you! My name's Ruby. I didn't catch your name…?"

"Olivia," Lotus replied, setting aside the dust pan for the moment to begin sweeping up the wooden debris that littered the floor.

"You're going to Beacon with my sister, right?" Ruby asked, shuffling out of the way as Lotus swept up a few stray chunks that had been knocked closer to the stairs.

"That's the idea," Lotus answered, then turned an eye to Ruby, "How long until you get in? Guessing from your weapon, it's pretty obvious you want to be a huntress too, right?"

Ruby rocked back and forth on her heels, "I have two more years at Signal!"

' _Only fifteen and she already managed to craft that monstrosity?_ '

Lotus laughed, "I can see why Qrow told me not to show you my weapon. One look at yours would clue anyone in to you being a weapon nerd."

Just at the mention of Lotus's weapon, Ruby's eyes lit up, "I didn't even think you _used_ one! All you had was your fists when you fought Yang!"

Lotus shrugged, "I'm used to not having a weapon with me. You can't depend on it to win every fight for you."

Ruby stopped what she was about to say, then glanced away, "I meaaannn, you don't _really_ need to learn how to fight without your weapon, right?"

Lotus paused, then set the broom down against the wall, turning back to Ruby, "If I attacked you right now, what would you do?"

"Uhh, use my speed to try and run to get my weapon?"

Sixth sense fully active, Lotus could feel the mass of steel in its collapsed state in the room behind her, " _I'm_ in the way. How are you going to get past _me_ to get to _it_?"

"Push you out of the way…?" Ruby was starting to doubt her own plan of action, eyes drifting past Lotus to her bedroom door as realization dawned on her face.

Lotus laughed, "Do you want to try that?" The faunus flexed her semblance on to her limbs just incase the girl was silly enough to take her up on the offer.

Ruby thought it over for a moment then shook her head, dejected, "No… You're bigger than me and you were able to beat up Ya-" The girl's eyes flickered up towards her bedroom door, betraying her intentions. In a sudden burst of speed, Ruby tried to blur past Lotus, using the conversation as an attempt to distract her.

" _Erk!_ "

Ruby was yanked to a halt by Lotus's hand on her clothes a moment later, Ruby's feet flying out from under her as she fell down next to the pile of freshly swept wooden chunks. The girl swivelled her head back around to look at Lotus and crossed her arms, pouting.

"That's not fair!"

The faunus grinned, " _Your_ fault for wearing a cape, kid. Always consider your enemy's weak points before you go in for the… uh, attack." ' _Woops. Probably best to not instruct the kid on the best ways to kill people. Qrow would_ _ **not**_ _appreciate that._ '

Ruby huffed, "What's _your_ weakness, then?"

Lotus stared at her incredulously, "Why in the world would I _tell_ you that? Never give away vital information if you don't have to!"

' _Seriously? This kid wouldn't make it a day in the slums!_ ' Lotus hoisted Ruby up to her feet and pushed her off to the side. She swept the small pile she had created into the dust pan, shaking her head in disbelief all the while. ' _I might have told Cinder I like innocent girls, but this is borderline child endangerment. How could two huntsmen not manage to teach them such simple concepts?_ '

Lotus was still shaking her head as she returned back to the kitchen. She stepped on the little foot lever to prop the trash can open and emptied the dust pan into it, then returned the items to their rightful place.

Her eyes settled on Qrow, standing and looking out the kitchen window, "Hey old man, I'm ready to get out of here when you are. Sooner I get that entrance exam done, the better, right?"

Qrow gave her a small glare, "I'm _not_ old… but yeah, the bullhead will start accepting passengers soon so we might as well head out."

Lotus nodded and jaunted back up stairs to grab her things. She opted for a dark grey sweater overtop a sport's bra this time. The sweater was tight fitting but stretchy enough to give her a full range of movement. ' _A good idea since I'll have to fight those droids._ ' Lotus doubted they would be tough regardless, but she wasn't about to start rolling any dice on her chances to get into Beacon. Last but not least, she strapped her sword to her hip, tightly clasping it in place so that it wouldn't bounce around.

The older huntsman met her at the front of the house, picking up his weapon from where it had been propped nearby and pulling the door open for them.

Lotus turned back to look over her shoulder as Ruby yelled goodbye, and answered in kind, "It was nice meeting you, Ruby. You too, Tai!"

Yang turned around and eyed her, gaze focusing on Lotus's weapon for a moment before the blond nodded, "See you at Beacon."

Lotus smiled, "Yeah, see you there. I promise I'll give you that rematch you're hoping for."

With their parting words out of the way, Qrow and Lotus set off back to town. After awhile, the man gave her a glance, "I didn't want to ask where they could hear you, but did you want to talk about what had you so riled up in the first place this morning?"

"It was a nightmare, like I said," Lotus replied simply, more than ready to avoid talking about it, "You should give me your address by the way so I can send lien to pay for the door. I wasn't kidding about that."

Qrow shook his head with a smirk, "You don't need to pay for the door, kid. Me and Tai can handle that no problem."

Lotus shrugged, "At least, I offered," then gave him a sideways glance, "You just taking me as far as the bullhead?"

"Nah, I need to go into Vale anyway to meet Oz. I'll show you where the school is on the way so you can take your exam."

The pair arrived back in town, and Qrow showed her to the bullhead. It was settled down into a small airfield, hidden back behind Signal. Qrow waved her away when Lotus reached for her lien, and just paid the pilot himself, "You can get the return trip if you ever want to stay the night again."

The bullhead lifted off, engines roaring to life and blowing away the dust beneath them as it raised into the air. The trip was much shorter than the ride on the ferry had been, and lacked ties to her one weakness, the one thing that she would never admit to, not even to sweet little Ruby.

' _Water…_ '


	23. Tested

The bullhead touched back down on a landing platform near the east side of Vale's shopping district. It was a large strip, filled with many other bullheads that were taking off to carry passengers to different locations around the city. Lotus stepped off the ship with Qrow, the two of them being the only ones that had ridden the bullhead from Patch.

With a quick glance around, Lotus could tell this landing strip was one she would be familiar with in due time. A set of green and silver ships were set off to the side, one long line with Beacon's emblem emblazoned on the side. Many of them currently sat in disuse, kept clean for appearance's sake, but altogether untouched in the months between classes. A few were still missing from their places in the line, earning a question from Lotus directed towards the experienced huntsman.

"Are students forced out of the dorms between semesters?" Lotus asked, giving Qrow a frown, "How do breaks work?"

They started to make their way off the tarmac as Qrow replied, putting his hands in his pockets as he slouched, "There's two semesters. Each semester is four months long, and there's a month long break between them. Students can remain in their dorms for that time if they choose to, but most are from Vale or the surrounding towns and go home over the break. At the end of the second semester, the school closes for a few months, but essentially becomes a hub for students that passed their second year and above to keep taking missions if they want to."

Lotus pondered the information, trying to work out exactly what that meant for her, "So I'll have to find a place to stay for a few months at the end of the year… What's the point in taking missions between the years? Does it go on your record?"

"Yeah. Those missions factor into your rank when you graduate and get your hunter's license. People going for the highest rank will do as many missions as they can, whenever they can. It's the difference between getting a 'B' rank and an 'A' in a lot of cases."

The streets were bustling with activity as the pair made their way past gaggles of shoppers going about their daily activities. Qrow led them through the throngs, a meandering trail of annoyed people left in their wake since the older huntsman didn't bother to step out of anyone's way. The flow of the crowd was forced around him, and Lotus was thankful for the space left over as she followed in his footsteps.

The school was on the border of the shopping and residential district, a large stone walled building with a flat topped roof that spanned the entire block by itself. Out back were a track and a field, making Lotus pause for a second, wondering what sort of sports or games hunters in training might play.

"Alright, here we are," Qrow announced, waving his hand nonchalantly towards the large oak front doors at the end of a very clear path. Lotus rolled her eyes and started to walk forward before Qrow raised a hand.

"Hey, wait. Pull out your scroll and add me to your contacts. Ya know..." Qrow looked away for a second, seemingly embarrassed, "Incase you need help with anything again."

"I'm a big girl, Qrow," Lotus replied, patting him on his prickly cheek, "I'm glad you were there last night, but honestly, I'm not some overly emotional damsel that needs to be comforted every night before bed."

Qrow laughed with a shake of his head, " _Clearly_ not," but continued to reach into his pocket to pull out his scroll, "I'm giving you my number so you can ask about any of the material you're going to have to get caught up on. I _am_ a teacher, remember?"

Lotus looked at the older huntsman suspiciously, a question she had been pondering for the last few hours now being vocalized, "...Why do you _care_ so much?... Nobody is _this_ nice, Qrow."

Qrow eyed her sadly, and shrugged, "I used to feel the same, until I met my team," he looked off towards the school, staring at the enormous building in front of them that surely held a wealth of knowledge behind its doors, "I want to make up for my mistakes. My sister robbed you of your chance at a normal life, and that isn't right."

Lotus frowned, looking between the school and Qrow, "You aren't Raven. You don't owe me anything."

The old huntsman sighed, allowing himself to cave in to the guilt that weighed on his shoulders as he spared Lotus a glance, "The world isn't that simple, kid. There are a lot of things I could have done to keep Raven from ever leaving, if I had noticed soon enough." There was a pain that creased his face, an ache in his heart that he now wore on his sleeve, "No matter what she does, she's still my sister. Raven is _my_ responsibility."

The young faunus considered his words, feeling the truth behind them that she herself felt. ' _I can't bring myself to hate Widow, either. She's still… like a mother to me._ " Lotus nodded to Qrow, and pulled out her own scroll with a sigh, "You _win_ , ya old bird."

This time at least, Qrow didn't seem to mind the nickname, content as he was with getting the young faunus to agree. They exchanged numbers, Lotus careful to not let him see any of her other contacts. It wouldn't do for Qrow to get curious and dial up 'Cindy', 'Stilts', or 'Tsundere' just because he caught the number on her contact list.

With that out of the way, Qrow bid her farewell, and returned the way they came as he headed back to the bullheads. Turns out that as far as anyone in the _city_ was concerned, the bullheads were the only way up to Beacon. According to Qrow, though, there _were_ a few trails that led up to the top of the cliff, _but_ they were all from within the Emerald Forest.

Lotus watched him go, until the head of faded black hair disappeared into the crowd, becoming one with the mass of people still going about their daily lives. The young faunus turned back to face the large double doors, breathed out one final sigh in preparation, and began the next step in her journey.

* * *

Ozpin sat behind his desk and read over the reports once more, trying to piece together all of the information he could possibly deduce from personal accounts and footage. A light appeared near the corner of his screen, expanding out to show the camera in the elevator. Someone had made a request to reach his personal office.

The headmaster idly pressed accept as he recognized Qrow, standing inside and impatiently tapping his foot against the floor while sipping on his flask. The video cut out as Ozpin closed it, then began minimizing the reports he had been going through.

' _The biggest drawback to these holographic screens is that you can see what's on them from the other side…_ " Ozpin mused not for the first time, wondering if perhaps he should get some older equipment installed. That would simply make it a pain for when he _did_ want to use that particular feature though, so like every other time, he let the idea fall to the wayside.

The elevator doors dinged open and Qrow stepped in, placing his flask back into his pocket as he entered. One of Ozpin's oldest allies and confidants, in this life anyway. It pained him a little that he must use his friend in the way that he planned. ' _It is for the greater good..._ '

Qrow sat down across from Ozpin, dropping into the chair and letting his arms fall to the sides, clearly tired. Ozpin waited for him to speak. The ancient man had long since gotten used to being the person in the room with the most patience, and he often found people more forthcoming when they spoke first.

The huntsman sighed, "I just dropped Olivia off at the combat school to take her exams. Kid's more wound up than I first realized, but still… she's not a bad egg, Oz."

' _If only you knew, Qrow,_ ' Ozpin thought to himself, leaning forward with his elbows against the table, fingers laced in the air in front of his face. He found it easier to hide his own emotions this way, "I went over what footage we had of her fight against the Grimm. Needless to say, she had it well handled up until the deathstalker."

Qrow nodded, "The way she finished it off was damn impressive. Must involve her semblance somehow. No _way_ could a kid that size brute strength her fist through a deathstalker's armor like that."

Ozpin smiled slightly, hidden behind his hands, "Yes. I rewatched that final strike against the deathstalker many times. I'm surprised Ms. Xiao Long was left relatively unharmed after their fight."

Qrow shrugged, "She didn't attack Yang at all after her aura broke. Ruby just panicked when she saw her sister go down like that."

Ozpin nodded, "It says much about the child that she would have that level of control over her own strength at such a young age. If she had used a similar strike against your niece, I fear there would have been irreversible damage done to Ms. Xiao Long."

The huntsman paled slightly but shook his head after a moment, "I don't think she would go that far. Kid's got a soft spot buried under all that angst."

Ozpin laughed, "I am counting on it, Qrow."

The immortal composed himself after a few seconds, now looking firmly into Qrow's eyes as he spoke, "I believe she could end up on our side… but there is _also_ the potential for the child to grow into another Raven. We _both_ know which option is preferable."

Qrow couldn't quite bring himself to deny it. Olivia shared many of the traits that his sister had when they first came to Beacon. There was a hardness there, a force of will that he had only seen in hunters that had long since graduated from the academy.

Ozpin sighed, dropping his hands to let Qrow see the slight smile he now bore, "I have faith in you, Qrow. Continue to mentor the child when you can, alongside your regular duties. The world can't _afford_ another Raven. _We_ can't afford it."

"I'll do my best, Oz," Qrow stated, drawing himself back up out of the chair to turn back to the elevator.

"I know you will, old friend... I know you will."

Once Qrow had left the office and was safely away, descending back down the length of the tower to the floors below, Ozpin pulled the articles up that he had been reading and connected to the combat school's systems.

The video he had been listening to on repeat was also brought back up, displayed beneath the article itself.

" _All I ever wanted was to be the hero!_ " The sound clip played over and over again, recapturing the moment before Olivia jumped into the frey.

Once again, Ozpin's eyes were drawn to the articles above it. His mind fought to understand the conflicting information in front of him.

' _Those are words that I never would have expected to hear out of 'The Black Lotus._ '

Still, he could _feel_ the raw emotion behind those words. Her heart had been laid bare, revealing the deepest desire of her soul in that one single moment. Ozpin had not lived for centuries without learning a very simple truth, ' _Anyone can change for the better._ '

The Headmaster of Beacon turned his attention to the camera he had pulled up, overlooking the training arena in Vale's combat school. The young faunus sat in the bleachers, awaiting her turn to take the test. Ozpin scrolled down his list of contacts until he reached the name of a very old friend. She would need to be forewarned before the headmaster put his plan into motion.

' _Well then, 'Olivia Mandevilla', let's make your test a little more interesting, shall we? I wouldn't want to bore someone of_ _ **your**_ _caliber._ '

* * *

Lotus stepped into the combat school's front entrance and took a look around, almost immediately spotting a bright red sign with white text and an arrow pointing to a door on the left of the hall.

' **Apply Here** '

Upon approaching the door, the sound of metal on metal could be heard and Lotus's sixth sense flared, detecting a large number of people in the room ahead of her. With a quick peek past the door, she found that the room in question was a large coliseum of sorts. Several other people her age lined the seats, watching the current applicant display his combat prowess against the droids that filtered in.

"Over here," a much older woman's voice snipped from Lotus's right side, drawing her eyes that way. The woman was bent over a small table in front of her, eye half on the fight while she jotted down notes. There was a tall stack of papers precariously balanced next to her.

The old woman turned her eyes back to Lotus after a few seconds, using the hand holding her pen to push her glasses further up her nose, "Well? Are you here to become a huntress, or just gawk at boys?"

Lotus didn't need to be told a third time, and headed over to the woman's table. A hand swept out towards her, holding a piece of paper along with a clipboard. A pen dangled from it by a small chain. Lotus accepted it from her and looked down, eyes having to adjust to read the very fine print that made up the paper. The bottom had a single line, next to the word 'signature'.

The old woman kept her eyes on the fight, and spoke sideways so that the faunus could hear, "By signing this paper, you are acknowledging that you have unlocked your aura. You also accept full responsibility for any and all injuries to yourself, and in the event of your death, acknowledge that the school cannot be held responsible for the events leading up to your demise."

Lotus laughed as she picked up the pen and signed on the line, holding it back to the old woman. The wrinkled face turned towards her and smiled, "Very good. You've passed the first test. I have neither the tolerance or time for the spineless." She waved her hand in the general direction of the bleachers that most of the other potential students currently occupied, "Sit anywhere. You will be called into the arena when it's your turn."

The faunus nodded, black hair swishing as she turned towards the seating area and made her way there. Every single person in the room had their aura unlocked. It was a wide assortment of boys and girls, spread out amongst the seats, all nervously eyeing the stage and each other. Lotus took her place at the front and center. A lone, unflinching figure in a sea of anxiety.

The stage before her had been set up into the mockery of a small group of buildings, both spread out and densely packed together in places to offer a variety of possible scenarios for the combatants.

The boy on the stage was just finishing up his fight. It had been sloppy, but effective for what little parts Lotus had seen of it. The boy rubbed a hand across his sweaty forehead, looking back up towards the proctor as she announced his victory.

He left the stage, heading back up the stairs to speak with the old woman. She signed a few things, made some final adjustments, then handed him a packet, "Please proceed to room 1A."

The boy nodded his thanks and exited the room. The old woman watched him go for a moment before turning back to the stack of papers to her side, "Sky Lark, please approach the stage."

As she said this, a group of unmarked Atlas droids had entered the arena and were busy pulling the bodies of the others back out, making way for a new set to take their place. Lotus felt outwards, getting an idea for Sky's aura level and yawned, sitting back in her chair. He wasn't anything special.

Lotus wasn't surprised in the slightest when the boy barely scraped by, managing to at least use his halberd within its effective range and finish off the last battle droid before his aura had a chance to break.

' _Only six?_ ' Lotus could kill more in her sleep. The showing by the boy had been anything but exciting, and with a quick glance around the room, she realized it would be much of the same.

Lotus sighed and let herself slide into her chair, deciding to rest for the time being. Her sixth sense was more than capable of acting as a second set of eyes to 'watch' the 'fights'.

The next half an hour went as she had expected. ' _Apparently there aren't many capable fighters around Vale that didn't go to combat schools._ ' Lotus guessed that made sense. Vale was better patrolled, and didn't have as much of a bandit issue as Mistral.

' _Peace breeds weakness._ ' She had heard the words used in reference to Vale once up a time, when asking someone that had been there what it was like. Lotus could see now what he meant.

As time went on and the number of applicants continued to diminish, Lotus slipped further and further into her own daydreams. There was very little happening to keep her attention, and the minimal effort required to pass this portion of the 'exam' was disheartening.

' _I really hope there's more people worth my time once I get into Beacon…_ ' It was starting to look like the only ones that could give her a challenge would be those that had attended schools. If _Yang_ was the only potential threat, then Lotus would _have_ to keep their rivalry going, Qrow be damned.

Lotus audibly sighed with relief as she felt two aura levels enter through the doors that were _actually_ substantial. With a glance behind herself though, that relief turned into panic. Her gaze locked with Nora, who's hand was nervously gripping the haft of her hammer as she stared back into the faunus's eyes. Ren stood next to her, currently oblivious as he spoke with the old proctor.

Lotus gave Nora a nervous smile, followed by a timid wave. Her eyes looked around at the coliseum's now mostly empty seating. More of the applicants had already taken the exam than she'd realized. With a meaningful look back at Nora, Lotus nodded to a section of seats that were empty, and headed over to them herself.

Once Ren had noticed Lotus as well, the two finished up their paperwork and, seeming to communicate wordlessly with each other, tentatively headed in the faunus's direction. They sat down in the row behind her, keeping a firm hand on their weapons.

Lotus sighed and made a show of carefully removing the weapon from her hip, sheath and all. Without drawing the attention of the proctor or those around her, she handed it back to the pair, "I don't want to fight you guys... _Please_ hear me out."

The two of them glanced at each other uncertainly, but finally, Ren nodded and accepted the weapon being handed out to them. They eased up and leaned forward slightly, conscious of the other applicants that sat only a dozen or so feet away.

' _Okay, you prepared for this,_ ' Lotus told herself, breathing out slowly as she took a moment to recall every bit of the lie she had crafted. It had changed slightly with recent events, but overall remained the same.

"I… I _had_ to kill the council members… It was the only way to stop them…"

Ren and Nora's eyes widened, both withdrawing slightly and giving each other a glance. Nora's eyes flicked back to Lotus's, "So… you _did_ kill them? That wasn't someone else?"

"No... it was me," she admitted it quietly. ' _Saying it was someone else wouldn't have been believable. It was clearly me, weapon and all._ '

"Why?" Ren demanded in a whisper, eyes narrowing as he moved Lotus's weapon further away and put a hand on his own. Nora tensed as well, but whether it was to attack Lotus, or defend her from Ren, she couldn't tell.

"Do you remember when I told you I was working with hunters?" Lotus asked quietly, letting her voice fall down to a whisper. In preparation for her next line, she let her mind wander to the faces of those she had cared about. Copper's cold, dead eyes staring back at her. Jace lying on the pavement, his chest slashed wide open. Her parents...

The pair nodded in response, remaining as they were.

"They… they died. I _barely_ escaped, but not before I found out the truth," Lotus let her eyes focus back on the two of them, letting the very real pain show in her expression, "The council members _paid_ to have them killed. My group was investigating them. We'd found out that they were hunting down huntsman and huntresses, one group at a time."

" _What?_ " Ren sat back in confusion. Nora's eyes widened, her hand subconsciously moving forward. She stopped herself before placing it on Lotus's shoulder, though. Her hand was frozen in midair, only a few inches away.

Lotus shook her head, "Before you ask… I don't know _why_ they were doing it. The more we looked into it, the more we noticed hunters disappearing. It all led back to _them_. The missions those dead huntsman were being sent on? They were _requested_ by the council members responsible for having them killed."

The young faunus gave them a minute to process the information, shifting uncomfortably while she waited for them to respond. When neither were forthcoming, Lotus continued, "I _had_ to stop them. If they kept going at the rate they were, the city would have been left _defenseless_ before long."

Ren and Nora exchanged a look, nodding in agreement before turning back to Lotus. It was Nora that spoke this time, inching forward to finally let a hand fall on top of the girl's shoulder, "We… noticed that the huntsman were disappearing. We travelled around so much it was hard _not_ to notice."

' _The best lies include a grain of truth._ '

Widow had taught her that.

"Why didn't you tell someone, though?" Nora asked, eyes now filled with pity, " _You_ didn't have to kill them, did you?"

Lotus shrugged timidly, "Who would I tell? The last person my group tried to go to _betrayed_ us. _Anyone_ could have been in their pocket. It also doesn't help that I'm…" ' _A faunus._ '

They both caught on to her meaning, troubled looks crossing their faces. Another grain of truth, planted among a field of lies. The discrimination of faunus was far worse in Mistral. While neither humans had to deal with it themselves, they had seen it in action enough times to understand why Lotus may have hesitated in turning to the police.

Ren's expression softened, and his hand returned between himself and Lotus, holding out the faunus's weapon. His eyes focused on her as he spoke, "We're sorry for your loss, Olivia."

Lotus accepted the weapon back, setting it to the side for the moment instead of immediately reattaching it to her hip. In a sudden burst of movement, Nora surprised her with a hug. Lotus stood and turned to face her, wrapping her own arms around the orange-haired girl.

Even though her story had been mostly fake, the people she had used for inspiration to bring forth her emotions _had_ been real. As Lotus stood there, pressing forward into the other girl's tender embrace, she couldn't help but be reminded of the pain she kept hidden, so deep that even she could forget about it at times. The warmth of the other girl felt nice, though. Her pain began to slowly ebb away.

"I want hugs like this _every_ day," Lotus admitted. She was surprised by the shakiness in her own voice.

"You got it!" Nora cheered, hugging more tightly and lifting the girl up off the ground before letting Lotus plop back down, breathless.

"Olivia Mandevilla!" the old crone yelled out, drawing the group's attention back towards the rest of the room. A few of the remaining applicants were eyeing the trio, but Lotus ignored them. Her eyes flickered over to the stage and she realized it was being swept clean, made ready for her turn.

"Give 'em hell!" Nora shouted, pumping a fist into the air.

"Do your best," Ren followed up, giving Lotus a small encouraging smile.

The assassin couldn't help but laugh and shake her head, "This is going to be a piece of cake."

Lotus rebelted her weapon and walked down to the stage, taking a moment to get a feel for her surroundings. ' _Everyone was sent to the same classroom afterwards, no matter how well they did. No point showing off too much…_ ' She sighed and drew her sword, shrouding her limbs with her semblance out of simple habit rather than necessity.

Instead of the battle droids stepping on to the stage, though, an unfamiliar voice spoke over the intercom, " _Would all current applicants please proceed to the arena._ " The male voice boomed out, slightly distorted with static. Lotus looked around in confusion, eyes settling on the rest of the potential Beacon students that were all now eyeing the proctor, waiting for confirmation.

The old woman lifted her head from where she had been jotting down more notes and narrowed her eyes, "You heard him! Get down in there!"

There was a rush as the others hopped up from their seats and entered the arena, hesitation vanishing under the iron gaze of the old proctor that held their literal futures in her hands.

" _Thank you for your cooperation,_ " the disembodied voice once again spoke over the intercom, " _Due to a shortage of battle droids, we have been forced to improvise the next portion of the examination._ "

Everyone stayed in place, glancing at those around them in confusion, ' _What the hell is going on?_ '

" _The last group of examinees will partake in a mock battle royale._ _ **You**_ _are worth one point. Each opponent you_ _ **defeat**_ _will be worth one point, plus one point for however many applicants_ _ **they**_ _have defeated. Collect five points total, and you may leave the arena._ "

The group stared around at each other in shock, wondering if this was truly the method in which they would be judged. Lotus glanced up at the proctor, and saw that she was now keeping her eyes focused on the crowd of participants, her papers long forgotten.

The faunus glanced around, quickly taking count of the number of people in the arena with her. There were twenty in all. She breathed out a sigh of relief, ' _The three of us can all pass, plus some other schmuck._ ' Her eyes met with Ren and Nora's, and the three of them nodded in unison, separating from each other to space themselves evenly among the others in the arena.

Several others were now realizing the same, and eyed everyone around them. There was a general milling of applicants as people spread out, not wanting to be the center of attention. Lotus laughed, feeling out with her sixth sense as she got a crazy idea.

' _Why the hell not?_ '

The assassin stepped into the center of the arena, turning slowly to eye each of the other participants in turn with a smirk and lowering herself into a readied stance, sword now coursing with lightning dust along its edge.

"What are we waiting for?" she said loudly, cracking her neck. The group of candidates that encircled her all shared a nervous glance, most turning away from her entirely to face others nearby.

" _Beat that one, and you automatically pass,_ " the discordant voice shocked everyone. A few hesitant smiles started to pull at people's lips, now turning back to eye the lone black haired girl with renewed determination.

' _Hahahaha! Yes!_ ' Lotus silently cheered, the smirk breaking out into a wide smile that only served as a warning to those that could see it. The girl had been singled out... and didn't show an ounce of hesitation about that fact.

Lotus removed the shroud from her limbs and instead allowed her appendages to unfurl around her in preparation, ' _Six arms are better than two~_ '

With a final few moments to allow tension to build, the buzzer sounded, and all hell broke loose.

Lotus immediately dropped, several shots streaking over the top of her from where other applicants had already been aiming at her, seeking to drop her as fast as possible. Her invisible limbs blocked a few others, bullets ricocheting off her impenetrable defense.

A wave of young warriors all sprinted towards her at once, intent on securing their place at Beacon. Lotus didn't wait for them to attack her as a group. She pushed off with an appendage, crossing the distance to one side of the circle in a flash. Her sword streaked downwards towards one of those that had attempted to shoot her right at the start.

The boy didn't have the chance to shift his gun back in time, and could only gasp in pain as Lotus's electrified sword struck him across the chest. One appendage speared out simultaneously, adding it's strength to the blow. His aura shattered as he was flung backwards into the building behind him, crashing through the wall and crumpling to the ground.

' _And down goes the weakest link,_ ' Lotus laughed, leaning forward as the end of a spear swept through the air where her head had just been. She turned her momentum into a spin, turning back around in a crouch to slash her sword across the stomach of the girl that had tried to attack her from behind.

The girl yelped as the lightning enhanced blade raked across her abdomen, quickly followed Lotus's foot connecting with her chest and knocking her back into two others that were charging in her direction. The trio sprawled across the ground, momentarily out of the melee.

Lotus dove to the side as the wall behind her exploded outwards, another boy sent flying through it, quickly followed by Nora. The girl smiled and gave Lotus a cheeky wink before hefting her hammer and transforming it into a grenade launcher. She spun on two boys that were busy fighting in her area and fired it off. A cloud of pink exploded outwards from their feet as the pair were blasted away from each other.

" _I called dibs!_ " the orange haired girl shouted, transforming her weapon back into its hammer form to chase down the two combatants.

Lotus returned to her own battle, the three fighters now struggling to their feet. Each eyed the others, then turned to face Lotus, nodding amongst themselves. The trio paced forward cautiously, moving in synch to try and surround the assassin from three sides and back her against the wall.

Lotus scoffed in their faces, ' _You're forgetting an entire dimension of movement!_ ' The assassin spun back around towards the wall they had backed her up to and planted her foot against it along with a couple of her appendages. Lotus flexed both her real legs, and invisible ones, and snapped them, launching herself high above the trio.

Three faces turned up to look at her in surprise as she flipped over the top of them. She landed behind the middle boy and didn't bother wasting any time. Lotus momentarily transferred an appendage into her offhand and reached out, grabbing the boy by the back of his breastplate.

Adding another appendage for good measure, she ripped him off his feet and above herself, arcing his body overtop her own. Lotus used her full force to slam him back down to the ground, his head taking the brunt of the blow against the arena floor as his aura burst in a flash of bright green, signalling his defeat.

Lotus transitioned into a crouch, readying her three remaining appendages, and shot forward, low across the ground. Her target panicked, seeing the ease at which Lotus had just dispatched her momentary ally, and slashed downwards in an attempt to cut Lotus off in her approach.

The assassin's own blade met the girl's, hitting it with enough force to knock it from her grasp and up into the air. She followed it with an uppercut to her chin, crumpling the girl in a heap. ' _Three down, one to go._ '

The third member of the now defunct trio hefted his glave in Lotus's direction, trying to catch her off guard with a horizontal swing aimed at her back.

A burst of gunfire caught him from the side, as Ren's dual machine pistols unloaded into him. The boy's aura flickered, but stayed intact as he abandoned his own attack. The boy turned and dove through a window in retreat.

Lotus laughed as she paused to transform her sword into its pistol form, giving her 'savior' a salute. Ren nodded before returning to his own opponent.

Using her sixth sense to track the boy that had fled, Lotus aimed her pistol and fired through the thin walls, feeling his aura drop sharply as the shots connected with his chest. The boy cried out in pain as the last shot broke his aura.

' _And that's game over,_ ' Lotus transformed her weapon back and sheathed it, turning to face the rest of the battlefield with her hands relaxing behind her head. She surveyed the carnage with an amused twinkle in her eye.

It appeared as though Nora had already taken down three of her own, two of which were sprawled out across the ground and covered in a thick pink powder from her grenade launcher. Lotus spotted the third lying outside the ring, slumped against the wall beneath a massive web of cracks that signified the impact zone.

Ren was currently in the heat of combat. The blond boy he faced was using a shield and a mace to great effect, blocking the shots that Ren fired at him and the swipes from his dual daggers.

The assassin could instantly tell that it was a bad match up, ' _Ren will need more than his speed to get past the blond's defense..._ '

As the faunus watched, the boy got in a 'lucky' hit, knocking one of Ren's guns from his hand. It skittered across the ground, coming to rest at Lotus's feet.

With a confident sneer, the blond over extended his next swing, seeking to finish the fight. Ren's remaining weapon caught the mace by its haft and diverted it to the side, using the blond's own attack to pull him off balance. The boy instinctively pulled his shield up to better defend himself, covering the majority of his upper torso from whatever Ren might try to do next.

Doing so proved to be his folly, as Ren's palm struck against the shield, a blast of his aura sending a shockwave through the boy's body. The blond shouted in pain and surprise as he was hurled backwards off the arena and into the wall behind him, body slamming into the unforgiving stonework with a sickening crack. His aura flashed as he crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

Ren turned around, looking for his other weapon. Lotus scooped it up and tossed it to him, grinning as he caught it deftly. She stepped up next to him with her hands on her hips, giving the bodies surrounding them a passing glance, "How many are you at?"

"Three," he replied simply. The pair of them stood for a moment, overseeing the fights that were still going on while Ren caught his breath. Between Lotus, Ren, and Nora, there were still seven 'points' left to claim. Both Ren and Nora only needed one more each, while Lotus had already achieved victory.

As she thought that, Nora claimed her final point. With a mighty heave of her warhammer, the mass of steel caught her opponent in the chest and knocked him out of the ring, creating another series of cracks in the stone wall's surface to match Nora's previous opponent.

The girl threw both arms up and cheered in delight, turning back to face Ren and Lotus with a huge grin. Nora skipped over to them, eyeing the bodies lying around, "Come on Ren~! You still need one more, lazy butt!"

"Whatever you say, Nora," Ren replied flatly, but flashed her the tiniest of grins before heading back into the frey.

"Not too bad," Lotus grinned, playfully pushing Nora, "Could have used a few more explosions, though. Pink really adds to the decor."

"I _know_ , right?" Nora smiled in agreement. The pair both watched as Ren began his fight against another combatant.

Lotus couldn't help but be impressed by Ren's display of both speed and skill. He had mastered his own style, combining an up close dagger and pistol style with a finesse that allowed him to parry most blows with ease. The attacks aimed at him were from much larger weapons, and still he diverted them, like water flowing around a rock.

Ren claimed his victory with a final series of blows that brought his opponent to his knees, the last strike, a blow to the other contestant's temple. The other fights were winding down as well, with only two others that remained standing.

The trio joined back up and stood off to the side. Lotus sighed as she watched. The last two seemed to have been lucky to even make it this far.

"So, how do you think you'll do on the written exams?" Lotus asked the pair, sparring an eye for each in turn.

"I suspect that we may not know as much as we believe," Ren replied, eyes still on the last to contestants.

"We'll do fine!" Nora shouted gleefully, patting a hand against both Ren and Lotus's backs.

The fight finally came to a close as one of the boy's auras sputtered out, incapable of being maintained any longer. The four of them all headed off stage, climbing the stairs and grouping up near the proctor's table as she shuffled around four sets of papers.

The old crone handed out their packets, simply repeating what she had said for all the others that came before them with a dismissive wave.

Nora led the group as they stepped back out into the hallway and headed off towards room 1A. It didn't take long, as it was the first classroom in the hallway. They opened the door to find a large room filled with desks, each pushed as far from every other as they could be.

The desk were already mostly filled with other kids, each hunched over the test in front of them with a critical focus. An older gentleman stood near the front of the class, behind his desk. He kept a watchful eye, pausing only for a moment to beckon the group over to him.

The man handed out an exam paper to each in turn, "Take whatever seat you wish. If I catch you trying to cheat, you will automatically fail." He turned a sharp eye towards them, "And I _never_ miss a cheater."

Even Nora managed to remain quiet under the oppressive atmosphere, the only sound to be heard were the quiet scratching of pencils on paper, and the occasional sound of someone erasing one of their mistakes.

Lotus sat down at one of the vacant desks and let out a nervous sigh, ' _Okay. I've got this, right?_ ' The assassin flipped her paper over to the front side and picked up the pencil, taking a moment to fill in her name and date before dropping her eyes down to the first question.

Q1: _Name the four most common Grimm native to Vacuo, and what steps you might take in avoiding their detection._

Lotus stared at the question, racking her brain to try to remember if she'd ever heard _anything_ about the Grimm in Vacuo. After thirty seconds, the assassin's mind could only draw a complete blank.

' _Okay, maybe I should just skip this question…_ ' Lotus let her eyes moved past it to the second question on the paper.

Q2: _What are the three most important steps that must be followed in the creation of Hard Light Dust?_

Lotus's stomach dropped lower and lower, forming a pit in which no hope could escape. ' _I don't know any of this…_ ' She slumped, head dropping to rest her forehead against the desk in front of her.

Eyes closed, Lotus could now only hear the sounds of the others scratching away, answering the questions that had already sent her into a downward spiral of misery.

Lotus's head shot back up, her sixth sense subconsciously tracking the movement of the pencils around her. ' _Can I…?_ ' Lotus let her sense focus outwards, paying specific attention to the other combatant that had come in with them. Aside from Ren and Nora, his paper still had the most left to complete.

The spider faunus flipped to the same page as him in her packet, hand moving back to her pencil as it poised over the answer box. She could decipher the movements of his pencil… mimic them if she wanted to. Lotus's pencil scratched away, an echo of the one she was copying.

With that answer filled out, she felt out around herself once again, keeping her eyes locked on the paper in front of her. The girl to her left was just starting to write out the answer to the next question. Lotus copied her movements as well.

Lotus continued, searching among the other occupants now for others that might have skipped earlier questions, only to go back to them. Luckily, she found a couple that had, and was able to fill those out as well.

After half an hour, Lotus looked down at her exam, entirely completed. A twinge of guilt flashed through her chest, cutting through the hope that had grown in place of the pit in her stomach.

' _Is this… okay?_ ' Lotus internally struggled, arguing with herself. On the one hand, she might not get into Beacon if she _didn't_ cheat. Would they really accept someone that couldn't answer a _single_ question on their entry test?

' _But Qrow managed to get in…_ ' The older huntsman had admitted to being from the Mistral boonies. He'd grown up a bandit, and had likely shared in Lotus's current experience.

The faunus groaned audibly and dropped her head back against her desk. Many of the other students were already handing their papers to the examiner and filing out. A few with a slight spring in their step, others with an air of dejection. None of them knew the battle that was currently taking place in the young assassin's mind.

' _Can I risk my one chance at Beacon on a 'maybe they'll let me in'!?_ ' People literally _died_ so that Lotus could attend the school. Jaune and his father, sacrificed by Widow to protect her daughter's secret.

Lotus's heart went out to both Ren and Nora, as they slumped to the front and handed their papers in. They each spared a glance back at her as she remained at her desk, now the only one left in the room. The examiner quietly remained where he was, only glancing her direction every now and then while he looked over some of the papers that had already been turned in.

The weight of the scroll in her pocket was the final deciding factor. Qrow had told her that this would happen, had promised to help her, going so far as to give the young faunus his number.

' _I'll…_ ' the war raged on in Lotus's mind. The faunus didn't know what she was going to do. Her trust had been _broken_ so recently, so viciously by someone that she had loved unconditionally.

' _Would a 'hero' cheat?_ '

Lotus took a deep breath and stood up from her desk, approaching the examiner as his eyes glanced up towards hers.

' _I'll… trust Qrow._ '

Lotus ripped the paper in half and dropped it in the trash can next to the man's desk, her voice was quiet and hoarse, "I didn't know any of the answers."

The examiner eyed her for a few more seconds, then smiled deeply as he sat back in his chair, "I know."

Lotus stepped back, eyes going wide in panic, "What? How!?"

The older man chuckled, reaching down into the garbage bin to pull out Lotus's exam paper, "Do you think you're the first spider faunus to go through this school? I told you, I _always_ catch cheaters."

The pit in the faunus girl's stomach grew into a gaping hole, her eyes looking down at the ground as her dreams were shattered in front of her. ' _This is it. I failed._ '

"Well, don't look so _down_. You didn't cheat, did you?" The old man laughed, shaking his head good naturedly as he eyed Lotus's paper, "You admitted to your own lack of knowledge. That was _brave_. Far braver than most that resort to cheating."

The old man let the paper fall back into the garbage bin, his eyes moving back up to meet Lotus's as he smiled, "You pass. Congratulations."

' _I… pass?_ '

"But how!? I didn't know anything!" Lotus shouted in confusion, eyes wildly going back and forth between the man and the paper he had just thrown in the trash.

He chuckled, "My dear, do you believe the Grimm will be fighting you with exam papers and pop quizzes?" he shook his head, "If you have made it _this_ far, then you were already a capable enough candidate for Beacon's initiation. All that mattered was that you answered honestly and to the best of your ability."

Lotus stood slack jawed, incapable of stringing two words together, let alone a comprehensible sentence.

The man sighed, "You're free to go, just don't forget your packet. I'll have everyone's papers graded by tomorrow morning, so you can return and pick up your syllabus then." He gave Lotus one last smile before turning back to the papers on the desk in front of him, "See you in class, Ms. Mandevilla."

Lotus staggered out into the hallway to find Ren and Nora waiting on a nearby bench. Nora hopped up and ran to her, "Oh my gosh I barely knew _any_ of that! How'd you do?"

The faunus girl shook her head, "I didn't know a _single_ question. How about you, Ren?"

"I knew some of it," he replied, now standing up to join them. There was an awkward silence as both of the girls realized they'd been outdone by Ren, and admitted as much right in front of him.

"Taking tests makes me _hungry_! Are you two hungry? We should go have lunch together!" Nora broke the silence, grabbing each of them by a hand and pulling them towards the door.

"Yeah… That sounds like a great idea, Nora."

With Ren's nod of assent, the trio set out to find themselves a nice meal to share, along with stories from the two years since they'd last seen each other.


	24. What Could Have Been

"Professor Port has completed his assignment in the Emerald Forest. I'm glad to report that he has found the number of Grimm to have returned to a sufficient enough level for Initiation."

Ozpin nodded to the primly dressed blond woman next to his desk, responding with a warm, "Thank you, Glynda," before turning back to the papers on his desk. He was expecting two different visitors within the next few minutes, and wished to be prepared for both.

Right on queue, the familiar light appeared, signalling someone's desire to head up to the Headmaster's office. With one quick glance, Ozpin allowed the elevator's assent. The headmaster had requested that Qrow give him a report on the young Olivia's progress at the end of each week, among the rest of his duties. It wouldn't do to appear too interested, else Qrow may begin to suspect something was amiss.

Glynda noticed the display showing Qrow as well and grimaced. While the two of them were willing to work together on a professional level, the pair had never quite managed to get along. Opposites had not attracted, in this case. ' _A pity. Glynda could do with a little loosening up at times. And Qrow… Well, Qrow will never change._ '

"I cannot believe you are indulging him in his desire to help that single student instead of sending him to gather information on Amber's attackers," Glynda frowned disapprovingly, pushing her glasses up the brim of her nose.

' _Ah, but they are one and the same, Glynda,_ ' Ozpin thought idly. He could tell neither of them that fact. They would treat the child differently if they knew, and that would spoil the entire plan of gaining her trust. So instead Ozpin laughed dryly, "There is not much to follow up on, I'm afraid. We do not know what they look like, and I doubt they would be foolish enough to make themselves known so soon."

"Still…" Glynda began, but as the elevator doors dinged open she quieted down.

Qrow stepped into the room as the doors opened, eyes down on his scroll as he continued texting one long message. He held up a finger as Glynda opened her mouth to protest, not having to even look in her direction to predict what she might say, "One second. Niece is asking me to give her a written approval to use Signal's Weapon Design and Implementation Room whenever she wants."

The other two silently waited for the flustered huntsman to finish telling his niece 'No'. Which meant they were both shocked when he pressed send and lifted his head up, "That should keep her busy for the next few hours."

Of the pair, Ozpin managed to recover first and straightened himself out, " _Ehem_ , now then. Would you like to present your report for us, Qrow?"

Qrow pulled out his flask and took a quick swig. He paused for a moment, letting out a deep sigh, "Ah, much better…" Qrow pocketed the flask and returned his gaze to the Headmaster across from him, "Kid's coming along just fine, Oz. Some issues we still need to iron out here and there, but she's made a massive improvement for only two weeks."

"Oh?" Ozpin raised his eyebrow, "And what do you believe was the deciding factor in this improvement?"

"Kid has a couple friends of hers from Mistral that are planning on attending Beacon as well. They've been each other's study partners for the last couple weeks. Looks like they get along really well and balance her out."

"And who might this pair be?" Ozpin asked, mind immediately going to the worst conclusion. If they were friends of the Lotus, then perhaps they were involved in the attack on Amber.

Qrow pulled his scroll back out and sifted through his images, turning the scroll to face Ozpin. The Black Lotus stood between two others, an orange haired female the same height as her, and a taller male youth with black hair and a pink stripe near his bangs.

' _If they were involved, that would match up with two of the attackers…_ ' Ozpin could be certain of nothing, though. Still… ' _I wonder if they know her true identity? Most would not normally look so comfortable standing next to a mass murderer._ '

Qrow looked back at his scroll, pulling up the names of the future Beacon students, "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. They seem like good kids, too. Apparently they worked as messengers between towns growing up. Boy's semblance lets them hide from the Grimm."

Glynda's eyes widened, "That's a useful semblance. Have you tested it out to see it's validity for yourself?"

Qrow shook his head, "Haven't really had the chance."

Ozpin frowned from behind his hands, ' _An easy cover up for not being attacked by the creatures of Grimm if the issue ever arose. They could pretend it was because of this semblance, instead of any connection they might have to Salem…_ '

"An interesting ability…" he replied instead, "What is your honest opinion on the pair, Qrow?"

Qrow paused, scratching at his chin with a few fingers, "The girl is one of the most hyperactive people I've ever met, and that's saying something. The boy on the other hand is entirely reserved. I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up more than just friends."

Ozpin nodded, "How are Ms. Mandevilla's studies coming along?"

"Well enough. She'll need to continue some of her extra studies into the beginning of the term, since there's a lot for her to catch up on. She's been putting her all into it, though."

Ozpin noted the hint of pride in the man's voice. It seemed he had really taken a liking to the girl. ' _Good…_ ' Ozpin had been hoping for as much when he assigned him the task. Qrow had always gotten attached to people that didn't reject him like many others did. He had spent two weeks with the girl so far and it appeared as though their relationship had only grown more with time. He was truly becoming a mentor for the girl, ' _And a mentor can sway your mindset, in this case for the positive._ '

"Anything else of note that your informants may have been able to clue you in on?" Ozpin asked, pulling them away from the topic of the young woman.

"A couple things on that front," Qrow replied, "First and foremost, there's a new player in the city. Someone's got even the big fish running scared. Killed quite a few people already. Second point… that might include Roman Torchwick. He's gone dark completely. Hasn't made a peep in over a week."

"Is that so unusual?" Glynda asked, giving Qrow a frown from where she stood.

Qrow shrugged, "He's usually the big dog in the city. If the others were going quiet, I would have assumed it was because of him. With Roman disappearing too, though? Either he's been gutted, or he's just as scared as the rest."

' _Could The Black Lotus have some involvement in that? She did walk out into the Emerald Forest on the same night Nicholas Arc and his son were killed..._ ' Ozpin was opening his mouth to ask a misleading question that might get him the answer he truly desired when Qrow's scroll buzzed.

Qrow looked at the caller ID and grinned at the other two in the room, placing a finger up to his lips to signal their silence before setting the scroll down on Ozpin's desk. He tapped an icon on the screen, activating conference mode. A rather distressed voice came over the line.

" _Qrow? Are you there? I can't see you,_ " the voice of 'Olivia' came through.

"Yeah, sorry kid can't use the video feature at the moment. What's up?" Qrow answered back, giving a warning glance to the both of them for good measure.

" _Ugh, we moved on from weapon maintenance to weapon enhancement and augmentation. Problem is, I didn't make my sword myself. Ren's no help, since his doesn't change forms, and Nora's is a big ass hammer that turns into a grenade launcher. I… need your help_."

Qrow seemed to think it over for a few seconds, his eyes lighting up finally as he leaned forward towards the scroll, "Actually I have a great idea. How about you fly out to Patch again? We can use one of the weapon development rooms at Signal."

There was a pause from the other end, before Olivia hesitantly replied, " _O-Okay. It's getting pretty late, though. Do you want to wait until tomorrow?_ "

Qrow smirked, though she couldn't see it, "Nah, you can just spend the night again. We'll spend all of tomorrow afternoon on it, too."

" _You really think it'll take that long?_ "

Qrow chuckled, "Knowing how to take care of and rebuild your own weapon is no joke, kid. Besides, I've seen you sparring with that thing. I could throw pebbles and make bigger holes than that peashooter. You're going to want to upgrade it eventually."

" _...A-Alright. If you think that's best. I'll see you there?_ "

"Yeah. See you then, kiddo," Qrow hung up on the girl and returned his scroll to his pocket.

Ozpin gave Qrow an amused smile, "Planning a playdate, are you?"

Qrow shrugged, a smile of his own across his face, "Two birds with one stone, right? Ruby is too all around positive to be grumpy around, _and_ she knows her weapons. I think they'll get along well enough."

Ozpin nodded, "A good idea." ' _And it gets her out of Vale. We'll see if there are any other murders tonight. It's truly three birds with one stone._ '

Another flicker of light on his desktop drew his eye. Another request from the elevator. The video screen appeared and Ozpin could now see the raven-haired young transfer student standing inside, waiting patiently.

"Ahem," Ozpin gave both of them a glance, "It appears our time has been cut short. I have a meeting that I must take care of, if you would be so kind?"

Qrow shrugged, "I need to get going anyway."

"I will email you the remainder of the reports, Professor," Glynda replied with a curt nod. Both of them stepped over to the elevator and waited for the door to open. Once it had, the young woman inside paused, giving the pair of older hunters a glance, then walked past with a polite smile to them both.

Glynda and Qrow spared a glance back at her as they entered the elevator. As the doors closed, Qrow was already turning towards the blond woman to remark on something. Unfortunately, it was forever lost on Ozpin as the doors closed before Qrow could speak.

Ozpin gestured to the chair across the desk from him, his hands already reaching down to lift one of the transfer papers off his desk, "Cinder Fall, was it?"

The young woman gave him a polite nod as she sat, crossing her legs at the ankle and folding her hands overtop one another, "That is I, Headmaster. Thank you for seeing me this evening."

"Of course, Ms. Fall," Ozpin eyed her over the top of his own steepled hands, "As I understand it, you and your team would like to transfer to Beacon from Haven this year?"

Cinder nodded once, a simple momentary lowering of her head as she smiled, "For this year, _and_ the next, Headmaster. My team and I… we no longer feel safe in Mistral."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow in surprise, "And why is that, Ms. Fall?"

An expression of doubt and uncertainty, ' _Even a little fear?_ ', crossed the young woman's face, "I did not believe it at first, Headmaster, but… Hunters from Mistral have been going missing more and more frequently over the last couple years. Many of those that I knew, students that graduated before I… Many haven't been heard from in a long time, and I fear the worst…"

' _What? I've heard nothing from Leo about the disappearance of huntsman and huntresses… I'll have to get into contact with him._ '

"That sounds truly heartbreaking, Ms. Fall. You have my condolences for those that you have lost. So, that is why you wish to come to Beacon? You seek the safety we may provide?" Ozpin allowed his hands to pull away from his face. He did not know the legitimacy of these claims, but the young woman was clearly troubled.

"Yes. I am worried for my team, and myself. I know many of those that have gone missing were quite capable…" Cinder shook slightly, drawing in on herself in a more defensive posture, "I know it is nothing to be proud of… running away as we are… but we _are_ still students!"

Ozpin inclined his head, "I do not fault you, Ms. Fall. Know that you are more than welcome to join Beacon, along with your team. Your transcripts appear promising, and I look forward to seeing what you are capable of."

Cinder smiled at the news of her acceptance, letting out a slight chuckle, "I appreciate your kindness, Headmaster. Trust me when I say that my team and I will do more than exceed your expectations."

Ozpin inclined his own head, "I cannot wait." With that, there was a click on his keyboard as he opened the elevator doors back up, "Thank you for giving me a minute of your time. I will see you in classes."

"No, thank you, Headmaster," Cinder replied. She stood gracefully and reentered the elevator, giving Ozpin one final smile before the doors closed.

The headmaster of Beacon academy sighed as he sat back in his chair, hands already moving to grab his scroll and give Leo a call.

' _Why do the number of distractions just keep piling up...? I hope for your sake that Ms. Fall is mistaken, Leonardo…_ '

* * *

Lotus returned her scroll to her pocket and gave her two study partners an apologetic smile. They were sitting in the library at the combat school in Vale, going over designs for their weapons, ' _Or Ren and Nora are, anyway. I don't even know where to start…_ '

The weapon that sat before her had never been fully taken apart in all the years she had it. Lotus had made minute modifications of her own, tightening up the parts required for the transformation so that blood wouldn't leak into the gears, but that was _hardly_ the same. Their paper was asking for them to diagram each individual part and give a clear description on how each piece was vital to the weapon's functionality.

"That's okay, buddy!" Nora cheered.

Her shout was firmly ignored by the old crone behind the desk. She had warned them several times over the course of the first day to keep the volume of their conversations down. On the second day, the librarian had glared at them for the majority of their stay. Now, two weeks later, she didn't even bother to look up from her book. Nora had no filter, it appeared, and no care for the sanctity of a library's silence.

"I'm sorry we could not provide more assistance," Ren followed after. Compared to both of theirs, his project was nearly finished already. The dual dagger and machine pistol combination had no change in forms, only the internal workings of the guns themselves that still needed to be highlighted. It was a task that Ren was comfortable with, knowing his weapons inside and out.

"Oh, I don't blame you guys or anything. I can't expect you to know how my weapon functions when even _I_ don't."

"You said it was your brother's, right?" Ren asked, looking down at the sword that lay across the table on full display.

"It was," Lotus agreed, picking it up off the table to resheath it. There was little point in leaving it out now that she had a new destination, "I'll see you guys in a couple days. Qrow wants me to stay on Patch to work on it some more tomorrow."

Nora stretched out, hands clasped together as she raised them high above her head and arched her back, receiving a few heavy pops for her troubles, "Renny and I could use an off day, anyway, right Ren?"

Ren frowned, but gave in with a shake of his head, "While I don't wish to waste any time, since it is time that we will still have to make up later…" His eyes glanced over at Nora, frown disappearing as a slight smile tugged at his lips, "I know that you are not nearly as well equipped for so many days in a row of constant studying."

"Uh huh! I'm more of a hands on, kinda gal," Nora's eyes lit up as she quirked an eyebrow at Ren, "That reminds me, Renny. Did you finish that biology work on human anatomy? If not, I could help you out~" Nora's voice took on a more seductively playful tone towards the end, her intentions clear to both of the two sharing the table with her.

Ren's face went red, his eyes glancing nervously over at Lotus. One hand reached up to tug at his collar, "Well, I am almost finished… There were a _few_ things giving me trouble."

"It's a study date, then!" Nora cooed, reaching out a hand to grab Ren's as she turned a smile towards Lotus. The faunus was already packing up her things, getting ready to leave the two lovebirds alone, "Have fun on Patch!"

Lotus grinned and gave the pair a small wave as she left, heading out of the school and towards the airstrip. She would need to cross the entire shopping district to get there. The young faunus whipped out her scroll, the young couple reminding her of a promise she had made the night before. Lotus opened up her contacts and dialed 'Side Chick'.

The scroll rang for a few seconds before the line was picked up, the face of her favorite twin coming into view. Lotus gave the best sexy pout she could manage as her own face was sure to appear on the other girl's screen, "Hey Melanie, babe~ I'm gonna have to skip out on tonight. I'll make it up to you though, okay?"

The girl grumbled for a moment, a pout of her own on her face, "I was looking forward to tonight…" the pout turned into a sweet smile, "You better have something _special_ in store for me~"

"Anything you want," Lotus grinned.

When Melanie's eyes lit up, she knew what odd fetish the other girl's mind had jumped to. Lotus wasn't too into it, but the other girl liked dominating people. Lotus's chest still hurt from last time, when the girl had insisted on wearing her sharp stilettos and stepping on her. The view made up for it, at least. Skirts were nice like that when the girl wasn't wearing any panties underneath.

"Let's hope you keep that promise~" Melanie replied with a wink. There was the muffled sound of Junior's voice shouting about something in the distance, and the girl's expression soured, "Gotta go. When can I expect you next?"

"A few days, tops," Lotus laughed, "You go take care of business, now. Have fun~"

The scroll's video cut out as more muffled curses could be heard, and Lotus was left to continue her walk through the busy Vale streets to her inevitable destination. ' _She'll be fine._ '

To her surprise, it had turned out that Melanie was one of Junior's bodyguards, and while she was far from the best fighter Lotus had ever seen, the girl was _more_ than capable enough to deal with the average pub crawler.

Having her own outlet for pent up frustration had been one of the major factors keeping Lotus in line these last couple weeks. The assassin's patience for other people was at an all time high. Between attaining the life she wanted, spending it with two people her own age that she considered friends, and a few nightly club visits sprinkled in each week, Lotus had never been happier.

Soon enough, she was at the airstrip and paying for her second ever trip out to Patch. Qrow had invited her another time before, with promises of Tai making something delicious for dinner, but Lotus had abstained. She was too busy with school work. Lotus hated to admit it, even to herself, but she was far behind.

The training she received from Widow over the years hadn't prepared her. Lotus couldn't fault her mother for that. Widow hadn't gone to a combat school, either. They'd both learned from their own experiences in the 'real' world. Lotus _had_ hit a wall, though. The inner workings of even her own weapon were beyond her, and she was desperate for help.

Lotus chose to stand near the open bay door, watching the ground disappear beneath her as they rose up and began their brief flight across the water to Patch. She let her mind wander.

A small smile crept across her lips as she looked out over the ocean far below, ' _I'm glad I met Qrow that day… and didn't kill him…_ ' He wouldn't be able to help her now if she had killed him, but… it was more than that. Lotus could tell that the grizzled huntsman was having a positive affect on her life, just as the Ren and Nora were.

Lotus sighed. There had been people in her life that she regretted killing, though they were few in number. Qrow was the first she was glad _not_ to have killed. Lotus laughed aloud as the small island of Patch came into view, ' _That isn't an honor I'll ever be able to tell him he has._ '

The ship flew another half mile past the island's shore, hovering down over the top of the airstrip behind the combat school. Grass whipped wildly in the gale force winds, an ever shifting haze of green that was distracting to the eye. The bullhead touched down, causing Lotus to momentarily have to shift her weight to compensate for the impact.

The young faunus gladly departed, hopping down off the side before the pilot had a chance to lower the ramp. He seemed used to it, though, only pausing a second after Lotus was off his ship before lifting back up into the sky. The bullhead roared away, back in the direction of Vale, and left the huntress standing in the middle of the field with no clue where to go.

"Olivia!" a voice cried out, high pitched. Lotus's eyes were drawn across the field, to a small girl in a black and red corset, arm furiously waving her down.

Lotus made her way over, small smile resting on her face as she tried to absorb some of the excitement the girl felt, ' _Great. If she's going to the weapon's room as well, I'm going to make a fool out of myself. Damn it, Qrow._ ' Lotus began preparing herself for the insults she knew would be coming soon enough.

"Hey, Ruby," she replied, now walking beside the girl, "Watcha doin' here?"

The girl gave her a grin and waved her red cloak to the side, drawing Lotus's attention to the compacted scythe on her back.

"I was on my way to the Weapons' Room when Qrow gave me a call. He told me you were headed over for the same thing!" Ruby piped up happily, now leading the way across the school grounds. The pair walked into the front entrance, and Lotus had no choice but to follow the younger girl through the unfamiliar halls.

"Yeah, I uh… I have a lot of work to do on my weapon," Lotus admitted. Their path led them downstairs, into a basement area. Her eyes were wide as she took in the scene.

The first room they had stepped down the stairs into was large and spacious, with numerous steel tables situated around the sides and along the center. Chain hooks, blow torches, smelting ovens, molds, tools and equipment… as far as Lotus could tell, the place was packed with everything a weapon designer might ask for.

Beyond that, there was a small room, one door on the side they were currently on, and another on the opposite side. It led into the firing range, where Lotus could see paper targets hanging from the ceiling, the rooms separated by what she _hoped_ was bullet-proof glass. Many of the targets had been used and then left, numerous holes already shredded through them.

Ruby wasted no time in gently setting her scythe down on one of the longer metal tables, her hands deftly going to work on its exterior. With a small screwdriver in hand, the girl picked apart some of the outside casing, opening it up to reveal the inner workings of her weapon.

Lotus whistled softly as she stepped forward and set her own weapon down, still in its sword form, "That looks like a pretty complicated piece of machinery, kid."

The small girl grinned proudly, spinning the screwdriver in her hand with a deft motion she had definitely practiced for hours on end, "Darn straight! I went all out building Crescent Rose!"

Lotus shook her head, getting started on trying to pick apart Copper's weapon. She decided to keep the conversation going, if only as a way to keep Ruby's attention off her own struggles, "So all school kids _do_ name their weapons…"

Ruby gasped, hands freezing over the top of Crescent Rose as she looked up at Lotus in shock, "You _haven't_ named your weapon!?"

The assassin frowned, "No. What's the point? Whether you name it or not, it still cuts the same."

It was Ruby's turn to shake her head, eyes downcast. Her hand rose up, pointing the screwdriver at Lotus like it was a teacher's ruler, "Unacceptable! Hunters name their weapons to form a bond with them! An unshakable connection that will last a lifetime!"

Ruby's hands dropped down on top of her scythe, running lovingly along its length. Her eyes still stared fiercely into Lotus's own, "There are many like it, but this one is _mine!_ "

"I… I don't think there _are_ many weapons like yours, Ruby."

The screwdriver swished through the air as it was once again being pointed at Lotus, "That isn't the point! Your weapon needs a name!" Ruby's voice now quivered with excitement, her hands dropping to the table as she practically leaned across it to close the distance between them, "Let me help you, _pleeeeease!?_ " The girl practically begged.

Lotus sighed, giving up on her attempts to piece apart the weapon for the moment. She was making no progress anyway.

"Sure, I guess... It isn't _really_ my weapon, though."

Ruby paused, "What do you mean?"

The young faunus lifted the sword off the table, one hand beneath the hilt, the other resting beneath the blade, "It was my brother's. He built it… before he died."

The small girl became subdued, shuffling from side to side at the mention of Lotus's dead relative. The faunus noticed and gave her a smile, "It's okay. It was a long time ago. I've had it longer than he ever did, so I suppose we could say I adopted it?"

"What… was his name?" Ruby asked slowly, eyeing both Lotus and the sword.

Lotus smiled warmly, looking at the weapon, "Copper." Her eyes lifted to Ruby's, her smile growing a little more melancholy as it lost its luster, "One of _two_ brothers I've had in my life."

"Had…?" Ruby's eyes widened once more, seeming to understand the words that Lotus had left unspoken, "I'm sorry for your loss, Olivia."

Lotus gave a sad chuckle and set the sword back down, "So… got any ideas for a name? I've never really thought about giving one to a weapon before."

Ruby cheered up somewhat, walking around the side of the table to end up on Lotus's side. They both looked down on the weapon, thinking of an appropriate name to give it.

"Death Dealer," Lotus proposed.

"That sounds _evil!_ " Ruby shot it down.

"The Crimson Terror," Lotus joked.

"That's _lame!_ " Ruby shuddered.

Lotus laughed, "I thought so, too."

Ruby tapped a finger against her chin as she pondered their dilemma, "It should be something that reminds you of him, I think." Her eyes glanced over to Lotus to see how she was reacting, "A name that will keep the two of you connected. One you _both_ might have chosen."

The young faunus thought about it, eyes clouding over, staring off into space as she tried to think of a name that both of them would have picked. What had they both liked? There wasn't much, since they had been six years apart. The one thing they shared in common…

Lotus's eyes lit up, the name suddenly coming to her, "Oath."

Ruby's silver eyes became a mirror of Lotus's own magenta, "Oh! I love that comic! Ozborne, the Great and Powerful! The legendary hero that could smite all evil with the mighty sword of destruction, Oath!"

Lotus was shocked that Ruby had even understood the reference, eyes whipping over to the younger girl, "They stopped printing those comics six _years_ ago! How do you even know about them?"

Ruby's eyebrows knit together in confusion, "What? No they didn't! Issue #152 released last week!"

The faunus's eyebrows shot up her temple, " _What!?_ " Could it be true? Her one guilty pleasure... Lotus's mind caught up after her initial shock, "Wait, #152!? I could only ever find up to issue #30!"

Ruby's jaw dropped, "You have _so much_ catching up to do!"

Both girls jumped in surprise as a gravely male voice spoke from behind them, "I'll say. Just look at your weapon. You haven't even pulled the sucker _apart_ yet."

Lotus's hand flew to her heart, now beating even faster than it already had been before, "Qrow! Don't sneak up like that!"

Qrow gave her an amused grin, "I thought you _couldn't_ be snuck up on, spider girl?"

Ruby's hands were clenched down at her sides, shaking with barely suppressed outrage, "That wasn't nice, Uncle Qrow!"

"Neither was all that racket you were making on my poor headache. Now get back to work, you two," Qrow replied, placing a hand against his forehead as if in pain.

The small scythe wielder made a small 'hmph!' sound before stomping off around the table to her own weapon, leaving Lotus standing next to Qrow overtop the newly christened 'Oath'.

Lotus tentatively picked up one of the screwdrivers, similar to the one Ruby had in her hands, and turned the sword over in her hands. After about thirty seconds of this, Qrow took a swig of his flask before repocketing it.

"Alright, kid. You'll get nowhere just looking at it," Qrow scooted in next to her, grabbing a different tool entirely than the one Lotus held, "This is a _magnetic_ merger. The reason you're having so much trouble figuring it out is because, apparently, your big brother was pretty smart."

Qrow placed the tool against the sword near the hilt and flipped a switch along its side. There was a small thrum sound followed by a pop, and the side of the hilt detached, allowing a direct line to the mechanisms within. Qrow handed her the tool, and Lotus began the slow process of finding where each and every point was that had been 'merged' this way.

Eventually, the weapon sat before her, completely taken apart into all its most basic pieces. Qrow then began pointing out each in turn, giving a description of their exact function, and why they were necessary for the entire transformation process to work properly.

When he had finished with his explanations, Qrow gave her a small smirk and a friendly pat on the back, "Now, put it back together."

Lotus stared down at the mess of bolts, gears, blades, pins, and thing she didn't even know the name for… there was too much to take in all at once.

"So… this is the part where you _really_ help me, right?"

Qrow rolled his eyes, then got to work pointing out each piece in turn, "Remember how each fits together." After another half hour, they had fully reassembled it. Lotus gave Oath a few test swings, lit up the lightning dust edge, and transformed it back into it's pistol shape.

"Looks good to me."

Qrow picked the tool back up and handed it to her, "Now do it again."

"But I _just_ got it back together…"

"Uh huh, and you're going to keep repeating the process until you can do it all on your own," Qrow replied, shoving the tool into her hands, "Now strip it apart again."

Lotus grumbled but got to work. They spent the next few hours there, repeating the process. With each iteration, Lotus became more and more adept. On the final run, it took her only five minutes, and she didn't have to stop and ask Qrow for any assistance.

Qrow gave her an approving nod and patted her on the shoulder, "Well done," he pulled out his scroll, noting the time, "We should get outta here. Tai usually has dinner ready at around seven."

The pair looked over at Ruby, who was just then finishing up cleaning each individual piece of Crescent Rose. The girl gave a confident thumbs up and began piecing her scythe back together at an incredible speed. In only a few short minutes, the entire scythe had been returned to its original form.

Ruby lifted it off the table, spun it around behind her back and transformed it mid swing, clipping the compacted weapon on to her lower back in one smooth motion.

"Show off," Qrow smirked.

Ruby didn't have the decency to look embarrassed, instead taking it as off hand praise, "Yup!"

Together, the trio left the school and began the trek to the Xiao Long cabin, or as the older huntsman with them would always call it, Casa de Qrow.

"By the way, Olivia. I have every Ozborne comic… if you wanted to read them," Ruby chipped in as they walked, giving the older girl a sideways glance.

Lotus gave her a wide smile, "I'd love that, Ruby. Thank you."

"Cool!"

As they traveled along the path leading to the cabin, Lotus couldn't help but compare herself to the young huntress in training that gleefully skipped ahead of them, humming lightly all the while.

' _Is Ruby what I might have become if my life hadn't been so fucked up?_ '

Lotus let her eyes linger on the younger girl, a wistful smile growing on her face as her mind firmed. If she hadn't been able to enjoy the life she wanted...

' _I'll keep you safe, Ruby. If it ever comes to it… I'll do whatever I can to protect you… to protect that future I could_ _ **never**_ _have…_ '


	25. An Oath Forged

Ruby slammed the cabin door open with a loud cry of "We're home~!"

Qrow waved for Lotus to enter after her, then followed in behind them. The faunus paused as Tai poked his head around the corner, giving him a hesitant wave. He returned it with more gusto, nearly dropping the large utensil he had apparently been using to stir whatever he was cooking. Zwei's tail nub wagged furiously, waiting for it to fall from as he sat next to the huntsman on the tiled kitchen floor.

"Dinner's almost ready," Tai smiled, eyes narrowing slightly when they caught on to the greasy hands the pair of them shared, "Wash up before then, alright?"

The small girl shot into the kitchen towards the sink there, glancing back over her shoulder towards the stove with a smile, "Watcha makin' old man?" The faucet was turned on a moment later, the girl wasting no time in soaping up to wash her hands off.

Lotus could hear a pot boiling, and smell the delightful aroma of a thick tomato sauce simmering along with it. Her guess was confirmed as Tai gave Ruby a glower, "Spaghetti and meatballs, and what did I tell you about washing your greasy hands in the _kitchen_ sink?"

The faunus stopped at the doorway, eyes darting back over her shoulder as she wondered where the bathroom was. Ruby shrank under her father's gaze, newly cleaned hands retreating from beneath the faucet as she shook them off. The young girl dried them off against her skirt when shaking them proved fruitless.

"Umm… _not_ to?" Ruby replied finally, giving her father the best shamed smile she could manage.

Tai sighed and glanced at Lotus before turning back to his daughter, "Show Olivia where you should _actually_ wash your hands, Ruby. Small hint, some might call it _the bathroom_."

"Yup! No problem!" Ruby chirped, darting past Lotus back into the entryway in a hurry to escape her father's disapproving eyes. "Follow me!" The small girl led her down the hallway, past numerous framed pictures on the walls to another room that was still on the ground floor. Ruby gestured for her to enter then darted back up the hallway, going upstairs to put her weapon away while Lotus got to business.

The faunus stepped into the bathroom, her senses assailed by the scent of various soaps that lingered in the air. The bathtub was lined with dozens of shampoo and conditioner bottles, with an emphasis on 'retaining that golden blond shine'.

Lotus turned back to the sink and twisted it on, running her hands underneath the warm water before pumping one of the soap dispensers on to her open hand a few times. With a quick and efficient scrub, ' _Blood and oil are equally tricky to get out,_ ' Lotus dried her hands off on one of the hand towels and returned to the kitchen.

By the time she arrived, Yang and Ruby were both now sitting at the table. The blond's eyes darted up to her own, but after a few seconds, Yang gave her a small welcoming smile.

"Ruby was just telling me how much of a nerd you are," the blond teased with a smirk. Yang leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms beneath her breasts with an air of arrogance.

"I was not!" Ruby protested, waving her hands in denial. Her eyes shot over to Lotus, "I just told her you like the same comic book!"

"I learned a lot of my moves from those comics. You should take notes," Lotus shot back smugly, choosing to lean against the doorframe instead of sitting with the other two.

Yang snorted, "Right, as _if_ ," her eyes drifted back down, taking in the faunus's sword once again, "We still need to have that rematch."

"Tomorrow," Tai stated flatly, now pouring the boiling water out into a strainer, along with the noodles. Lotus was forced to step to the side as Qrow returned from upstairs, now freshly changed and free of his weapon.

"Sounds like you aren't training hard enough if you still have that much energy, kid," Qrow jibed, ruffling Yang's hair as he sat down next to her, "Maybe I'll have you run some drills with me in the morning."

Yang pulled away, fingers combing through her hair as she shot a glare at her uncle, "Oh, please. I'm more than ready for whatever Initiation trial Beacon is going to throw at us."

"Throw us _at_ ," Lotus coughed, remembering how the trial was going to begin with a swift launch into the Emerald Forest. She coughed a few more times, covering up what she had said as Yang gave her a quizzical glance.

Qrow laughed and shook his head, "You can never be too sure, firecracker. You're good, but I've heard there's some rough competition this year."

"Like who?" Yang asked, now fully intrigued by whatever secrets Qrow may be hiding.

The older huntsman glanced around conspiratorially, as if making sure the group wasn't going to be overheard. He leaned forward along with Yang and Ruby, both listening intently to whatever he was about to say. Qrow drew in a quiet breath, leaning in yet further, before finally speaking in a whisper.

"Sorry, can't tell ya."

"Uncle Qrooooooow!" Ruby whined, "That's not fair!"

Qrow grinned and sat back in his chair, drawing out his flask to take a swig, "You'll just have to find out for yourself, firecracker. Trust me, though. You can't slack off too much. Only so many places available each year."

"What, two teachers at Signal can't put in a good word for their dearest family member?" Yang replied sweetly, placing a hand over her heart, "Have you no love?"

"We did our part by _training_ you," Tai answered, setting plates down around the table. He gave a nod to Lotus, gesturing for her to sit with the rest of them. The faunus took one of the open chairs next to Ruby, the other empty chair to her left where Tai would end up sitting.

Qrow smirked, "I'll gladly put a word in for _my_ dearest niece," his eyes drifted past the blond to the younger of the two, "You've got nothin' to worry about, Ruby."

Ruby giggled, "Qrow loves me moooore~ You owe me twenty lien, Yang!"

The blond brawler continued the hurt act, "Betrayed by my own uncle," then shot her eyes over to her sister, "We only bet ten lien!"

"What!? I said twenty!"

"I know _you_ said twenty, but _I_ said ten!"

Tai interrupted their little spat by setting down the pot full of spaghetti on the table with a small thud, "Alright, no more bickering you two, and no more bets!"

"Ah come on, Tai. Bets are the heart of all competition. We gotta instill a little competitive spirit in 'em while they're young," Qrow chuckled, ladling out some food onto his own plate.

"Except the last bet before this one was 'who can throw Zwei the furthest', and ended up with him on the roof," Tai admonished, giving the two girls a disapproving glare.

Lotus paused, turning an eye down to the small adorable corgi that now sat beneath the table. She focused on her sixth sense, reaching out to feel for any aura the dog might possess. An animal's aura was different from a person's, like a muted version of the real deal that would go unnoticed unless you specifically searched for it.

The spider faunus froze, eyes widening as far as they could and face turning deathly pale, ' _This… this is… what!?_ " Tai was the first to notice, his eyes catching on to the girl's panic as he reached a hand out to hers.

"Hey, you okay? What's up?"

"What's _up_!? Your dog is freaking indestructible!" Lotus cried out, backing away from the table to get a better look at the tiny terror.

Zwei's tongue lolled out to the side, his head tilting in confusion as he watched Lotus staring at him, ' _Nicholas's aura is a drop in the ocean compared to this dog!_ '

Yang and Ruby looked at each other nervously, putting their heads down to eat as if they didn't have any idea what the faunus was talking about. Tai gave Lotus a concerned glance, eyes going down to Zwei as well.

"What do you mean?" Qrow asked, sharing in the confusion.

Lotus recovered a bit, enough to pull her eyes off the corgi under the table, "I, uh… can feel aura reserves, as a part of the whole 'spider' thing. Zwei's aura is about ten times the size of yours, Qrow."

Both adults immediately swivelled their attention to the two girls that had been doing their best to remain out of the limelight. Tai gave the pair a suspicious eye, "What did you two do?"

They both responded instantly, fingers pointing at each other as they simultaneously shouted that the other was responsible. They glared at each other over the table, hands dropping.

" _Yang_ found the bag for that Aura Infusion Kibble you bought Zwei. If she hadn't been snooping around the garage, this wouldn't have happened."

" _Ruby_ wanted to make Zwei into the greatest pet a huntress could want, so that he could go on missions with her."

" _Yang_ dared me!"

" _Ruby_ fed him the whole bag! I didn't say all of it!"

" _Yang_ didn't stop me!"

" _Ruby_ went to the store and bought six more bags because we couldn't see any difference!"

Tai waved his hands in the air above the table, cutting off the two as their argument started to get more and more heated. Which was literally the case, as Yang's hair had lit up and was letting out waves of heat in the surrounding area.

"Cut it out, you two!" Tai shook his head, turning back to Lotus, "Is there anything wrong with him?"

The spider faunus considered it for a few seconds, noticing that despite the hefty aura reserve, the corgi appeared completely at peace. There were no massive fluctuations, no hint at his aura itself being unstable or dangerous.

"No, he should be fine," Lotus replied finally, giving a small shrug, "It just… took me by surprise is all."

Qrow was giving Lotus a curious gaze, his eyes lighting up as he looked between her and Tai, "Hey kid, you can end a little bet that Tai and I have had for the longest time."

Tai gave Qrow a frown, his eyes widening slightly as he realized what the grizzled huntsman was talking about, "We made that bet in our _first_ year at Beacon. You're still on about that?"

"Curiosity gets the better of us all," Qrow shrugged, eyes still on Lotus, "So kid, between me and Tai, who's aura is bigger?"

Lotus laughed, she had done this exact thing quite a few times in the past for members of Malachite's gang. She took a moment, taking the time to get a good read on the both of them. There was a tap on her leg, Lotus felt who's hand it was reaching out towards her with her sixth sense. With a grin, she accepted the fistful of lien that Qrow handed her, "Qrow has the bigger aura."

The blond huntsman narrowed his eyes, then turned to look down at his plate, "There, are you happy?" Tai said sullenly, stabbing a fork into his spaghetti to spin the noodles around it.

"Very," Qrow answered smugly, giving Lotus a wink while Tai's eyes were averted.

The faunus looked down at the food that had been given to her and gave Tai a half hearted smile, "It's not about how big your aura is, it's about how you use it. Besides, your reserves are only a hair smaller, honestly."

' _Actually Tai, your reserves are a bit larger than Qrow's, but you didn't think to pay off the judge. Basic Mistral etiquette, buddy,_ " Lotus laughed internally. She wasn't at all surprised that the other Mistralian knew the code of dishonesty shared by those of ill-repute.

Still, the lie that his aura was only slightly lower than Qrow's seemed to cheer him up a bit, which Lotus was thankful for. The group of five ate in silence for awhile, enjoying the food. Lotus dug in. She had been living off granola bars and cup o' noodles for the past couple weeks, not wanting to waste any time that could have otherwise been spent studying. The young faunus was proud of the progress she had made, but knew she still couldn't relax just yet. At the rate Lotus was going, she would still need to complete a few remedial courses after Beacon had officially begun.

Ruby was the first to finish, followed closely by Yang. The blond walked into the living room and turned on the console, setting up to play some games, while Ruby ran upstairs and returned with a box full of comics that she set down near the couch. Lotus ate quickly, polishing off her plate and giving Tai her genuine thanks before heading over to the young huntress.

"Alright, they're all in order. Issue #30 is…. here," Ruby pointed it out, pulling the comic up a little to show off the number printed along the top corner. Lotus reached down and pulled out #31, her eyes greeted by the cartoonish cover, drawn in a style that she had loved so much as a child. Her heart ached with nostalgia and trepidation as she slowly opened the page.

Within seconds, her face was buried in the page as all else fell to the wayside, her attention entirely diverted to the next part of the story she knew so well. The last issue had ended on a cliffhanger.

Ruby left her to it, instead sitting down next to Yang as the duo started to play some fighting game. Qrow joined them soon after, teaching them a thing or two about respecting your elders as he mercilessly overpowered them. Lotus caught quite a few accusations of 'spammer!' and 'damn smurf!' but kept her eyes glued to the comics in front of her.

Tai sat down on the other end of the couch, content to relax while Zwei lay in his lap, both watching the entire proceedings take place. After an hour, Lotus had finished five of the comics, and was greedily pulling out the next. Yang and Ruby had grown tired of the game, and losing to 'Soaring Ninja', so they popped in a movie to watch instead.

Lotus caught only bits and pieces as she read, not nearly enough to actually manage to follow the plot. As far as she could tell, it didn't appear to really have much of one. The only pauses in the action were for cheesy one liners or for when someone died, ' _If anyone tried that shit on me, I'd kill them out of principle._ ' The idea of stopping in the middle of a life and death battle to throw unnecessary words at each other was absurd.

Tai went to bed soon after the first movie was finished, before the girls could throw in the second. Yang and Ruby got comfortable again, the blond taking a minute to pull out a package of popcorn and heat it up in her hands while the beginning commercials rolled. Ruby snagged some butter and they melted it straight on top. Lotus waved them away when asked if she wanted any. For one, she didn't want to mess up the pages, and just as importantly, she hated popcorn. ' _Always gets stuck in your teeth._ '

Once the second movie had ended, Qrow stood up from the couch he had been lying down on and stretched, "Alright, you kids go to bed. We've got a lot of work tomorrow."

Lotus looked up from the comic, eyeing Qrow as he glanced her way, "What else is there to do? I know it pretty much by heart now."

The huntsman shook his head, "That's good and all, but it's not a weapon that was designed around your skill set, kid."

"What do you mean?"

Qrow raised a hand, finger pointed upward as if he was giving a school lecture, "Oath', wasn't built for you. It's too small, made for someone without nearly as much strength. For starters we need to give it a bit more firepower, then we can work on changing its size around."

"I… don't know if I want to change my brother's weapon around that much, Qrow," Lotus replied, eyeing the weapon on her hip.

"It isn't your brother's anymore. That weapon belongs to _you_ ," Qrow crossed his arms, staring down at her, "Do you think he would want you to be anything less than the best you could be?"

Lotus thought it over, ' _He has a point. The sword form is small compared to what I could realistically wield… and the pistol form is just dainty. I don't think Copper ever meant to use it for much more than firing off a few rounds at beowolves…_ ' She gave in with a shrug, "You're right. What did you have in mind?"

Qrow smiled and nodded down at the weapon, "We'll start by seeing what size of gun is most comfortable for you. Even Ruby can use a high caliber sniper. You shouldn't have much trouble with a larger caliber pistol at the very least," the older huntsman scratched his chin, "From there we'll take a look at the weapon's size in its sword form and go from there."

The faunus nodded and stood up, returning the comic back into the box in a way to keep her place more easily. She hefted it, holding it out to Ruby, but the younger girl shook her head.

"You hold on to them for now. I've already read them all," Ruby smiled and retreated upstairs to her room before the faunus had a chance to protest.

Yang yawned behind a fist, then pointed at Lotus, "Don't stay up too late. I don't want any excuses when I kick your ass tomorrow."

Lotus laughed, "I'll take you on in my sleep to make it fair."

The girl was too tired to bother reacting to her taunt and just waved a hand in the air, already turning around to head for the stairs, "Yeah, yeah. Bring your A game, shortie."

Qrow and Lotus were left in the living room alone, her holding the box of comics, and him giving her a nervous glance. The huntsman waited until Yang's door closed before speaking in a quiet tone, "Go easy on her. We both know if you used the same strength that you did with the deathstalker it wouldn't be much of a fight."

Lotus shrugged, "You should give her more credit. Yang isn't weak, just… inexperienced."

Qrow nodded, "True… she hasn't fought many people her age that can keep up with her, though. Believe it or not, she's the strongest person to come out of Signal in the last ten years at least."

"I'd believe it. From the way she acted in our fight, I think she's too used to getting her way," Lotus gave Qrow a frown, "Yang tried to brute force her way through our fight."

"Can you blame her? It usually works."

"Until I came around, sure. And who knows what other students are going to be there that can compete with us?" She chuckled lightly, giving Qrow a curious glance, "I guess _you_ know, but that's besides the point."

Qrow smirked, "Oh yeah. There's definitely one to look out for."

Interest thoroughly piqued, Lotus stared at the older huntsman, "Who?" When Qrow gave her a taunting look, Lotus decided to unleash her trump card, even if it was so soon, "Tell _me_ , or I tell _Tai_ who's aura is _actually_ bigger."

Qrow leveled a scowl in her direction, "That's dirty, kid."

Lotus shrugged with a smile, "Consider it a tax for keeping me silent."

He breathed out an elongated sigh of frustration, " _Fine_. Pyrrha Nikos is another one of the first years."

Lotus paused in thought, finger tapping against her chin until she remembered the name, "Oh! The Regional Champion!" she spared Qrow an arched brow, "Why would she be going to Beacon instead of Haven?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Qrow replied, heading towards his room, "Now go to bed, otherwise Yang really will get the better of you."

Lotus rolled her eyes and climbed the stairs to the guest bedroom, noting gladly that within the past two weeks, the door had been replaced. She opened it and stepped inside, turning to her left to place the box of comics down onto the floor.

Without touching it herself, the faunus felt a gust of air blow against her back as the door slammed shut silently behind her. Lotus spun and stepped away, trying to activate her semblance. Widow stared calmly back at her, arms crossed with a disapproving frown on her face.

Lotus eyes widened, trying to feel out around herself for the familiar presence that she should be feeling… Her semblance had not activated. There were no invisible spider legs poised to defend herself. They were just… gone.

"Wh-What the hell did you _do_?" Lotus demanded in a shout. She knew Widow would be masking any sound they made from reaching outside the room. It would be pointless to call out for help.

Widow smiled sadly, "It's as I thought. You don't have any physical sensation connected to the appendages created by your semblance, do you?" The assassin shook her head, "I can stop all vibrations in the air, little spider. That includes the ones coming off your extra limbs. Your semblance _did_ work. Your limbs are hovering around you, even now. I'd be careful, though. Without knowing where they are, one move in the wrong direction could harm you just as easily as it could me."

' _My limbs are…?_ ' Lotus focused on moving one of them, and was surprised as her body started to shift to the side. She was definitely pushing against the wall next to her, but… ' _I don't know exactly where it is… She's right..._ '

"What do you want, Widow?" Lotus demanded, clenching a fist down at her side. Her other hand now rested on Oath's hilt. ' _Could I still shroud the limbs on my body when they're like this?_ '

Widow pouted again, stepping closer to Lotus and placing her hands on the younger spider's shoulders, "Oh, don't be like that, darling! I would never hurt you, you know that, right?" Widow pulled her into a hug that Lotus did not reciprocate.

The older assassin pulled away, hands resting on the girl's shoulders still, "I know you're still mad, but I just _had_ to check in," Widow stepped away completely, shaking her head, "I wanted to know what humans would end up being responsible for breaking my poor daughter's heart."

"They aren't like that!" Lotus exclaimed loudly. She allowed her semblance to deactivate, or at least hoped so. Lotus couldn't sense any difference. She prepared herself anyway, trying to picture her semblance shrouding her limbs instead. The young spider didn't 'activate' it just yet, but was ready if she needed to.

Widow gave a mournful shake of her head, "Of course they are, dear," her mother glanced up, a knowing smile on her face, "You haven't told them yet, have you? About the things you've done? The people you've killed? They'll turn on you in an instant."

Lotus shook with both fury and fear at the prospect, her voice quivered as she grabbed a fistful of Widow's shirt, "If you tell them, I will _never_ forgive you!"

Widow held her hands up, "I wouldn't dream of it, my dear little spider. I won't need to stoop so low, anyway. Soon enough, you'll fall back into your old ways. When that happens, then they'll see you for what you are for themselves."

"And what is _that?_ "

Widow smiled widely as she leaned forward and whispered directly into Lotus's ear, words meant only for the child that she had claimed for herself.

" _You're_ _ **my**_ _daughter._ "

The faunus pulled back with a smile, "You and I have much more in common than you seem to think, little spider. I should know. I raised you _so_ well."

"You don't understand me at all!" Lotus fired back, fist shaking as it still held the front of her shirt. ' _I would never do the things she's done!_ ' Jace… Crim… ' _Betrayal like that is unforgivable!_ '

Widow idly flicked her hair to the side, "Oh, please. I know everything there is to know about you, _Lotus._ That _is_ how you still think of _yourself_ , isn't it? As long as you tell these fools that your name is Olivia, you will _always_ be lying to them. Olivia has been dead for five years. She's _never_ coming back."

Lotus unclenched her hand and let it drop to her side, " _No_ … I…"

She couldn't bring herself to say it. Olivia _was_ dead. Lotus couldn't simply forget the years of murders that lay in her wake. Olivia never would have been able to do those things. Lotus had.

Widow leaned in and kissed her daughter on the forehead, "It's _okay_ , sweetheart. When the truth is revealed, and all hope seems lost…" Widow put a finger under Lotus's chin to tip her head up and looked into her eyes, " _I_ will be there to accept you for who you are. You will _always_ be my precious daughter. Don't ever forget that."

When she received no response, Widow simply sighed, letting her hand drop as well and stepping over to the door, "I'll be keeping a close eye on you, little spider. You don't need to worry about me interfering with your act, but just remember... that's _all_ it is."

With that, Widow left. After a minute, Lotus activated her semblance, shivering as the familiar sense of them poised around her returned. ' _My semblance… I couldn't protect myself with it…_ ' Lotus had never felt so weak… so helpless…

Her mind played back the moment when her semblance had first activated. The table being tipped over to reveal her. The hand closing in...

' _That's right… there_ _ **was**_ _one other time…_ '

Her semblance had always been there to _protect_ her. Lotus retreated to her bed and lied down, wrapping her appendages around herself as she curled her knees up against her chest. Even with them back… she didn't feel safe. The confidence Lotus always felt because of them had been stripped away so easily by Widow.

In what little sleep the young spider faunus managed to attain that night, all of it was plagued by her oldest nightmares.

* * *

"Woah! You really did try and stay up all night, didn't you?" Yang exclaimed in surprise, taking in the bedraggled state that Lotus was in. She hadn't bothered taking her clothes off before getting into bed the night before, and she hadn't thought to bring any others. They were a wrinkled mess now, several hours of twisting and turning in bed while you were haunted by the past could do that. The faunus's eyes had dark circles around them, betraying her lack of sleep.

Lotus ignored Yang's outburst and sat down at the only empty seat before laying her head down against the cool wooden table. She brought her arms up around her head to shut out the light and groaned softly into them. Her bangs helped to cover her face as she nuzzled deeper into her own arm.

Ruby leaned over to whisper to her, "Were you up all night reading?"

The assassin ignored the small girl as well, ' _How quickly would they turn on me if they knew the truth? Would they even hear me out?_ ' Lotus doubted it. Ruby would tear up, Yang would try to start another fight just to protect her baby sister, and the two adults would try and put her down for good…

Lotus wouldn't blame them if they did. It would be little in the way of retribution for those whose lives she had ended. How many lives stained her hands? She hadn't been lying when she told Mercury her count had stopped around fifty, and that had been three or four _years_ ago. The names and faces were all a blur, the one factor they all shared… the cold eyes they'd had once they stopped breathing.

"You okay, kid?" Qrow asked, a worried tone to his voice. Lotus could feel all of their eyes on her and sighed, drawing herself up.

"Peachy."

Lotus grabbed the box of cereal in the middle of the table and a bowl, deciding that she could at least pretend to be happy for their sakes. While she was pouring out the milk, she gave them a tired smile, "I'm okay, really."

The group around the table still seemed uncertain, but after a few seconds, chose to let it rest for the time being. If the young faunus wanted to pretend everything was okay, then they would let her. Lotus could still feel their glances whenever she wasn't looking, and already expected that the conversation would resume once she was alone with either Qrow or Ruby. They wouldn't drop it so easily.

Lotus finished her second bowl and stood, looking out the windows into the early noon light that filtered in past the surrounding trees. The sun's rays were dull and muted, shining as well as they could through a thin layer of clouds that lazily drifted above.

The faunus sized up the blond sitting at the table, "When did you want to spar?"

To her credit, Yang seemed to have at least a shred of concern for the other girl, "Are you sure you want to today? I don't mind putting it off, really."

Lotus shook her head, "There's no point moping around."

"If you're sure…" the blond replied slowly, sparing a glance for the adults in the room. Neither protested, so Yang left for her room, returning a minute later with her shotgun gauntlets on her wrists.

The others followed them outside as Yang and Lotus walked a short distance from the cabin. The blond drew the other girl's attention to her bare hip, "Aren't you going to grab your weapon?"

Lotus shrugged, "We're going to be upgrading it later today, anyway. Not much point training with it until after then," she rolled her shoulders and felt the strengthening presence of her semblance shrouding her limbs, "Honestly, I'm more used to fighting like this anyway."

Yang laughed, "Well _that's_ good to hear. I don't think my pride could have taken it if it was the other way around."

The assassin nodded and settled into a readied stance, arms up in front of her and legs parted, feet pointing in Yang's direction.

"You can do it Yang!" Ruby cheered from the sidelines, pumping her fist into the air, "Your sis has got your back!"

"Careful, firecracker," Qrow said bluntly, taking a swig from his flask, "Use your head."

Yang gave Lotus a few seconds to prepare, then started the fight with a blast of her Ember Celica's, launching herself forward with the same attack she had tried in the club. Her eyes were clear this time, trying to take in each of Lotus's movements as she approached at a blistering speed.

Hardly one to be predictable, Lotus changed it up this time. She stepped directly into the path, firmly planting her feet as Yang zipped through the air. The girl's fist flung forward, aimed at the faunus's face.

Lotus ducked, grabbing Yang's outstretched arm by the wrist with her left hand, her right reached up to grab a fist full of the blond's shirt. She diverted the girl's momentum downward, bringing her crashing to the ground. Yang bounced heavily off the ground, the wind getting knocked from her lungs in a huff.

The faunus spun, arcing her foot downwards to once again kick Yang into the ground while she was still in the air. The blond crossed her arms in front of herself, deflecting the blow but getting sent flying back instead. Yang recovered quickly, rolling back to her feet.

Lotus simply waited, allowing the blond a moment to think up a new strategy and decided to warn her in the process, "Surprise attacks won't work. Not with my sixth sense, just warning you now. I know how each of your limbs is positioned and how they're moving, even if I can't see them directly."

Yang considered her options for a moment more, then smirked, "Well, if I can't beat you close up…" Her fist drew back and punched forward from a dozen feet away. Lotus was forced to hastily dodge to the side as a streak of explosive red dust passed her by. It was followed up by a series of shots that kept her on the defensive.

Lotus was forced to jump to avoid one of the shots that strayed closer to her legs. It seemed Yang had been planning this, however, as her next shot exploded against the ground directly where the faunus had been about to land. Lotus was blasted backward in a spray of dirt and rocks, coming up from a roll as Yang once again closed the gap.

"Nice shot," Lotus laughed, now diverting each of Yang's attacks away from herself. Lotus was content to simply deny the blond any more hits, keeping her at bay with her inherently higher speed and strength. The girl was at least bottling up her frustration this time around, her face determined despite the tinge of red that had overtaken her irises.

Lotus landed a few light hits of her own, wanting to let the fight draw out longer than it had at the club. Jace's style was definitely the way to go against the blond. Her attacks were stronger than most, but with none of them connecting with a solid hit her power was being wasted on open air instead of on the faunus's body.

Yang smiled as she finally landed a solid hit. Her arm swept past Lotus's face in a wide haymaker, but was followed up by her elbow rocketing back when she fired off her gauntlet. The speed and power behind the blond's elbow as it hit her across the temple caught the spider faunus off guard, leaving her open for a few more blows as Yang took advantage while she could.

Lotus recovered, catching each of Yang's fists in her hands. She pulled the brawler towards herself, stepping forward at the same time to drive her knee into the blond's stomach. Yang doubled over, eyes flashing red as her hair started to burn.

In a quick twist of her wrists, Yang broke both her hands free and grabbed Lotus's arms instead. The blond got her payback for the club, her leg lifting up and spartan kicking Lotus directly in the chest. The faunus flew backwards, her body slamming into the tree behind her with a crack of wood that shot up and down the length of its trunk. She dropped to her knees, thoroughly out of breath, and took stock of their current aura levels.

Lotus had been doing well to avoid any damage. Her aura level was still well above half, while Yang's had dropped over the course of the fight. The blond's aura was only a handful of blows away from breaking. Lotus rose back up to her feet and settled in to a more serious stance. The assassin finally pressed the attack, dashing back into the fray with a boost from her semblance enhanced legs.

Yang brought her own hands up, both deflecting, blocking, and dodging Lotus's attacks as well as she could. The faunus didn't let up, though, and kept the blond on the defensive. Yang began to panic, her strength straining as her aura started to dip sharply. Each attack she blocked was still a strike against her aura reserves, and they were failing fast under the power that Lotus was now using.

In one final desperate attempt, Yang ducked low beneath one of Lotus's fists and tried to fire her Ember Celica off directly behind the faunus. Lotus caught her extended fist before she could, though, and used it to pull the girl to the ground. One final quick strike shattered the blond's aura, a ripple of yellow energy coursing around her body before dissipating in a brilliant flash.

They both breathed heavily. Yang was on her back, Lotus on one knee next to her, a fist planted against the ground as she shared a little of the girl's exhaustion. ' _That was rougher than it should have been… note to self, get more sleep when you can..._ '

Lotus got her breathing under control first and half stood, offering a hand down to the blond beneath her. Yang accepted it, grunting as she was pulled to her feet.

"That was… much better," Lotus commented, having to stop a moment to breath in between her words.

"Thanks," Yang managed, using a hand on Lotus's shoulder to support herself.

"Well done girls!" Tai shouted from the sidelines, "You'll both ace initiation, I guarantee it."

Yang gave her father a thumbs up, finally straightening herself out as her breathing returned to normal.

Lotus grinned, "Nice kick. Who'd you learn _that_ from I wonder?"

Yang smirked back, "A midget taught me."

"Oh come on, I'm not _that_ short," Lotus shot back, trying to draw herself up to her full unimpressive five foot height. Even still, she was a good five inches shorter than the blond standing next to her.

Yang patted her on the head, "You keep telling yourself that, short stack."

Lotus glowered but let the insult pass, ' _If we count my appendages, I'm fifteen feet tall at least._ ' She shook her head in amusement, ' _I'm like, the tallest person alive._ ' The faunus would keep reminding herself of that fact to feel better about her own short stature.

"Me next! Me next!" Ruby cried out, suddenly spinning Crescent Rose through the air and slamming the point down into the ground in front of her. ' _When the hell did she even go get that?_ ' The little black and red haired girl was simply too fast, ' _We need to get you a bell._ ' That would certainly be a welcome change of pace from her mentor silently stalking her everywhere.

"Another time, kid," Qrow admonished, stepping in to make sure the excitable girl didn't suddenly launch herself towards Lotus while her aura was still recovering.

Lotus started to feel the fatigue of her sleepless night affecting her in the afterglow of the fight. It had taken what energy she had left. Her shoulders drooped as she closed her eyes for a few seconds and breathed deeply. She fluttered them back open, looking at Tai, "Please tell me you have coffee."

Tai smiled, "Sure do. Come on back inside, you kids."

Lotus graciously accepted, making sure to wipe her feet off before stepping back into the cabin. She headed straight for the kitchen and to the waiting coffee pot. Lotus poured herself a cup and added a little milk, along with a few spoonfuls of sugar. She sipped at the steaming liquid and sighed, ' _That's the stuff…_ ' Lotus was suddenly reminded of the coffee shop she had loved so dearly for the first couple days she spent in Vale. ' _I need to take a load off there again… and maybe actually introduce myself to that girl._ '

Qrow gave Lotus a few minutes to relax and get some caffeine in her before announcing they should leave soon. Ruby snatched up what few things she needed, and Lotus went upstairs to grab her sword before the trio left. They were mostly silent on the way, other than Lotus having to dodge a few questions that Ruby sent her way about where she had learned to fight like that. Mentioning her second brother was all she needed to make the girl quiet down a little.

Lotus didn't really mind talking to the girl, but after the night before, she still couldn't shake the prospect of someone so sweet learning the truth about the assassin and potentially turning on her. One slip up is all it would take, and those happy questions could become angry demands for answers.

The older huntsman at least seemed like he was able to sense her mood, and left her alone for the most part. They arrived in town and headed straight for the combat school, back down into the basement that doubled as both a weapon's workshop and a firing range. Instead of going to the tables immediately to begin working on her sword, Qrow instead waved the both of them into the firing range.

Lotus and Ruby followed him inside, pausing in the middle of the room as Qrow walked over to a set of locked metal cabinets. He waved his scroll in front of them, the small technology acting as a key pass for the lock, and opened the cabinet wide to show off the myriad of firearms held within. The huntsman reached for the higher caliber pistols first, starting with the heaviest looking one in the collection.

"Here. Give it a try," Qrow instructed, handing the hand cannon to the small girl. Lotus hefted it in her hands, feeling the weight after it had been loaded with a magazine full of rounds. Qrow directed her over in front of a few tables that were set up between the rest of the room and the actual firing range beyond them, pointing down range to one of the targets that hadn't yet been pumped full of holes.

Lotus took her first shot without her semblance's assistance, wanting to feel what it was like with just her own strength trying to control it. The room's occupants were deafened by the sudden echoing burst. The large round jarred the faunus's arm with the recoil, sending a shock through her bones that left her forearm numb.

She set the hand cannon down and took a minute to shake her hand off, ' _Okay, bad idea to not use my semblance with it._ '

"You okay?" Qrow asked from behind, peeking over her shoulder to check for any injuries.

"Yeah, just caught me off guard is all," Lotus picked the hand cannon back up and flexed her aura down into her limbs this time, setting herself to better absorb the recoil. The second shot rang out, just as loud as the first, but this time Lotus's hand didn't budge. The end of the gun's barrel tipped up slightly, but that was the extent of it.

Lotus let loose, emptying the rest of the magazine down range as she tried to get a better feel for the recoil. Qrow handed her another magazine, which she promptly emptied as well. By the end of the third magazine, Lotus lowered the gun to her side and turned back to Qrow with a shrug.

"I could handle more if you've got something in mind."

Qrow stroked his chin in thought before turning back to the weapon's cabinet. He returned with a sizable looking single barrel shotgun and handed it to her, "Maybe this will do the trick."

Lotus started the same way as before, trying to fire it without using her semblance. Considering the fact that this was supposed to be a step above the hand cannon, she at least used two hands.

The flak from the shotgun exploded outwards in a tight spread, hitting the target she was aiming at and some of its surroundings in an explosion of plastic that left bits of her target littered around the firing range. With two arms, it was manageable without shrouding, so Lotus went ahead and shrouded her right arm, holding the gun out in one hand. The recoil was much more satisfying this time around, pulling the gun's end up by a few inches, and leaving a crater in the face of the test dummy she had fired in to.

Lotus gave Qrow a smile as she nodded, "That's _much_ better."

"Good. Now let's get you set up with a bigger sword," the huntsman accepted the shotgun back from Lotus and placed it back in the locker. The trio returned to the first room, both Ruby and Lotus standing next to one of the tables as Qrow handed her a variety of swords to test out.

Lotus finally settled on a sword that was easily three times the size of Copper's original design. It was double sided like his, with a reverse curve to it that went all the way through the handle, like an elongated crescent.

With the two basic portions settled, Qrow and Ruby got to work planning out the more important bits, discussing between themselves and with Lotus on the overall shape. The two stood at a table who's top consisted entirely of one large screen, sketching out the weapon and figuring out how to put it together.

After half an hour of adjustments, they were finally content with a version that was both practical, and seamless in its design. Lotus pulled apart Copper's sword while the other two went about finding the necessary parts to create the weapon. It took several hours between the three of them, with Lotus insisting on smelting down the blade of Copper's weapon to include in the build, along with whatever inner workings could be salvaged.

Qrow made sure that the young faunus helped every step of the way. From start to finish, Lotus put the weapon together with her own hands, getting a feel for the process and steps required to form a weapon like this from scratch. By the end of it, the three stood looking down at the weapon they had all helped to create.

"It's…" Lotus didn't have the energy to put her thoughts into words.

"Amazing!" Ruby exclaimed, dripping with pure intensity.

"Test it out, kid," Qrow insisted, pushing a hand against her back to usher her forward.

Lotus placed her hand on the hilt, marveling at the sheer difference in weight between what had been Copper's sword, and what was now a combination of both. The overall shape of the weapon was more like one of her own appendages, a long curved sword, bent inwards. Unlike her spider legs, this had two cutting edges, though. With a quick flip of the switch on the handle, the blade itself lit up with lightning dust.

The faunus flexed a small amount of aura into the weapon, causing it's blade to shift halfway from the top. It bent further inwards, turning the all over shape into more of a sickle, and revealing the end of the shotgun barrel that was otherwise hidden in the blade itself. Lotus gave it a few test swings, getting a feel for the heft of the weapon.

"I like it…" Lotus admitted after a few swings, not taking her eyes off the new 'Oath'. She couldn't tell them that the biggest draw was the similarity between the sword and her own invisible limbs.

The edges of the blade had been left their natural silver color, while the metal used for the midsection had been mixed with the bronze from Copper's sword, merging into a lighter yellow. The hilt was wrapped in black leather, offering a good amount of friction so that it could easily be held on to, and was capped with a smaller, one sided blade that functioned as a sharpened pommel.

The sound of Crescent Rose shifting forms behind her drew Lotus's eyes back to the other pair in the room. Ruby was giving her a small smirk while holding the scythe out in all its glory.

"Time for a real test!" the girl yelled excitedly.

"Not a bad idea. Come on, we'll get the combat room set up for a spar," Qrow announced.

Lotus tried to summon what energy she had left in order to enjoy the spar to its fullest, but came up a little short. With a quiet groan, she followed the pair up the stairs and towards another room.

' _I'll get this over with quickly... Sorry, Ruby, but the kid gloves are coming off for a minute._ '


	26. A Difference in Strength

Ruby cheerily skipped down the hallway to the combat room, well ahead of the others that followed in her wake. The sun streamed through the windows as she dashed along, giddily preparing herself for her spar.

' _This is going to be so much fun!_ '

The best room in the entire school came into view. The combat training room, a massive auditorium lined around the edges with seats for spectators, and in the center of it all, one square raised platform that served as the arena. Ruby paused at the door, giving one glance back towards the pair behind her. They were still a fair distance down the hallway, walking next to each other in silence.

Ruby darted in through the doors and turned the lights on. The arena was immediately lit with large stadium lights that beamed from the ceiling above, while the spectators' stands were lit only by a dull glow. It was a boon for the competitors, so that they would not be distracted by those watching.

With a single light hop, Ruby vaulted up on to the arena floor, already stretching in preparation for the fight. A familiar sense of warmth spread through her body, the urge to battle against her opponents. Among all the classes in Signal, sparring is where Ruby shined. In this room, it didn't matter what clique you were a part of, nor the day's drama. Just two people competing against each other to see who was the best.

For the last two years against everyone in her own grade, Ruby remained undefeated. The young huntress was beginning her warm up, returning Crescent Rose to its scythe form to do a variety of spins meant to get her muscles ready, when Qrow and Olivia finally entered.

"Alright, kids. Let's have a clean fight and get outta here. I'm stuck in the place enough as it is without being here during break," Qrow grouched. He didn't bother to climb the stairs up into the stands, but instead simply leaned against the wall, a hand already reaching for his flask.

Olivia hopped on to the arena floor as well, giving herself a moment to take stock of the size and shape of the room around her. Ruby gave the faunus girl a careful once over. With the dark bags under her eyes, and the slump to her knees and shoulders, Olivia looked _tired_. The young huntress was almost ready to call off the spar when she remembered that this would likely be one of the few chances she would have to spar against Olivia. Tai hadn't been exaggerating, Yang and Olivia were both destined for Beacon. There was no doubt that either would get in.

As Olivia stretched and pulled out Oath, Ruby warily spared a glance towards the faunus girl's eyes. While the young huntress was never very good at speaking with people, she had always been able to get a good sense for who they were as a person. Ruby did not make many friends, but those that she did, were the type she knew she could trust.

The faunus girl was one of the first that Ruby had ever changed her mind about. It was confusing, the way Olivia could switch between someone that Ruby feared, and someone that she wanted to spend time with and get to know better. Right now, Olivia had fallen very squarely back into the guise of someone to be feared.

The older girl's eyes, so bright with excitement when presented with the comics, or filled with confidence during her second spar with Yang, had lost those qualities. The first time Ruby had ever laid her sights on the faunus girl, her eyes had been as they are now. Cold and dulled. The eyes of a person that didn't see _you_ , only an obstacle. It was the reason she had sprung into action with such aggressive intent. Olivia's eyes held no compassion, then or now.

The young huntress breathed out one long, slow breath, intent on calming herself, ' _I'll see for myself what_ _ **this**_ _Olivia is like, too._ '

Ruby gave her scythe a few final spins and lowered into a readied stance. The pair of fighters were twenty feet apart, each positioned along one edge of the raised arena. The floor itself was tiled in foot wide squares, made of a white ceramic that could be easily replaced if necessary. It often was. Even training battles at this stage included the use of explosives, gunfire, and weapons that could easily shatter wide swathes of plates.

With a few quick stretches and spins of her own weapon to test the weight, Olivia transformed Oath into its shotgun and sickle version. The middle of the blade separated inward, following the weapon's usual curve and revealing the gun's barrel in the process. After pulling on the black and purple gloves that went along with her new weapon, the faunus girl lowered herself into a stance of her own.

"How about a countdown, Qrow?" Olivia suggested evenly, not taking her eyes off the opponent opposite her. Ruby followed suit, keeping a close eye on Olivia's movements. Each subtle shift or glance was information that could be used against someone else. The other students in her class hadn't yet realized that fact, and gave Ruby the advantage before the fight even began. Olivia, on the other hand, was set in stone. She betrayed nothing of her intentions.

"One-two-go," Qrow replied nonchalantly.

' _What kind of a countdown was that!?_ ' Ruby shrugged her shoulders and flexed, getting a good grip on Crescent Rose for the maneuver she was about to do. It was her favorite opener for many reasons. In a burst of petals, Ruby dashed across the intervening space in a flash of red, already beginning to swing Crescent Rose as she rapidly approached her foe.

Olivia drew her arm back further, and in the instant that Ruby began her forward dash, activated the lightning dust into its blade and _hurled_ Oath with all her strength. In a panic, Ruby was forced to drop into a low roll. The spinning sickle grazed the top of her head as it flew past, cutting off a few strands of her red and black hair and sending a tiny surge of electricity through her spine.

Ruby came up from her roll, scythe held between herself and Olivia as the girl leapt forward, using a strength and power in her legs that the young huntress had not yet witnessed. In an instant, the faunus was in her face, striking with precise blows that bypassed Ruby's defenses.

Desperately, the young huntress swivelled the haft of Crescent Rose between herself and Olivia, attempting to block any blow that she could. Most slipped by, and already she could feel her aura reserves being quickly depleted, ' _She didn't fight like this against Yang!_ '

Ruby's eyes widened as she realized that Olivia's gloves had lit up, the gravity dust within activating along with the dust contained in her weapon.

Ruby had helped design Oath, and knew in that moment that the blade would be flying back towards Olivia, with the young huntress positioned in the middle. Ruby activated her semblance and blasted off to the side in a flurry of petals, narrowly avoiding the electrified blade that streaked past. Olivia caught it deftly by the handle, unconcerned by the lightning dust that coursed through it.

Olivia pressed the attack, transforming Oath into its regular sword form as she charged forward. In yet another burst of petals, Ruby avoided the other girl and switched Crescent Rose into its gun form. Now across the arena floor, Ruby fired round after round towards the faunus. Each shot pinged off the sword that was held between them. No matter how Ruby positioned her weapon, it seemed Olivia could sense where the bullet would land.

As Olivia attempted to close the distance, Ruby would once again activate her semblance and dart away, keeping at least ten feet between herself and the faunus at all times. Still, she could not get a shot to land past Olivia's defenses.

' _What now?_ ' Ruby thought to herself in dismay, trying to take stock of the situation. Olivia could best her in both ranged and close quarters combat. Even now while blocking sniper rounds, her body was positioned in a way to defend against another one of Ruby's semblance infused dashes.

Gritting her teeth, Ruby reloaded one of her magazines that had been infused with gravity dust as well. With this, perhaps she could propel herself around Olivia's defenses. She transformed Crescent Rose back into its scythe form and blasted off, using both her semblance and the gravity dust to rocket forward at a speed that the faunus hadn't yet seen.

Olivia's eyes widened momentarily before transforming her weapon into the slightly more compacted sickle version, the tip of Oath now pointed back towards her own body so that its overall form resembled a hook. The tip of Crescent Rose glanced off the side of Oath, leaving a long scratch as the metals screeched against each other.

Not wanting to leave herself open again, Ruby used the momentum of that swing to bring her scythe behind herself, and blasted off another round. She was flung past Olivia, Crescent Rose already arcing overhead to swing downward across the faunus's exposed back.

Without turning an eye to look, Olivia brought Oath up above her head and caught Crescent Rose in the hook's hollow. The faunus then spun both herself and her weapon, using it to trap the scythe's blade in her own and attempt to rip it out of Ruby's hands.

The young huntress fired it again, propelling her scythe back towards herself to fight against the attempted disarming. It helped to keep the weapon in her hands, but even still, Olivia's greater strength allowed her to throw both Ruby and her scythe into a sprawling heap across the arena floor.

As the young huntress attempted to stand, Oath's electrified blade collided with her back. Aura still intact, her body was launched across the arena once again. The charge of lightning dust that flashed through her caused her fingers to reflexively open and close. Crescent Rose was dropped from her hands to clatter against the white tiles as Ruby's body was sent even further away.

Ruby slid to a stop near the edge of the arena, her head slumped over the side. The girl groggily raised her head up to watch as Olivia approached, the familiar look in her eyes that she had when the fight began. The same eyes that had looked down on Yang the night of the club. Ruby's aura sparked and shimmered, fading with a silent pop that washed across her entire body.

Olivia stepped toward her, lightning dust still coursing across the exterior of Oath in her hand. The faunus was expressionless. Ruby's body shivered from both the leftover lightning dust, and mounting trepidation. In a panic, Ruby raised her hands in front of herself, desperate to block any incoming blow.

The young faunus simply deactivated her weapon, though, and compacted it, clipping it once again to her lower back. Instead of the attack Ruby had been fearing, Olivia's hand was held downward, an offer of assistance accompanied by a smile that once again reached her eyes.

With a sigh of relief, Ruby accepted it and was shakily pulled back to her feet. Her hands weakly dusted herself off, knees trembling as she eyed Olivia. The slump had returned to the girl's shoulders, but though the eyes were groggy, the light had returned, "Nice try, Ruby. That trick with the dust cartridge nearly had me."

Ruby smiled despite herself, "O-Ohhh, stop. I didn't do any better than Yang."

Olivia shrugged, "I was going easier on your sister this morning," the faunus put an arm around her shoulders, causing Ruby to stagger as she felt more weight than was necessary now resting on top of her, "I wanted to get this one over with quickly, but you still managed to last so long." There was a weakness in the smile that Olivia gave her, and the young huntress now realized just how tired the faunus must be.

The young huntress shook her head, "I didn't stand a chance."

Qrow gave a brief laugh from the sidelines, "You're good for a kid from Vale, Ruby. Olivia is good for a kid from _Mistral_. Big difference."

Ruby frowned, glancing between the two, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Olivia yawned, "Let's just say… surviving in Mistral is harder to do than Vale. I might not have gone to a combat school, but I've had a lot more _real_ fights than any of you."

Ruby couldn't help but feel a little sad for that admission. Outwardly, it didn't seem to bother Olivia much, but inside…? ' _Is that why she seems so different when she fights? Is she used to fighting for her life…?_ '

With only a quick dip away to grab up Crescent Rose, Ruby returned to Olivia's side. Slightly shorter of the two, Ruby put her arm around the faunus girl's waist and hugged her from the side as they began to leave the arena. Olivia's arm wrapped back around Ruby's shoulder, letting the younger girl silently support her as they began to walk back through the halls.

"Are you going to come back to our house?"

To her surprise, a slight shiver ran the length of Olivia's body before she replied, "No… I'm going back to my apartment for the night. I have a lot of work to get caught up on before Beacon. Coming out here was a nice break from all that studying, but... I can't afford to slack off now."

"But my dad and Qrow are both teachers. Who better to help you?" Ruby pressed, curious about the reaction that Olivia had unknowingly shown, ' _Is there something wrong with our house?_ '

"I have a couple friends that I study with," Olivia spared a glance to Ruby and seemed to notice the younger girl's worry, "Besides, I'll have to come back to read more of those comics anyway. You'll take good care of them for me, right?"

Ruby scoffed lightly, the mere suggestion that she would mistreat her comics was ridiculous, "When will you be back?"

Olivia's other hand came up to tap against her chin as they exited the building, now enroute to the small airfield that hid behind the school, "Well, there's a little less than two weeks left until Beacon starts. I suppose I could use another break a day before then?"

When Ruby's demeanor deflated, her shoulders slumping as well and feet beginning to drag, Olivia gripped her more tightly around the shoulders, "And we'll make a day of it, promise! I'll pick you up and we'll head over to Vale to hang out. Does that sound good?"

Ruby cheered up and hugged her back, "Yeah! I want to meet your friends, too!"

Olivia smiled, "That should be fine. I think they'd like you, honestly."

They were now nearing the bullhead, with Qrow a short distance behind, walking through the freshly cut grass. The older huntsman gave a small nod to Olivia, "Call me if you need anything else, kid. I'm available whenever."

"Thanks, Qrow," Olivia stepped up into the bullhead and turned back to face the pair of them, "See you then, Ruby."

Ruby waved goodbye as the bullhead departed, engines creating a gust of wind that ruffled clothes and grass alike. With one hand up to block the sun from her eyes, Ruby watched the bullhead disappear into the distance, overtop the trees toward Vale.

"You ready, kid?"

"Yup!" Ruby skipped next to Qrow as they began their journey back home, her mind now analyzing the fight. An idea popped into the forefront, ignited by the weapon she had just helped design.

"Hey, Uncle Qrow?"

"Yes, Ruby?"

"Can we upgrade Crescent Rose with gravity dust, too?"

Qrow paused, eyeing Ruby closely, "That only works so well because of her extra sense, kid. If you try that it could end up being just as dangerous for you as it would your opponent."

The young huntress shook her head, "I don't want to try and use it like she did. I was thinking more about how she disarmed me. I need a way to get Crescent Rose back if that happens again, right?"

The older huntsman seemed to think it over as they resumed walking again, "I suppose. It's better to train yourself to avoid getting disarmed in the first place, but as a last resort…?" Qrow turned to give Ruby a nod, "We can do that."

"Wooh!" Ruby fist pumped the air and zipped around Qrow in a flurry of semblance infused dashes that would have made the huntsman nauseous if he tried to keep up with her, "Thank-you-thank-you-thank you!"

"Would you stop that? You're gonna give me a headache," Qrow grumbled, the smile on his face betraying his true feelings.

Even so, Ruby calmed down. The pair continued their trek along the trail that would eventually lead to the cabin they each called home. Ruby, giddily listing off other features she had thought of adding to Crescent Rose, while Qrow simply resigned himself to sacrificing another day back at the school during what should have been _his_ break as well.

Later that evening, with Ruby having retold the story of her fight in all its extravagance, and with the inclusion of Qrow's promise to help her outfit Crescent Rose with gravity dust, both of the adults were forced to deny Yang's sudden desire for gravity dust in her own gauntlets. Apparently the siblings' idea of 'rocket punches' was going a little too overboard.

It took quite some time to convince them of that fact.

* * *

Widow watched her daughter's bullhead take off and sighed, shaking her head, ' _You've learned restraint, Lotus. I'll give you that._ ' She had been looking forward to the fight going a little too far, and for the surrogate family to realize even an ounce of the truth. Widow's gaze fell on the young girl happily skipping next to the grizzled huntsman, a sneer crossing her face.

' _Perhaps my daughter's ignorance is getting the best of her. If she won't go too far_ _ **against**_ _the child she calls friend, then will she go too far in her_ _ **defense**_ _?_ '

Widow removed her scroll from her pocket as she dialed up one of the new contacts she had made in Vale, a weasley orange-haired man that supposedly ran the city's underground. Subjugating him and his pet had been easy enough. The child's semblance had been meant as a trump card, and had meant nothing against Widow's sixth sense. The girl had sought to surprise a _spider_ faunus, and had instead ended up groveling at her feet.

' _I wonder where she went?_ ' The pink and brown haired girl had disappeared soon after, with 'Roman' relaying that she had been hired by someone else. Her semblance would have been little use on its own for Widow's purposes, but together? ' _We could have gone anywhere undetected, even by Lotus._ '

Still, the criminal could have his uses. Widow finished her texts, telling him to round up a group and be ready for action a day or so before the next school year would begin.

' _If Lotus has grown attached to this girl… will she kill to save her?_ '

Widow smiled at the retreating forms of the two that wished to take her daughter away. While the huntsman might forgive, the young girl would definitely not understand the absolutes of their world. One look at a dead Roman would certainly push her away from Lotus, and when she did…

Widow's smile grew, ' _We'll be together again soon, darling._ '


	27. A Date with the Reaper

The days came and went, and before Lotus knew it, her time had nearly run out. Initiation was only two days away. Since her last day on Patch, the spider faunus had spent the majority of her time continuing to study with Ren and Nora, the two constant companions that served as her saving grace. Without them, Lotus very much doubted that she could have delved into the material she was given with quite so much tenacity.

Aside from studying, she paid another few visits to the Daily Grind, only to find it absent the attractive cat girl. Either way, her time spent in the cafe was far from wasted. It was one of the few leisurely pleasures she afforded herself in the days leading up to Beacon. ' _May as well enjoy my freedom while it lasts._ '

Lotus messaged Ruby, giving her a time to meet the next day, right before the faunus would be entering Beacon. While she enjoyed the hyperactive girl's company for the most part, Lotus needed a day off for herself. Time had gone by far too quickly, and now she had been left in a sort of ominous wonder.

' _Can I really do this?_ ' It had been her dream, nearly life long at this point, to join one of the academies and become a huntress. Now… it was _finally_ happening. Lotus could hardly believe it.

She had gathered what information she could from Qrow in the days prior, and knew that each 'team' would be separated into groups of four. The faunus had an easy pick of at least two, with only the fourth being a mystery. While it was tempting to choose Yang, Lotus still didn't know how well the fiery blond would get along with the two Mistralian orphans.

Lotus decided to shoot Yang a message as well, asking her if she would be free earlier in the day. The ex-assassin's inbox was already being filled with messages from Ruby. The girl was suggesting locales and stores for them to visit. Apparently the newest issue of ' _It's Also a Gun_ ' was coming out tomorrow. Lotus would reserve that little trip for the end of the day. She doubted the little weapon addict would be able to focus on anything else the rest of the day once she had her hands on a magazine like that.

Yang finally responded a little later, apologizing that she would be busy for the day with her other friends from Signal.

" _That's fine. See you at Beacon!_ " Lotus messaged back, cringing at her own excessive enthusiasm. It was the easiest way to show there were no hard feelings. Still, it wasn't her style to be overly emotive, even through text.

" _See ya there, Short Stack!_ "

Lotus shook her head and slipped the scroll back into her pocket. The faunus would give as good as she got once Beacon came around. Yang wouldn't know what hit her, ' _Literally_.' That was the best part about having an invisible semblance. The opportunities to mess with people were limitless.

With one last glance around the mostly vacant cafe, and a generous tip gifted to the barista, Lotus took her leave. The faunus allowed herself one final deep breath through her nose as the door closed, willing the aroma to linger as long as possible in her senses. She would most _definitely_ be visiting on the weekends.

The midday throng of city goers was beginning to pick up. The sun sat lazily in the sky, mostly obscured by a thin misting of clouds that offered some reprieve from its rays. Lotus enjoyed days like this above any other. Mistral was an overall dreary place to live, with rain clouds never far away. So far, the morning had been a nice inbetween; warm, but not hot, thanks to the cloud cover.

Lotus racked her brain for what she wanted to do with her day. Paying Melanie a visit was off the table. Apparently, quite a few of Junior's men had been rented out for some 'under the table' work, leaving the sisters with a full plate. She didn't mind too much. Their time together was fun but lacked anything deeper than mutual stress relief.

After an hour of mindlessly wandering the streets in search of anything to pass the time, Lotus realized she had made her way back to the gate that led out into the Emerald Forest. The faunus turned around, ready to make her way back and find something else to do, when she paused in place.

' _What in the world_ _ **am**_ _I going to do? I have no hobbies. Everyone I know is either busy, stalking me, or has gone dark,_ ' Lotus was hesitant to send any messages to Cinder or her companions. The curvaceous murderess had parted under the pretense that she would get in contact when the time was right. Even if Lotus wanted to leave the assassin life behind, she still couldn't ignore basic etiquette. The faunus could hardly explain away a breach of trust with a simple " _I'm bored_ ".

Lotus turned back to the Emerald Forest and strode past the gate, into the fringes of the tree line, ' _I have nothing better to do,_ ' the young huntress shrugged internally, ' _Besides, I haven't even tested Oath on any grimm yet._ '

A mild breeze rippled across the tops of the trees, too weak to pierce through the densely packed foliage to the ground below. The air below was humid; a condition the faunus was all too familiar with. Within minutes of entering the forest, her exposed skin had gained a new sheen from an uncomfortable amount of stagnant moisture that clung to her.

The trees themselves were beautiful, far grander than those that she was used to. The branches bowed towards the ground, many cracked with age. Here and there, Lotus spotted the signs of both grimm and hunters alike. Gouges in the bark from beowolves or ursa sharpening their claws, gashes and shattered wood that could only be caused by manmade weapons.

' _This place is a battlefield…_ '

Year after year, students had made their way into these very woods to take the initiation exam; the final step to becoming a full fledged student at Beacon. From the sounds of it, many of them wouldn't pass. Qrow had at least been explicit in that respect, making it clear that neither she nor Yang should take their placements for granted.

Lotus still had her reservations. If the earlier showing had been any indication, they really wouldn't have much to fear at all. ' _Pyrrha Nikos is a surprise… but not something to be overly concerned about._ ' One more capable participant wouldn't make or break their chances.

The ex-assassin had done a little digging of her own in her brief bouts of free time and looked up whatever information she could about the Mistralian champion. Thankfully, Pyrrha was from Argus, not the city of Mistral itself. As such, there was very little chance that the red head would recognized Lotus for who she was.

' _If there are any others…_ ' Lotus would deal with them as they appeared. There was no use stressing over whether or not other applicants might be from the same city as her.

' _I wonder if I could pressure Lionheart to remove my wanted posters._ '

While she didn't know the Mistralian headmaster personally, Lotus did know enough details about the mission that had started her rise to infamy to know that he was behind it all. When Lotus had initially brought it up with Widow, the older spider faunus had shot down her suggestion, claiming that it would only lead to more issues in the future.

' _Can I really trust what she told me back then?_ ' Her 'mother' was obsessed with keeping Lotus for herself, ' _Was it all a lie? It certainly kept me in Mistral longer than I would have stayed otherwise…_ '

' _I'll have to ask Cinder about it the next time she gets in contact with me._ '

As far as Lotus was concerned, the spider faunus and ex-assassin was a force to be reckoned with, especially when she was taking a fight seriously. However, even with what Lotus could make up for in skills, she lacked in contacts. Malachite was a good resource for missions or information, but blackmailing someone as high up as Lionheart was a _little_ out of her pay grade.

' _Cinder, on the other hand, has connections,_ ' and Lotus was more than willing to make use of them, ' _What else are friends for?_ '

A sudden flash of her sense warned the spider faunus to dip low, now crouching behind an overly large boulder next to the makeshift path she had been walking along while deep in thought. Lotus peeked her head around the moss covered stone in confusion, surprised to have found a _human_ so deep in the Emerald Forest, especially before she'd even had a chance to run into any grimm. The living infestations had been so intent on swarming her before.

' _I suppose I was a little overwhelmed at the time._ '

The man that stepped into view was of a more lithe build, reasonably tall with a black coat overtop a green vest and green scarf. While he didn't appear to be that old, his head was still topped with short and unkempt silver hair. The man's eyes idly roamed across his surroundings as he strode confidently through the forest, his hand firmly gripping a cane that he was using to walk.

In the opposite hand, he carried a small, black, narrow case. He gripped the handle lightly between a few slender fingers, swinging it gently with every other step. Lotus was preparing to step out from her hiding place and call out, when her sense focused in on the man's aura.

' _Wh… What…?_ '

It was not only the enormous aura reserve that gave her pause, but another sensation _entirely_ that froze her feet in place. Lotus had never felt anything like it before. Aura would best be described as a stream; a source of power that, once unlocked, could be tapped into, allowing a person to draw from their own souls in order to protect themselves.

The man casually walking through the woods ahead of her had _two_.

Both streams started separately, different to their very cores yet sharing enough similarities that by the time they converged, each bled into the other effortlessly. Lotus shivered, her eyes locked on to the man's back.

The second stream… ' _It's ancient…_ ' The spider faunus didn't know how else to describe it. With both 'streams' there to compare, the other felt so much _fresher_ by comparison.

' _Who is he? What is he doing out here?_ '

Lotus forcibly calmed herself, drawing upon years of experience to quell the unsettling pit that had opened up in her stomach, and began to follow. The faunus kept a respectable distance, relying on not her eyes, but her extra sense to keep track of the man that she now stalked. Without having to check via line of sight, Lotus also kept herself from being exposed.

The forest was still densely packed with foliage, becoming even more so as they headed deeper into the Emerald Forest. The faunus used it all to her advantage, slipping from tree to tree in quick, short bursts when she knew that the man she followed was directing his attention elsewhere.

Lotus stopped at the edge of a clearing that the man had walked in to, and spared a quick glance for their surroundings. The edge of the forest stopped, opening up for a long stretch of open field. Across from her, near where the line of trees began anew, sat a sprawling mess of broken rubble and decrepit columns. The archaic structure had been built into the shape of a circle, with half the supports long since destroyed.

It was here that the silvery haired man stopped. Lotus watched from her hidden vantage point, paying close attention as he retracted his cane and placed it on his belt, then set down the case he had been carrying. The man took his time in scanning his surroundings one final time before unlatching the case and raising the top.

' _They're… chess pieces?_ '

Lotus wasn't sure if she needed to get her eyesight checked, but from what she could tell, the man had began extracting various chess pieces from the case and was reverently placing each of them atop one of the columns. Both gold and black pieces alike, twenty in all, were eventually placed in the ruins.

He stepped back when he had finished, admiring his handiwork, "I suppose this year truly _will_ be in the hands of fate…" The man shook his head sadly and clicked the case shut before scooping it back up by the handle. He gave one final glance around the circle, each piece staring back wordlessly, before turning to leave.

Lotus took extra care to hide herself during his return trip. The faunus held her breath when he reached the nearest point, despite the distance still being close to twenty feet. Unless he was secretly another spider faunus capable of masking his presence, Lotus doubted he would notice her in passing.

The young huntress waited a few more quiet moments, allowing her senses to refocus back on the surrounding forests. There were no signs of his return. Lotus exited the treeline and headed over to the ruins. With a closer look, the structure was breathtaking, regardless of its current state.

The columns stood at a staggering height, easily fifty feet tall. Many of them still managed to support a ring of stone that would have been even more impressive were it was still intact. Intricate rune work had been cut into both the stone floor and columns, alike.

' _I guess if there was a place to randomly place chess pieces, this would be the spot…_ '

Lotus eyed the pieces in question, getting a closer look. There were ten apiece of each color, creating a wide semicircle that made up the majority of the space. The edge was lined with the smaller columns, each holding only a single piece.

' _Hold on…_ '

It could hardly be a coincidence that the timing of this strange occurrence matched up so closely with the beginning of the next Beacon term. ' _We're going to get launched out into the Emerald Forest from the cliff, and then given an objective that not everyone can complete…_ ' Lotus stared at the pieces.

' _We have to collect these._ '

It was the only thing that made sense, given what limited details she had been able to squeeze out of Qrow. If there were only so many spots available to be filled, then there would need to be a way to determine who succeeded.

' _If there are twenty pieces, and teams are made up of four, does that mean there can only be five teams?_ ' The number didn't quite match up. Lotus knew that Beacon must accept more than twenty students each year. Beyond that… ' _I don't know enough._ '

Lotus gazed longingly at them, an internal struggle beginning to rage, ' _I should just take one now. I'm here anyway, and it will guarantee me a spot. It's not like I would have failed in the first place._ '

The faunus's hand paused, outstretched towards the golden knight piece. ' _What if this is another test?_ ' The previous examiner had known she was cheating despite her best efforts, and would have denied her if she hadn't told the truth.

Lotus dropped the idea as soon as she'd thought of it, ' _They can't test everyone by leading them out into the woods. This is a stroke of luck, that's all. It's my good fortune._ '

Knowing all this ahead of time, the faunus had a chance to rig the system. Depending on the rules of initiation, she could try and secure herself on Ren and Nora's team, especially if she was willing to 'cheat'.

' _What did that man say? Something about leaving it up to fate?_ '

' _...Not a chance._ ' Lotus's life had been a constant struggle. Leaving something as crucial as who she would spend the next four _years_ with up to fate would be folly.

Lotus swiped up the chess piece and pocketed it, letting out a small sigh of relief after her decision had been made. 'Good' or 'bad' wasn't a factor. This was her _life_ , and she would _never_ leave that up to 'fate'.

* * *

The rest of Lotus's day went by relatively uneventful. She kept in contact with Ruby, both coming to agreement on a time to meet up the following evening. Lotus would wait for the younger girl near the docks, if at a reasonable distance. Just the thought of the roiling mass of water being anywhere _near_ her again brought the faunus close to vomiting.

Lotus tucked the chess piece away in her room and considered telling Ren and Nora about her plan over scroll messages, but decided against it. She would wait until there was more information to go off of. Who knew? Maybe that portion of initiation would only serve to pair two people together. If that was the case, Lotus was more than willing to give up the piece she had taken if it meant the difference between her friends being split from each other or not.

' _They've known each other far longer than I've ever known…_ _ **anyone**_ _._ ' Especially after spending nearly an entire month studying with the two of them, Lotus knew that the pair being separated would be devastating for them both. Ren may not outwardly show it, but he was just as attached to Nora as she was to him.

' _And Nora would probably kill anyone that got in her way,_ ' Lotus didn't want to be the person that thought _that_ would be a good idea.

The faunus spent the remainder of the afternoon in her room, watching movies and ordering food for delivery, all while laying on her bed. Stuffed and comfortable, sleep began to creep up on the young girl. Her consciousness drifted off, eyes drooping against her will while the movie receded out of her perception.

A loud beep originating from the television interrupted her slow fall into the world of dreams, the sound grating against her ears with a high pitched intermittent squeal. Lotus blinked away the fuzziness from her eyes and reached out towards the bedside table, searching for the remote while the screen changed to a news broadcast.

"We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you dreadful news. The Headmaster of Haven Academy was found dead earlier this evening. As of yet, the investigation is still in progress, but our sources have come out to say that it appears to have been suicide. Other conflicting reports have stated that there were signs of a struggle. Lisa?"

"Stick around for more information as it rolls in. We will certainly be the first to-"

Lotus clicked the power button on the remote and dropped it to the floor, letting her head and arm slump back down to the bed, ' _Great. There goes_ _ **that**_ _plan._ ' The spider faunus rolled over and groaned as she felt other people beginning to stir in their rooms, likely awoken by the same broadcast.

Lotus shoved a pillow down over her head, though it did nothing for her sixth sense. ' _He didn't kill himself, idiots. His schemes caught up with him…_ ' the faunus yawned, '... _I wonder if Tyrian did it. He didn't seem like the type to care about anyone once they're usefulness ran dry. Ol' Lionheart already messed up once._ '

The young faunus did her best to block out everything and get some rest. It was nearly an hour later before the occupants in the other rooms finally settled down and went back to bed. Lotus fell asleep shortly after, thankful that the 'investigation' hadn't taken up the entire night.

Lotus drifted away, caught up in the tides of her subconscious mind, until the land of dreams welcomed her with open arms.

_The assassin stood in a familiar bar, a dozen tables placed around the floor yet devoid of the usual purple clothed occupants, "Where is that woman?" Lotus was scheduled to take on a new mission today, one for a particularly wealthy client that had offered quite the premium in exchange for the "Black Lotus's" expertise._

_A rattle of a doorknob drew her attention across the room to the single door that had suddenly appeared. Lotus thought nothing of it, 'It's always been there'. The door opened, a rotund blond woman stepping out with a smile on her face._

" _Ah, Lotus. Nice of you to finally show up."_

" _I got here as fast as I could," Lotus argued, narrowing her eyes at her employer. They both knew that Malachite gained more from having the assassin around than Lotus did by being there._

" _Right, of course. It's just been weeks since we saw you last…"_

" _Weeks…?" Lotus paused, thinking back to what she could have been doing away from the place for so long. Some part of her brain filled in the blank, "Ah, right. I was in Vale."_

" _Vale? Why in the world would you go there?"_

" _I…" the faunus scoured her mind, but this time the answer was much less forthcoming, "I don't remember."_

" _Well, either way, we have a high priced mission on the table. Are you interested?"_

" _Of course. Who_ _ **else**_ _are you going to hire for it?"_

_Malachite smirked and pushed the manilla folder over to Lotus's side of the table. The assassin snatched it up, holding it in front of herself, "Four targets?"_

" _Yes, indeed. The address is at the bottom."_

" _I'll get it done," Lotus took a long look at the soon to be corpses. A blond girl, a younger girl with black hair that faded to red tips, an older muscle bound blonde, and a man with black hair that was starting to grey. Something stirred in the back of Lotus's mind, but faded as quickly as it had appeared._

_The assassin left the building, heading out into the rain and muck, now suddenly standing in front of a cabin. The thought of how she had covered so much ground in such a short time didn't cross her mind. Only the knowledge that this was the place she needed to be, the place where her targets were._

_Lotus could feel the occupants inside with her sixth sense, all situated around the living room, on both couches and the floor in front of the television. The faunus drew her weapon, a long sword with an inverted curve. The mechanisms clicked into place as it transformed outwards, growing to its full size._

_She paused, looking down at her hand in confusion. Suddenly the sword was replaced with the more familiar shortsword. "Why am I even using this?" Lotus sheathed the weapon back at her hip and allowed her semblance to unfurl, not shrouding her arms, but instead leaving them free. This was a kill mission, after all. There would be no survivors to reveal her secrets._

_Lotus opened the door, which was thankfully unlocked, and stepped into the two story cabin's front entrance. Off to her left, the occupants were still huddled around the movie they were watching, completely oblivious to the assassin's presence._

_She started with the one closest, the older blond. Lotus's appendage shot outward, piercing him through the back in one fell swoop. Visceral, thick gore splattered from the front of his chest, bits of bone and blood raining down on the girls that sat on the floor in front of him._

_None of them seemed to notice as the faunus extracted her appendage, letting the blond man's body slump to the floor, blood pooling out beneath him and running across the cracks in the floor. "This is too easy."_

_Crimson red liquid oozed from the tip of Lotus's appendage as she leveled it in the direction of her next victim. The older… huntsman?... The faunus paused, memories struggling to the front of her mind. They were quickly shut away, "I don't have time for this. I'm on a mission!"_

_Lotus shrugged off her doubts and repositioned the appendage before thrusting it forward into the man's chest. Almost immediately, he slumped over against it, arms dangling at his sides. She extracted her invisible limb, now coated even more red, and watched as the man's body fell to the floor._

_A pang of guilt flashed through Lotus's mind but was swiftly ignored. There was no place for guilt in this profession. She had been doing this for years now. These humans were no different from any of the others. "Get a hold of yourself."_

_The younger blond was next, a simple strike to the lower back was all it took to end her life. Lotus screwed her eyes shut, the guilt coming more fiercely this time around. "What is wrong with me!?" She swayed in place, the body of young blond dropping to the ground as her appendages flickered._

" _No! I need you! You can't leave me now!"_

_The world lurched, coming back into focus as the bodies of her other three victims disappeared. Lotus's appendages remained fixed in place, all four poised overtop the younger girl in front of her. A pair of silver eyes turned and caught sight of her, widening in surprise._

" _Olivia! I didn't know you were coming here so early! I thought you were going to wait for me at the docks?"_

" _I… I'm not Olivia…" Lotus brought a hand up to her face to rub at her temple, a sudden headache beginning to worm its way through her skull. "Who are you?"_

" _What? I'm Ruby, silly! Did you stay up too late again? Do you want to borrow my comic books?" the younger girl was looking at her with concern. Lotus winced as the bodies of her previous victims reappeared, lying across the ground in their own pools of blood behind the younger girl._

" _Ruby?..." the name was familiar… "You're Ruby?..."_

" _Uh-huh! What comic did you leave off on? I'll go grab it!"_

" _Ruby…" her eyes darted back and forth, past the young girl to the people she had killed, "Qrow… Yang… Tai…"_

_No sooner had she realized their identities then they disappeared once more, returning back to their original positions before she had enacted her brutal task._

" _Hey, move away from the TV, kid," Qrow demanded, trying to crane his neck to get a peek around the young faunus._

" _R-Right," Lotus stammered, stepping back out of the way._

" _I hope you'll be joining us for dinner, Olivia," Tai stated, standing up off the couch to head towards the kitchen. He called back over his shoulder, "I'm making spaghetti again, hope you don't mind!"_

" _Are you ready to go another round?" Yang asked, rocking back and forth where she sat, excitedly eyeing the young faunus._

" _What's going on? Why am I here? Didn't I have a mission…?"_

_The door slammed open behind her. Lotus spun around to face it, eyes taking in Widow immediately. The young assassin took a step back in fear and trepidation, eyes darting to the others in the room. None of them seemed to have noticed the intrusion._

" _Lotus, what are you doing? You should have finished these targets off by now," Widow demanded, stepping past Lotus into the living room and drawing her daggers._

" _I… I know them."_

_Widow gave a patient smile and a slight shake of her head, "What have I told you, little spider? I'm the only one you need." The older assassin slowly drew her blade across Qrow's neck. He didn't fall, only sat in place as blood poured down his chest, off the couch and across the floor. Qrow laughed at something on the television, the action causing another eruption of blood from his throat._

" _Wait!…"_

" _There's no time for waiting," Widow scoffed, repeating the process to Yang. The girl reacted the same, which is to say, not at all. The blood pooled down into her lap, staining her clothes as she still looked up at Lotus, her question left unanswered._

_The blond seemed to reach the end of her patience, "I'll go grab my gauntlets!" Yang cheered, hopping up to run upstairs, "And I won't be taking it easy on you this time!"_

_As Widow stepped over to Ruby, Lotus felt her semblance react. The appendages whipped out, grasping towards Widow. Four invisible limbs of corded iron that would hold anything in place. Her mother stopped, looked over her shoulder, and gave Lotus a disapproving frown._

" _Now really, haven't we gone over this? Your semblance doesn't work on me, little spider."_

_The appendages vanished all at once, freeing Widow and allowing her to step closer to the young girl sitting on the floor, entirely oblivious to the assassin's presence._

" _No! Stop!" Lotus cried out._

_Widow's dagger sank into Ruby's chest and was then left there as the older assassin pulled away to admire her handiwork. Lotus fought against her stomach as it attempted to heave. Ruby frowned up at Lotus, "What's the matter, Olivia? You don't look so good."_

_Crimson red blood gushed out of the girl's chest and stained the floor, ebbing outwards. Each beat of her heart brought another flood of the dark liquid outside her body where it didn't belong._

" _Everything alright in here?" Tai asked, walking back out of the kitchen to stand behind Lotus with concern written across his face. One arm held a sauce bowl against his chest while the other stirred it._

_The young faunus could only futilely outstretch a hand as Widow stepped past and ran her blade across his throat._

" _Ruby's right. You look awful, Olivia," the blond man stated, leaning in to take a closer look at her. As with the others, he didn't notice the blood pouring from his open wound. It ran down into the bowl of tomato sauce as he absentmindedly mixed it all in; a congealing mass of orange and crimson red._

_A repeated beeping sound echoed out of the kitchen, drawing his attention away from Lotus, "Oh! Food's done. Hope you're ready~!"_

_Widow wiped her blade off on his clothes as he passed, then resheathed it, "It's time we got out of here. You ready?"_

_The young faunus couldn't focus. Each beep coming from the kitchen was getting louder, and louder. Lotus clutched her head, trying to block out the sound that was now pounding in her ears._

" _Let's go, Lotus."_

Lotus slammed a hand down on top of her scroll to shut off the alarm and stuffed her face into the mattress beneath her, letting out a muffled groan, ' _It was all just a dream…_ _and a pretty bad one at that…_ '

The young faunus rolled over to stare up at the ceiling. There was only one alarm she had set for the day, and that was for her meeting with Ruby. Lotus tiredly shuffled out of bed, only sitting up once her legs were fully dangling off the side. She quietly grumbled to herself as she got dressed, taking the time to at least put on one of her better outfits.

Lotus retreated into the bathroom and freshened up, starting with a generous amount of cold water to the face that helped her to finally pull herself together. The faunus fixed up her hair and adjusted the sleeves on the black shirt she wore, making sure they weren't going to ride up and reveal her trait.

The huntress eyed her sword on the way out, but decided to leave it behind, ' _I'll have more than enough opportunities to use it in Beacon._ ' Besides, she could more than handle herself when they were only going to be staying in town.

Lotus stopped to buy a couple cups of coffee along the way to the docks, one decaf for the small red blur. The faunus shuddered to think what might happen if she was given _actual_ caffeine on top of her semblance. Lotus wouldn't have a single hope of keeping up all day.

The ship from Patch was making its slow approach into the docks as Lotus stopped fifty feet away, giving the ocean the respect it deserved. ' _Won't catch_ _ **me**_ _any closer. No, sir. Not a chance._ ' She could already see the young reaper waving from the front of the ship, and raised one of the cups in acknowledgement, a fraction of a smile already curling her lips.

The nightmare had been disturbing, and Lotus was still shaking off the tidbits that remained, but it was hardly her first. The sight of Ruby hopping off the ship ahead of time and skipping down the docks to meet the faunus more than made up for the gruesome images her mind had provided. ' _I've seen worse._ '

"Hey Olivia! Glad you could make it," the younger girl announced. Ruby shuffled the box she was carrying to hold against her hip and reached out, accepting the cup of coffee that Lotus offered her.

"What do you have there?" Lotus asked, eyeing the box.

The girl smiled and carefully held it out, waiting for Lotus to take a firm grasp of it before letting go completely. The faunus recognized it now on further inspection. Her heart rose, though she tried to suppress it.

"I can't take all these comics, Ruby."

"Why not?" the girl sipped from the coffee cup, holding it with two hands while she hid a grin behind it, "I've read them all a few times already, and it's not like you can stop by Patch while you're in Beacon."

"We still have our weekends free. It doesn't take that long to fly to Patch and back."

"It's expensive, though," Ruby frowned, "Why don't you take the ferry? It's only a few lien. I'd say that's worth saving a hundred on each round trip you must be spending on bullheads."

The spider faunus's stomach rumbled in protest at the idea, and her eyes reflexively shied away from the ocean, "A hundred lien isn't that much. I prefer expedience."

Ruby narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but eventually gave up when Lotus showed no signs of breaking and shrugged, "Well, they're here already, and I'm not taking them back to Vale. So, that's that."

' _They'll definitely help relieve some of my stress after classes, even if I already have Ren for that…_ ' The Mistralian boy's semblance had been a godsend over the past month, keeping Lotus from having a meltdown, and Nora in her seat long enough to get any work done. ' _Ruby did bring them all the way here…_ '

Lotus nodded, shifting the box over to support under one arm as the younger girl had done, "Thanks, Ruby. This really means a lot to me."

"No problem!" Ruby chirped, silver eyes darting across the nearby city streets, "So, where first?"

The faunus hefted the box at her side, "Let's head to my apartment. I want to drop this off before we go marching around the city, then I was thinking the Daily Grind for lunch? Ever been there?"

"No, what is it?"

"It's this nice little coffee shop in an alleyway off mainstreet. Kind of tucked away. I'm not surprised you haven't been there since its mostly faunus patrons," Lotus explained, already leading the younger huntress away from the docks and towards her apartment.

"Will they be fine having me in there?" Ruby asked, skipping up to walk alongside Lotus and matching her gait. It wasn't difficult, since the little reaper was nearly the same height as her despite their age difference. With a glance over to the younger girl, Lotus noticed that she had brought along Crescent Rose.

"There _are_ humans in there now and then, but they're always with a faunus. You should be fine if we go in together. The staff knows me well enough."

"Sounds like fun, then!"

The streets were beginning to get more and more packed the further they went. Unfortunately, Lotus had neither the height, nor the stature to pull of Qrow's passive aggressive indifference and force everyone out of her and Ruby's way. More often than not, the two were the ones forced to dance around others, creating awkward pauses and rifts in their conversation.

Thankfully, the further from the mainstreet they got the less interruptions there were. Lotus and Ruby settled into a comfortable walk, side by side.

"Qrow helped me upgrade Crescent Rose! I was hoping I could show you later," the younger girl reached back and patted the red scythe folded up against the small of her back, "I took a little inspiration from Oath. Hope you don't mind."

"As long as it's sensible… What did you do, add lightning dust?"

"Nope! I took what you said about getting disarmed to heart and included gravity dust!" Ruby grinned.

Lotus cupped her chin with a couple fingers and gave it a moment's thought, "Hmm, not a bad idea. You'll just have to be careful. Your weapon can hurt you as easily as the enemy, especially in a tense situation where your attention is divided."

"I know. Qrow's been helping me practice for the past week to get the hang of it," Ruby gave her an accusatory glower, "You make it look a lot easier than it actually is."

The spider faunus shrugged, palms raised, "It isn't so tough when you can track the rotation without even looking at it."

"I wish I could…"

Lotus snorted, "You don't want the baggage that comes along with it, kid. Trust me."

Ruby nervously rubbed her hands together, pausing to spare Lotus a sideways glance and gauge her mood. Seeing that the faunus didn't appear to really be upset, she asked her next question, "What was it like... growing up in Mistral?"

Lotus let out a harsh laugh, lacking any true mirth as she returned the younger girl's gaze, "Wet, muddy, filled with poor faunus and humans alike that were desperate enough stab you in the back to get their hands on some lien."

"Is that why…" Ruby tugged at her collar as if she was hot, "...you're so…"

"So what?"

"So… _fierce_ … when you fight?"

"Am I? Haven't really had the chance to check a mirror in the middle of combat, Rubes. What makes you say that?"

"Your eyes…" Ruby smiled, letting her voice raise in pitch to take any of the bite out of her words, "You look happy most of the time!" her voice lowered as she turned away slightly, "But when you're fighting, you get this look in your eyes… It scared me the first time I saw it. _That's_ why I attacked you outside the club."

' _Well that's disconcerting… I wonder if Qrow or Tai noticed._ '

With Lotus's luck, they probably had. The ex-assassin didn't have to imagine what she must look like during a fight. She had seen more than her fair share of those that were exactly how Ruby was describing her. It came naturally to anyone that had survived more than a few scrapes in their day and lived to tell about it. More so if they had survived by _killing_ the person they were fighting.

Lotus shrugged, "That makes sense. Guess I'll have to work on that," the faunus bumped into the younger girl, "Thanks, Ruby. I had no idea."

Ruby still seemed uncomfortable that Lotus hadn't really admitted to anything, only acknowledged that she probably did have an intimidating pair of eyes during a fight. The faunus caught on to the younger girl's trepidation and sighed, ' _I should give her a little reassurance._ '

"It wasn't so bad in Mistral, all things considered. For one, it was where I met two of my best friends. Do you want to meet them later?"

Ruby hunched her shoulders at the mention of meeting new people, "Eh, s-sure!"

"They're both a lot nicer than I am, Rubes."

"That's not it!" the girl interjected, waving her hands through the air in front of herself, "I'm just not very good with social stuff!"

Lotus frowned, "Well that needs to change, doesn't it? What do you expect it's going to be like once you're accepting missions and going to new towns? There's a _lot_ of people in the world, kid."

The faunus pulled her scroll out and opened up her messages, sending Nora a quick text to ask what the pair of them would be doing later on in the day. The energetic ginger messaged her back almost immediately, letting Lotus know their afternoon would be free. The faunus snapped a photo of the girl next to her, much to Ruby's displeasure, and sent it to Nora, " _Wanna meet a friend?_ "

" _She's so cute! We'll meet up in front of the combat school at four, sound good?_ "

" _Yep. She wants to show off her new weapon upgrade anyway. We can use the gym while we're there_."

" _We got a plan, see you then!_ "

Lotus slipped her scroll back into her pocket and turned on Ruby with a mischievous grin, "We're going to the combat school at four so you can meet them."

The younger girl returned the grin back, but with far more nervousness, "Can you tell me about them before then?"

Lotus patted her on the back, " _Nope_. You'll have to see for yourself what they're like," the faunus raised her eyes back to the street they were on and looked about, "Almost there. Couple more blocks and you'll be able to see the apartments."

Ruby stared at the ground as they walked, likely already feeling anxious over the future meeting that was slated to take place later that afternoon. Lotus couldn't help but mess with her. Ruby getting flustered over something so simple was endearing, in a way. If only because she was a polar opposite of how the faunus had ended up. Lotus felt like she was recapturing some of that lost time whenever she was with the high spirited girl.

Lotus figured she may as well change the subject to get Ruby's mind off her insecurities, though. It wouldn't due to have the girl wound up in a little ball of anxiety before she'd even _met_ them, " _Soooo_. Ready to have a bit more peace around the house once Yang leaves? You'll have free reign on all her stuff."

Ruby's response was anything but what Lotus had been expecting. Her eyes remained glued to the pavement, "I'm going to miss her…"

"What? I would've pegged her as the nightmare sister that always takes an eternity in the bathroom doing her hair. Come on, what's the one thing you'll miss the _least_ about her?"

The young girl pondered the question, focus taken squarely off her earlier panic. Ruby let out a small giggle, "You guessed it right the first time. Yang takes _forever_ to get her hair done in the morning."

Lotus pretended to dip a quill into a bottle of ink and scribbled on an invisible note in her hand, "Got it. One point towards avoiding Yang in initiation. What else?"

"What!? No! You should totally be on a team together with her!"

There was a quaver in the young girl's voice that Lotus couldn't help but catch on to. Unfortunately, her train of thought was interrupted as they arrived at the front entrance to the apartment complex. Lotus opened the door and gestured for Ruby to enter ahead of her, taking note of the younger girl's flustered complexion as she passed.

The faunus began leading her upstairs as she hesitantly pressed for the cause of Ruby's alarm, "Why do we have to be on a team together?"

Lotus could feel the younger girl gripping the edge of her skirt, but didn't stop to turn around. The spider faunus let Ruby believe she wasn't being observed. Humans and even most faunus tended to forget or didn't understand how acute her sixth sense was. Lotus could feel the younger girl's eyes darting up to peek at her back, checking to make sure the faunus wasn't about to suddenly turn around.

"Because… because you're so _strong_. I want to know that Yang is safe, and she _would be_ on a team with you…" Ruby muttered quietly, still gripping her skirt tightly.

The faunus couldn't help but let out a momentary laugh, ' _Safe? Making an awful lot of assumptions there, Ruby._ ' Lotus was hardly a 'safe' person to be around. Her body count had exceeded most hunters' by the time she was fifteen. Two years longer had done nothing to stem the tide. The ex-assassin couldn't even begin to try and put a number to it. She'd long since given up.

Instead of revealing anything so gruesome, though, Lotus scoffed, "Your sister _is_ strong, Ruby. Trust me. I had to sit and watch way too many spars not to get a feel for the average strength of each applicant. Yang might not be able to beat me, but she could have taken _anyone_ in that room, bar none."

' _Except maybe Nora, but that's besides the point_.'

"You really think so?"

"Your sister isn't going to have any trouble in Beacon, I promise."

"I hope you're right…"

Lotus stopped at her door and let Ruby inside, pulling it closed behind them and setting the box of comics down on the carpeted floor. The young huntress let her eyes wander around the room, eventually settling on Oath where it sat propped up against the side of the faunus's bed.

"Shouldn't you keep this with you?"

"Why? Are you expecting to get attacked in town?" Lotus gave a pointed look at the scythe strapped to the young huntress's back, "Think the _scary faunus girl_ is going to lead you into a trap?"

"Of course not," Ruby chastised with a roll of her eyes, "At Signal, they teach us to carry our weapons with us at all times. Qrow made sure I followed that rule the most."

"How come? Even without it, you're still more capable than any average person."

' _Are they expecting to get in fights that often, even in a place as peaceful as Vale?_ '

Ruby shook her head, "You never know when you might need it. What if there was a grimm attack and you didn't have it? Better to have and not need, than need and not have."

Lotus couldn't help but feel like Qrow at least had ulterior motives. ' _I still know so little about any of them._ '

The faunus nodded in agreement for Ruby's sake, "It makes sense."

' _If we were in Mistral it would, anyway. I suppose Qrow_ _ **is**_ _from there. Old habits, maybe?_ '

Lotus geared up slightly, picking out the necessary accessories so that she could clip the curved sword to her back in its compact form. The pair of gravity dust gloves were tucked into her front pocket, left to loosely hang out. ' _Why do they design jeans with such little pocket space?_ ' It was frustrating, to say the least, ' _I'll need to buy some more sensible clothes for sparring._ ' Coco had definitely shown a preference for tight fitting clothing when she'd taken Lotus shopping all those weeks ago.

The train of thought sparked an unfortunate revelation, one that she hadn't had time to really consider while studying for nearly four weeks straight.

"Eh… I thought of at least _one_ other thing we need to do today. Kind of running out of time…" Lotus scratched her jawline in embarrassment, "I don't have a combat outfit."

"What!? Initiation is _tomorrow!_ Why haven't you picked one out yet?" The little reaper looked offended at the very idea, constantly dressed in her own combat outfit as she was.

Lotus shrugged, "I've always worn my hoodie, but… I, uh, misplaced it." ' _Threw it away, more like._ '

Ruby let out an overly dramatic sigh and slapped her hand against her forehead, holding it in place for a few seconds before lifting her eyes back up to the faunus's, "We're going to get you a combat outfit after we visit the cafe."

Lotus grinned, "Yes, ma'am."

The young huntress nodded in determination and spun on her heel to march over to the door, swinging it open with more force than was necessary, "After you."

The faunus rolled her eyes and followed after, making sure Oath was secured. The trip to the cafe was relatively quick, a fact that Lotus was most grateful for. It wasn't long before she realized the crowd was now parting around them, since even in its compact form, her weapon was clearly visible.

' _Qrow, you clever dog. I'll have to keep it with me more often._ '

Walking around clearly armed in the Mistral slums was a good way to get the wrong sort of attention brought down on you, yet here in Vale, it seemed as if the populace took it for granted. The members of the crowd had become downright submissive. Lotus paid an eye to their expressions as they passed, and was surprised to realize that it was not _fear_ that urged them, but deference.

' _Do they actually respect hunters, here?_ '

Lotus supposed with how peaceful the city was the majority of the time, the citizens had subconsciously equated that as an accomplishment of the hunters that defended them. The faunus could only scoff at the idea. Their hunters were no better trained or equipped than those in Mistral, as far as Lotus had seen. The lack of rampant crime was likely due to an all around better council, or some other force for good that kept the population's darker desires at bay.

Without having to fight against the crowd, the journey to the Daily Grind was much smoother than the trip to her apartment. Soon enough, the young faunus was soaking in the delicious aroma once more. She led Ruby into the small interior while her eyes scanned the booths for the elusive cat faunus.

' _Not here again. Ah, well. Maybe she'll be another Beacon applicant,_ ' the girl had looked around the same age as Lotus herself, and had her aura unlocked.

The spider faunus picked out her usual booth and sat down, laying out a menu for Ruby to peruse. Lotus didn't bother to open hers, she already knew what she wanted. Once the younger girl had laid down her menu as well, the barista appeared at their table and took their orders. Lotus requested her usual soup and sandwich, while Ruby went for a grilled cheese and tomato soup.

The sight of the tomato soup made the faunus's gut wrench when she saw it, and had to pause a moment to realize why. It seemed like echoes of the previous nightmare had resurfaced. As much as she liked to think otherwise, watching Tai stir his own blood _had_ been disturbing.

The pair of huntresses in training enjoyed their meals, basking in mutual relaxation while it lasted. Lotus sighed and stretched, arching her back in the booth and raising an arm high for added measure, "That was delicious."

"It was! I'm surprised my family has never visited this place," Ruby nodded emphatically.

"I'll be coming here pretty often on the weekends if you want to meet up every now and then," Lotus suggested tentatively, giving the young huntress a considering look, "No promises, though. I don't know how brutal the academy is going to be yet."

"You should be fine," Ruby gave a dismissive eye roll.

The faunus smiled but shook her head, "I didn't know _anything_ when I took my exam. I've been playing catch up since. I'll still have courses to finish for the first couple weeks into the year."

" _Wow_ , that must have be rough," Ruby replied kindly.

"Well, I had Ren and Nora to help. Mostly Ren. Nora's good for pep, but if you let her get out of control? Whew," Lotus breathed out dramatically for good measure, trying to get the point across.

"They don't sound so bad…"

"They really are good people. I know you'll like them," Lotus assured, giving the younger girl a boon to help ease her trepidation. The faunus checked the time on her scroll, nearly three in the afternoon, "If we're going to pick me out a combat outfit than we'd better get a move on."

Ruby nodded and reached for her wallet, but was stopped as Lotus placed a hand across hers, "My treat, kid. Don't worry about it."

The younger huntress narrowed her eyes, "Yang told me about stuff like this…" her face paled as her eyes grew frantic, "This wasn't a _date_ , was it!? Oh gosh, I didn't know! I would have-"

Ruby was cut off as Lotus laughed, deep rumbles from her chest that caused it to quake as she held herself up against the table, "N-No, you _dummy_. What has your sister been filling your head with?"

The girl turned her head away in embarrassment, "Yang said to always pay for half, otherwise boys might expect something in return."

Lotus couldn't hold it in. She laid out across her booth, incapable of keeping herself upright and clutched her stomach as laughter poured out uncontrollably, "F-First of all, _I'm_ not a b-boy, Ruby. Second of all, if a boy asks you for something like that, let me know. I will _personally_ pay him a visit."

The faunus finally reigned in her amusement a minute later, soft chuckles escaping now and then that would send her into another fit. Lotus wiped a finger under her eye, feeling how she'd nearly started to cry, " _I'm_ paying because _I_ invited _you_ , Ruby. Feel free to pay the next time you invite _me_ somewhere."

Lotus left the necessary lien for their food along with a hefty tip and led the younger girl back out into the streets, "So, where are we headed? I haven't been to any stores that specialize in outfits for hunters. I didn't know a place even existed in this city."

"It does! I go there every now and then to get work done on mine if it gets torn up or the lace starts coming undone. They helped me put it all together!"

Ruby took the lead, heading further in the direction they had been going before dipping off into the cafe. They crossed the street a few times, having to change directions to follow the path that Ruby had memorized in order to get there.

' _No wonder I never saw the shop. It's pretty far from mainstreet._ '

Ten minutes later, and the pair were standing outside a moderately sized shop. The front was made up of two large panes of glass, the door that led inside placed directly in the middle. Behind each pane was a series of mannequins, all showcasing various outfits in a variety of vibrant colors and designs. 'Madam's Matchmaking' was emblazoned in thick gold lettering across the top, directly above the door.

' _It's more like a costume store than a shop that sells clothes fit for battle…_ ' Lotus could immediately see why the younger girl had chosen a skirt of all things to fight in. Many of the mannequins on display were sporting a similar look, albeit with different sizes and patterns, but still, ' _That is just_ _ **not**_ _my style._ '

The faunus dubiously followed Ruby into the brightly lit establishment, the sound of a door chime echoing through the building. The young huntress rocked back and forth on her heels, waiting expectantly for the large middle-aged woman that bustled into the front of the shop, appearing through a multicolor beaded curtain.

The woman was moderately tall and exceedingly curvaceous. Her outfit was a myriad of accessories that somehow all blended together in a way that wasn't dreadful to look at. On the contrary, it was admittedly alluring in its complexity. Lotus couldn't help but keep her eyes latched on to the large woman as she smiled dotingly at Ruby and made her way around the counter.

"How is my _favorite_ customer~" her voice was surprisingly robust, adding authority to the words she spoke, "In for another repair, darling~?"

"Not today!" Ruby chirped happily, turning on the spot to bring the older woman's attention to Lotus, "My friend needs an outfit for initiation tomorrow!"

"Oh, you _poor_ thing~" the woman simpered, stepping up to get a better look at the young huntress, "My name is Madam Myrtle. It would be my _pleasure_ to assist you this evening~"

Lotus took a hesitant step back from the overbearing woman before her, reflexively avoiding contact with a human, "Yes… Well… I was hoping for something simple and… suitable for combat."

"Look no further, dear! You just let Madam Myrtle take care of you, alright~?" the boisterous woman stormed off through the store and began plucking various clothing items off their hangers, moving from rack to rack in a frenzy of cloth.

Lotus leaned over to Ruby and whispered quietly, lest 'Madam Myrtle' hear her, "Is she _always_ like this?"

"Yup! Fun, huh?"

"You're going to get along with Nora just fine," the faunus muttered, shaking her head.

It wasn't long before the shopkeeper returned with a load of clothes draped over her arms in front of her, "Now, go ahead and enter the fitting room over there," she pointed with her chin, hands incapable of doing so without dropping what she carried, "and I'll start handing you over each outfit. You let me know what works for you and what doesn't, alright?"

Lotus did as the woman bid and pulled the dressing room door closed behind herself. Aside from a small gap at the top and bottom, she was entirely obscured from wandering eyes. The first set of clothing was passed over, and much like when she was shopping with Coco and Velvet, each outfit had some things that she liked, and some she didn't.

It was nearly half an hour later before Lotus had finally settled on a look that she appreciated. The faunus stepped out of the dressing room to wild applause from the older woman, and a sincere smile from Ruby.

"Now then, let's see here…" Madam Myrtle did a quick pass around the back and front side of Lotus, getting an eyeful of the outfit she was wearing, "Some of these colors will need to be changed around. Not to worry, it's a simple fix!"

"Are you sure you have time?" Lotus asked uncertainly, "We need to leave soon to meet up with some friends. I don't know how long it takes to replace parts of clothing, but-"

The older woman put a finger to the faunus's lips and shook her head, "Oh, you misunderstand, dear. For me, 'tis but a touch away."

"Uhhh…"

Madam Myrtle smiled slyly and placed a hand against the armband on Lotus's left sleeve, "For instance. This would look much better if it matched your eyes, wouldn't you agree?"

"I guess so…"

Lotus blinked in surprise as, from the point that the older woman was touching the cloth, the color receded and was then replaced by a deep purple. The faunus stared between the accessory and the woman in confusion, causing the Madam Myrtle's grin to widen.

"I was on the path to becoming a huntress, believe it or not. That was _before_ I unlocked my semblance, and destiny revealed itself before my eyes! You see, dear girl? I require but a _moment_ to turn mediocrity into perfection!"

Lotus had to hand it to the woman. She had certainly taken what would have been a useless semblance to anyone else and found her true calling with it, "That's _actually_ really impressive. What's next?"

The woman rubbed her hands together and set about recoloring the outfit, using only the gentlest of touches to transform the entire look into something that Lotus appreciated even more. By the end of it, Madam Myrtle stepped back to admire her handiwork, along with Ruby who was appreciatively eyeing her friend up and down.

Lotus wore a black long sleeve shirt, held together in the front by only three buttons that were closely placed near her midriff. The inside edge of the shirt was lined white, running from the bottom tips up to the collar. Her sleeves were rolled up a few inches, the inside edge colored the same purple as the cloth bands wrapped above her elbows. Each band was held in place by a pair of clasps that connected to the long sleeve shirt.

With her sleeves rolled up as they were, it left a few inches of her skin exposed. Black veins appeared, beginning at her wrist and winding their way beneath the edges of the purple cuffs. Lotus wore a tee shirt beneath, similarly purple, with a decent portion of the top visible due to how widely spread the opening of her long sleeve shirt was.

Lotus had insisted on a sensible pair of tight blue jeans, no matter how much Ruby had insisted that 'combat skirts' were the way to go. The faunus chose to continue wearing the same shoes she'd had previously; black sneakers with purple shoelaces. The final addition, a decently sized ammo pack attached to her upper left thigh, perfectly sized for the type of ammunition she would need for Oath.

"Well, what do you think, dear~? Be honest now, Madam Myrtle _prides_ herself on customer satisfaction~"

"I love it," Lotus replied honestly, getting a good look at herself in the mirror. It wasn't overly flashy like a lot of the huntsman and huntresses she had come across in her time. Exposing an abundance of skin had never saved their lives. Quite the contrary, Lotus would have felt exposed in more ways than one.

' _It's no hoodie, but…_ ' the faunus's biggest decision had been to forego keeping her veins entirely under wraps. She was _sick_ of having to hide who she was, humans be damned. Revealing her faunus trait felt _empowering_ , ' _And I'll be sure to teach anyone their place that tries to convince me otherwise._ '

"You look great, Olivia!" Ruby cheered, giving the faunus girl a wide smile. Lotus returned it in kind, glad that she had agreed to come here in the first place.

"Alright, what do I owe ya?" the faunus asked, taking a moment to do a few stretches. The outfit was slack in all the right places, allowing a perfectly free range of movement. Lotus had to give a hand to Madam Myrtle, ' _The lady knows her stuff._ '

Lotus gladly paid the slightly exorbitant cost for the outfit. With the speed at which the shopkeeper had fulfilled the faunus's needs, it was no wonder 'customer satisfaction' was her biggest selling point. Lotus added in a tip and promised repeat business, sharing a heartfelt goodbye with the older woman.

"Thanks for bringing me here, Ruby," Lotus said, stepping back out into the fresh air of the open street.

Ruby rubbed the back of her head and smiled, "No biggie. It _is_ the best place to go."

"How'd you even find out about that place? It's so far off mainstreet. Did you go exploring the city one day or something?"

"Actually, Myrtle went to Beacon around the same time my dad and Uncle Qrow did," the small reaper pondered silently for a moment, "I think she was a year ahead of them? My mother saved her on one of the joint missions they went on, back before Myrtle unlocked her semblance. She says I always remind her of my mom."

This was the first time Ruby had truly spoken of her absent mother figure. The faunus could see the deep seated loss in the girl's eyes, and her heart went out to her, "Are you? Like your mom, I mean."

Ruby gave a sad little shrug, "I was really young when she passed away. I only have secondhand stories to go off of. Most people agree with Myrtle, though. I'm the spitting image of Summer Rose."

Lotus began leading the pair of them away from the shop and out into the neverending throng of the city streets, heading for the combat school. It was nearly time to meet up with Ren and Nora, and they could talk on the way.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Ruby. It's _never_ easy losing a parent. I can't imagine what it's like to never have known them in the first place."

Ruby shrugged weakly, "I visit her grave sometimes. Usually once a year, on her birthday. I share stories with her of what I've been up to, how school has been, whether or not I'm getting along with Yang… In a way, she's still there for me, even if I can't see her."

"I'm glad you have something the two of you can still share…" Lotus didn't personally believe in the gods. They had _never_ done anything for her, and she had long since decided to pay them just as little attention. If an afterlife existed… the ex-assassin didn't want to think about what, or _who_ , would be waiting for her on the other side.

"What about you?" Ruby asked, shifting the topic over to Lotus's family history.

The faunus sighed, "My family died a long time ago. Bandits. Nothing you can really do about it, that's just life in Mistral."

"Oh, Olivia- I'm sorry!"

"Nothing to apologize for, Rubes. I'm past it."

"O-Okay," Ruby stopped that particular line of questioning at the slight edge to Lotus's words. The faunus hadn't really meant to sound short tempered, especially after Ruby had revealed the skeletons in her closet. Lotus wanted to avoid delving too deep, though. Putting her entire family history out on display would hardly inspire confidence, especially if the younger girl wanted Lotus to protect her sister during their stay at Beacon.

Lotus sighed, "Sorry. I didn't mean it like that. Let's just meet up with Ren and Nora, alright?"

Ruby put on a smile and nodded, "Sounds good."


	28. The Rose Makes Four

"Olivia! Over here!"

Lotus heard the name being called from across the street and peeked overtop the crowd as well as she could, having to stand on tiptoe to do so. Past the bustle of heads, Lotus could just make out a waving pink glove. A portion of the crowd parted and Ren and Nora were revealed, standing near the front of the combat school.

"There they are," Lotus pointed out to Ruby, drawing her attention across the street as well. The two of them checked for traffic before jogging over to the Mistralian pair, both with varying levels of excitement. It was mostly Nora supplying the positive energy. As always, Ren appeared to be immune to any and all emotions, and Ruby was busy fidgeting with her skirt and looking at the pavement in front of her.

Lotus stopped on the sidewalk next to them, "Ren, Nora. This is Ruby. Say 'hi', kid."

"N-Nice to meet you!" Ruby replied, finally glancing up from beneath her bangs to get a look at them.

"You were right, Olivia. She's adorable!" Nora gleefully announced, stepping forward to pat the top of Ruby's head.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Ruby. Olivia has told us a lot about you," Ren said.

"All good things, I hope…" Ruby replied, shooting Lotus a furtive glance.

"Cute, kind, sexy, naive, fun to be around…" Nora started counting them off on her fingers while shooting the faunus a playful smile.

"You made up _half_ of those," Lotus gritted her teeth, giving Nora a disapproving frown.

"Yes, but which?" Nora laughed, putting her hands behind her back and simpering at the faunus, "Or did you want to keep things up with that girl at the club?"

"I've told you already, Melanie is a fling. There's nothing real there," Lotus sighed with a shake of her head and placed a hand on top of Ruby's head, "Besides, the kid is two years younger than us and probably doesn't even _know_ if she swings that way, yet."

' _My consolations go out to whoever has the unfortunate luck of falling for her. I wouldn't want to deal with two huntsman father figures and a bombshell for a sister-in-law._ '

Ruby swiped Lotus's hand off her head in embarrassment and kept her gaze locked on the school's front doors, "W-Was there a reason we were meeting _here_ in particular?"

"A final spar before tomorrow," Ren answered in a level tone. Lotus could see the barest amount of sympathy for Ruby's situation in his eyes. Stuck between Nora and Lotus, a position that only a fool would wish for.

"Good! I can handle a spar!" Ruby blurted out, darting for the school's door and leaving a trail of rose petals in her wake.

Lotus couldn't help but laugh, and was quickly joined by Nora only a moment later, "Told you she was something else."

"I can see what you mean," Nora replied, pretending to wipe a tear from her eye, "She's more than you could ever handle."

"Let's not keep her waiting too long," Ren said, now leading the two other girls into the school.

By the time they stepped into the combat hall, Ruby could already be seen down on the arena floor, stretching out and getting in a few warm up maneuvers with Crescent Rose.

"Oooh! That's a _big_ scythe," Nora announced, eyeing the weapon with a mark of appreciation as Ruby spun it effortlessly through the air.

"So, how do we want to do this?" Ren asked once they were all four gathered on the arena floor.

Lotus eyed the group and gave a shrug, "Two on two? Ruby and me against both of you?"

Ren gave Ruby a thoughtful frown before turning to Lotus, "That should be fair enough."

Lotus could tell he was taking previous spars into consideration. The three of them had fought in various configurations over the past few weeks. While neither had managed to best Lotus in a one on one fight, she had yet to beat both of them together.

Lotus didn't fault herself in the slightest for the losses. For one, she couldn't bring herself to go all out against them, for fear of giving too much away. On top of that, they worked together seamlessly. ' _Years spent on the road together will do that to you._ ' In a similar vein, Lotus doubted _anyone_ could stand up to both herself and Widow at the same time if the pair of assassins were working together.

' _Fat chance of that happening again any time soon._ '

"Sounds good to me," Ruby nodded, weighing the competition and seeming satisfied with the match up.

"Let's do this!" Nora cheered. The ginger girl pulled the enormous hammer from her back and backed across to the other edge of the stage.

Ruby and Lotus followed suit as Ren also got into position. Lotus pulled out Oath and allowed it to straighten out into its full length, "Nora is easier to fight up close. Your scythe has more range than her hammer, so try and use your speed to keep that extra bit of distance. If you move too far away, she'll catch you with her grenade launcher. On the other hand, it's better to stay away from Ren. If he closes in on you, use your semblance to back off. He's more than capable of disarming you in half a second flat, and watch out for his hands. He's adept at aura manipulation. One palm strike from him and you'll find yourself knocked off the stage before you know it."

Ruby nodded along as Lotus filled her in on what details she could in a short amount of time. The advice was solid enough, if lacking in any specifics. If pressed, Nora wasn't shy about firing off her grenade launcher in short range as long as it meant getting an advantage over her opponent, and Ren's most dangerous weapon was his mind. What he lacked in strength, he more than made up for in technique.

"I'll focus on Nora first. She's the heavier hitter out of the two. Try and distract Ren from a distance and keep him off my back. Sound good?"

"Yeah!" Ruby shouted, cocking back the bolt on Crescent Rose. In only a few short minutes, the small reaper had gotten over her nervous disposition and was rearing to fight.

Lotus activated her semblance, covering her real limbs with her invisible appendages. The surge of strength that flowed into them felt as good as ever. Lotus let out one long breath and peered across the arena floor to their opponents. Nora had already transformed her weapon into its grenade launcher form.

' _Time to test out my accuracy._ '

Oath's blade folded down, revealing the barrel of the shotgun hidden within. Lotus leveled it towards Nora, prepared for the volley of grenades that was certain to come as soon as the battle began, ' _At least my weapon has a spread._ '

With Ren finally settling into position, Nora raised one hand into the air, "Ready!?"

At a nod from both Lotus and Ruby, the girl brought her hand down in a quick gesture for the match to begin. The heavy blasts from Crescent Rose immediately rang out, fired directly at Ren who was forced to change into a defensive stance and block the shots as well as he could.

Lotus launched herself forward in a low sprint, keeping her profile small as the first few shots of Nora's grenade launcher flew her way. Lotus raised Oath and fired, relying on her sixth sense to guide her aim. The spray of shotgun pellets met each grenade halfway, exploding them in midair before they had the chance to reach Lotus or Ruby.

"Come on then!" Nora shouted, transforming Magnhild back into its hammer form and swinging it at Lotus the moment before she appeared through the heavy pink smoke cloud.

Lotus dodged the blow, stopping the instant before she would normally have been in range. The edge of the hammer passed by her chest with only an inch to spare. Lotus feinted a slash towards Nora's stomach, then once again backed off as the ginger girl pressed the trigger on her weapon's handle.

A pink explosion on Magnhild's front end reversed the weapon's trajectory, allowing Nora to whip the spike back towards Lotus's head. The faunus ducked beneath the blow, transforming Oath into a hook to catch the hammer by the handle as it passed above her. Lotus used the momentum against Nora and yanked along with it, pulling the other girl off balance. A moment later, Lotus's fist slammed into Nora's stomach, driving the air from her lungs.

Lotus could feel with her extra sense that Ren was still being kept busy. He had already attempted to close the distance on Ruby once and been left empty-handed when the younger girl zipped away across the stage. Shot after shot rang out, tempo broken only when Ruby needed to reload.

' _Ruby's going to run out of rounds before long,_ ' Lotus thought, straightening out Oath before Nora could return the favor and use Lotus's own hold against her. The other girl was hardly a slouch, and could almost go pound for pound with Lotus on the best of days.

Nora recovered and unleashed a quick series of heavy swipes, all aimed towards putting Lotus off balance. Fortunately, the faunus was more than adept enough to retain her composure and weather out the attacks. Lotus responded with a few blows of her own, focusing on punishing the gaps in Nora's defenses.

Lotus was given only the barest fraction of a warning to duck before one of Ren's daggers flew overhead. Nora capitalized on the distraction and slammed downwards with a powerful swing. Lotus rolled to the side, but was caught in the explosion as Nora once again fired off Magnhild, this time as it contacted the floor next to the faunus. Lotus was sent flying a dozen feet across the ground by the shockwave.

Ruby blurred across the arena in a flurry of petals and managed to deflect Nora's follow up attack, allowing Lotus the extra time to roll to her feet. Ren regrouped with Nora, both now only a few steps away from Lotus and Ruby. Ren's dagger returned like a boomerang, and was deftly snatched from the air as it passed him by.

' _Two can play that game,_ ' Lotus smirked, transforming Oath into its sickle form and igniting the lightning dust along its edge before hurling it at Ren. The boy was forced to dodge instead of firing at Ruby as he had planned, leaving the younger girl with at least some leeway as she desperately began to fend off Nora's heavy blows.

"Remember to keep your distance!" Lotus shouted as she ran by her teammate, closing the gap between herself and Ren. Lotus had already activated the gravity dust in her gloves as she launched into a flurry of blows at Ren. He deflected Lotus's strikes as well as he could, but wasn't quite capable of keeping up with her sheer speed and ferocity.

The attacks kept him off balance long enough for Oath to return. The sickles electrified point drove itself into the center of Ren's back, sending a myriad of bright pink ripples and yellow sparks surging around his body. It was soon followed by another blow from Lotus's fist colliding full force into his chest.

Ren doubled over as his aura shattered, and Lotus was quick to pull her weapon away to avoid any lasting harm. She twisted in place at the sound of Ruby shouting in pain, and caught sight of her being flung across the arena floor from one of Nora's heavier blows. The younger girl's aura flashed as it broke, leaving her in moaning heap when she finally stopped tumbling across the ground.

"So we meet again," Nora said mysteriously, sparing a glance towards Ren to check on him. Her eyes returned to focus on Lotus once he gave her a shaky thumbs up.

Lotus deactivated the lightning dust coursing across the edge of Oath's blade. She'd long since learned _that_ lesson. Using _lightning_ against Nora was the biggest mistake you could ever make. The two slowly circled each other from only a handful of steps away, either capable of closing the distance in an instant.

"Surrender, Nora. You don't stand a chance," Lotus smirked.

"I don't know the meaning of the word!" Nora reversed her grip on Magnhild to blast herself across the intervening space. Her shoulder rocketed towards Lotus's chest with far more force behind it than the faunus would be able to handle. Lotus instead spun, allowing Nora to fly past, and slashed at her back with Oath. The blade caught the girl by the shoulder, earning a bright flash of pink aura from the scored hit.

Nora stomped down hard, stopping her momentum in an instant as she swung back around with Magnhild. Lotus was forced to throw up Oath as a guard and hold her ground against the mighty blow. Despite her slight advantage in strength, Lotus was still pushed back, her feet sliding across the ground no matter how hard she dug in.

The two began a back and forth exchange of attacks, each vying for advantage. Lotus smiled as they fought, remembering what Ruby had said before about her typical fighting expression, "You're lasting longer than usual. Did those couple of days off with Ren provide you with a bit more _stamina_?"

" _Puh-lease,_ " Nora scoffed, going for an overhead blow that Lotus narrowly avoided, "I've _always_ had the most stamina."

Lotus went for an uppercut in response to Nora's attack and managed to get a slash across her shoulder, now laughing, "I don't doubt that in the _slightest._ "

The back and forth exchange continued as Lotus slowly chipped away at Nora's aura levels, refusing to overextend and place herself in harm's way as Magnhild repeatedly failed to connect. In desperation, Nora's attacks became more erratic as she vyed for speed instead of power. It wasn't enough to catch Lotus, though, and after another minute, Nora's aura finally shattered.

The girl dropped to her knees in defeat and breathed out heavily, using her hammer to keep herself propped up. Lotus followed her lead, placing her hands against her knees and breathing out raggedly.

Lotus smiled and gave Nora a nod of approval, "I think we're ready for Beacon."

Ren and Ruby had recovered by then. Ruby cheered while Ren allowed himself the tiniest quirk of a smile to his lips.

"You guys were amazing!" Ruby yelled heartily, giving Ren and Nora a genuine smile, all previous inhibitions long since forgotten.

"You didn't do so bad yourself," Ren replied with a nod.

"Oh," Ruby's cheeks turned a darker shade of red, "I was just following Olivia's plan."

Ren shook his head, "No amount of strategizing could have given you that level of skill. Your positioning with your semblance and the accuracy you displayed were both superb."

"No kidding!" Nora said, clapping Ruby on the back, "I got lucky with that final hit!"

"Oh, stop it," Ruby preened under the compliments, shaking her head with a smile, "You knocked me off balance and followed it up while I couldn't defend myself. That was hardly a _lucky_ hit."

"Still, you did good," Nora smiled and recollected her weapon, returning it to her back, "I don't know about you guys, but I could use a cold one after that."

"Uh-Umm," Ruby stammered uncertainly, eyes flickering over to the faunus.

"She means a _smoothie_ , kid," Lotus laughed, putting an arm around the younger girl, "It's a little too early for any of us to end up like _Qrow_."

"Oh!" Ruby laughed at her own mistake and leaned into the embrace, "Where did you mean, then?"

Lotus bent down to begin cleaning up after their spar, "There's a place we go to pretty often down the street. My treat."

"Sure!"

As they each cleaned up their spent shell casings, Lotus took stock of her current aura level, ' _That one blow from Nora wasn't half bad, even if it was only from the edge of the explosion._ ' Lotus's aura was sitting at around ninety percent, still well above the majority of huntsman-in-training that shared the school with them on a daily basis. ' _A full on hit would probably knock me down by a quarter._ '

' _At least I'm getting used to fighting with Oath._ ' Learning to use the blade in such a short time had been a struggle. Lotus was still far more comfortable in hand to hand than she was with the blade, no matter how many bells and whistles they had loaded it up with. Still, adding it to her repertoire would only serve to make her _more_ dangerous in the long run.

With the arena floored returned to its previous pristine state, Lotus walked alongside Ruby as Ren and Nora led the way out of the school and to the small ice cream shop. With the time being a few hours past noon, the shop itself was packed with other patrons that had beaten them to its cool interior. The line stretched well past the front door, leaving the small group of four to stand outside as they waited.

As always, Lotus's eyes remained on a swivel, idly keeping watch on their surroundings, even as the others delved into some light hearted conversations. Most of the questions were directed towards Ruby, who was growing more and more comfortable with the two Mistralians.

Eventually, the younger girl managed to fire back a few questions of her own, starting with how they had all met in the first place. Nora was the one to answer that, regaling Ruby with the heroic tale of Olivia triumphantly returning their hard-earned lien after it was stolen by the devilish crook.

"How did you two even earn that much in the first place?" Lotus asked aloud, turning to Ren as Nora continued her tale to Ruby.

"Some of it was scavenged from my home before Nora and I escaped. The rest we earned through odd jobs on our way to the city of Mistral," a smile tugged at Ren's lips, "I was always in charge of the lien. Nora would have spent it a hundred times over if I let her hang on to it."

"Would have been a lot of pancakes, though," Lotus smiled.

"What did you do to get by?"

"Eh," Lotus gave a half-hearted shrug, "I'm not exactly proud of it, but… I was a thief for a long time. It was the only way I knew to get by in the city like that."

Ren nodded, "Please don't take this the wrong way, but I thought as much the first time we met. You'd obviously been living rough, and didn't seem to have many reservations about causing harm to others."

"The men that harassed us?"

"Yes. It would have been tough to miss all that blood on the ground. How did you do it?" there was a slight frown in Ren's brow, as if that was the only part that had confused him all this time.

"People underestimate little girls, especially big men like those," Lotus half-answered with a dismissive wave, "I kept a knife hidden up my sleeve and my semblance was helping me get by, even back then."

Ren nodded his understanding and left that line of questioning alone. Ask any Mistralian orphan and they'd tell you how dangerous it was to go unprotected, _especially_ in the slums. Their conversation was broken off as the line finally continued forward, allowing the group of four to step into the shop.

Lotus blinked in surprise, but immediately managed to return to a more reserved expression as she spotted both Emerald and Mercury near the front of the line. The pair were in the middle of a conversation, one that Emerald seemed to be ready to drop. Her eyes caught on to Lotus mid-roll before widening as she turned back to Mercury.

With a brief exchange, the grey-haired assassin let his gaze roam across those gathered in line behind them, not pausing on Lotus in the slightest. Still, a small smirk curled his lip as his eyes past nearby, right before he turned back to Emerald as if the action had been the most natural in the world.

Mercury pulled the scroll from his pocket and typed out a message. Lotus felt her scroll buzz, on vibrate as she always had it. The faunus nonchalantly pulled her scroll out and glanced at the message across the lock screen.

" _No contact._ "

Lotus didn't need to be told twice. She repocketed her scroll and immediately turned back to the conversation at hand between Nora and Ruby, blocking Emerald and Mercury from her mind as if they were any other random bystander.

"If you ever get the chance, you should visit Shion!" Nora nodded vigorously to Ruby, "There's a really nice old couple there… I forget their names, though."

"Arthur and Margaret," Ren interjected, "We stayed at their home a few of the times we passed through.

Nora rubbed her head in embarrassment, "Renny always carried the mail, since he was better at keeping track of names."

"I think it was more because I refrained from crumpling them, unlike you."

"That happened once!"

"You used one of the letters as kindling."

"Well, yeah. It was raining! What else were we going to use?"

"Literally _anything_ else."

Nora screwed her face up in defiance and refused to respond. Ren just shook his head, letting it go. Lotus couldn't help but laugh, ' _That's the most I've ever seen them argue. They're a match made in heaven… or whatever else there is that actually exists._ '

Lotus noticed both Emerald and Mercury leaving, but refrained from glancing in their direction. Her sixth sense was more than enough to keep track of them once she'd caught on to their presence. The store's bell made a small jingle as they left, and once again the line slowly shuffled forward, putting them that much closer to their desire.

After a few more minutes of idle chatter, the group managed to get their orders taken. Lotus paid for them all at the checkout despite Ren and Nora's protests. They weren't given the chance to argue though, as the faunus took it upon herself to get to the cashier first and waved away their concerns.

"You guys can get it next time."

Nora shot her a disapproving frown from around the spoon in her mouth, "You said that _last_ time _._ "

"Did I?" Lotus stared off into space as she pretended to think back on their last visit. In truth, making a point of buying things for others made her feel the smallest bit better about herself. There was no way the ex-assassin would ever make up for all the atrocities she had committed, but… ' _That doesn't mean I shouldn't try._ '

There was also something oddly funny about buying ice cream with blood money, not that Lotus could share her humor with the others. ' _I guess Merc and Em would understand._ ' Lotus could already imagine that was the part of the conversation the two had been having moments before she'd entered. It sounded a lot like a comment that Mercury might make.

Ruby finally arrived with her tray, stocked high with the assortment of items that Lotus had purchased since she couldn't make up her mind. The young girl plopped down into her seat in a huff, however, earning a curious frown from the others at the table.

"So rude…" Ruby mumbled, refusing to touch her food and sending furtive glares towards the front counter.

Lotus followed her gaze to catch the eye of one of the employees, who quickly averted his head to look at another customer, "What's the matter, kid?"

"I overheard one of the employees saying you probably stole all the lien you had on you," Ruby replied angrily, stabbing at her ice cream but bringing none to her mouth, "I can't believe he would say that just because you're a faunus!"

Lotus snorted, devolving into a small laughing fit, "Is-is that all?"

Ruby frowned back at her, "You aren't upset?"

The faunus placed a hand on Ruby's arm, even as her laughing fit started to die down, "Kid, that is _leagues_ beneath the worst thing I've ever had someone say about me. Seriously, don't pay him any mind. He isn't worth your time or energy." Lotus grabbed Ruby's spoon from the hand that still held it in a death grip and scooped up a helping of vanilla ice cream, then aimed it towards her mouth, "Open up."

At a quiet " _Told youuu~_ " from Nora, Ruby instead snatched the spoon back out of Lotus's hand, cheeks going red, "I can do it myself…"

Lotus held her hands up and backed off with a smile, going back to her own, "Alright, alright. Don't get your combat skirt in a twist~" Ruby puffed her cheeks out in a pout before attacking the food in front of her, ignoring Lotus as she once again let out a few laughs. The atmosphere slowly returned to its previous giddiness soon enough, though.

The small group of four spent an hour in the shop, enjoying both the desserts, and the company of the others there. Ruby had well and truly gotten over her previous anxiety by the time she and Lotus were waving goodbye to Ren and Nora. Lotus shared a quick hug with the two, and parted with the promise to see them the next morning on the ship ride to Beacon.

"I can introduce you to Yang before everything starts as long as we manage to end up on the same ship."

"I like the sound of that!" Nora replied heartily, "If she's anything like Ruby here then I'm sure we'll get along!"

Lotus exchanged a knowing smile with Ruby, "You'll like her, Nora. I wouldn't say she and Ruby are exactly that _similar_ , though."

"Any friend of yours is a friend of ours," Ren said kindly.

' _Only the ones I'd want you to know about..._ '

Lotus gave Ren a smile, "She is more… _Nora's_ speed, Ren. I wouldn't get your hopes up too much."

Ren and Nora said their final goodbyes and left, headed back to their apartment for the last night that they would need it. Lotus and Ruby watched them go before the faunus turned to the younger girl.

"So, bit of the day left. You wanted to go pick up that weapon magazine, right?" Lotus asked, taking note of the quickly diminishing sunlight that was beginning to dip down beneath the city's skyline. There was only a half hour of daylight left, at best.

Ruby rocked back and forth on her heels and nodded, "Yup! This newest issue is supposed to feature mostly spears! That's kind of like a scythe, just with less on top."

"I think there's a _bit_ more of a difference between them than that, kid."

"I meant in general," Ruby replied with a shake of her head. "The majority of features used to collapse the haft are the same, with designers mostly focusing on using the Mk XI design to have the haft shorten into itself. The only difference with Crescent Rose is that it also uses a Mk III with the blade to fold into itself."

Lotus shook her head in exasperation, "You nerd."

"I'm not a nerd! Nerds don't kick butt!"

"Whatever you say, kid. You want to lead the way? I'm not really familiar with where you might get a weapon's magazine around here."

"Any dust shop will sell them!" Ruby skipped forward and gave Lotus a small wave to follow, "Come on. My favorite shop is this little place called From Dust Till Dawn."

"Clever name."

"Yeah, this nice old guy owns it and he doesn't mind if I check out the extra magazines on display."

Lotus shook her head in amusement and continued to follow Ruby through the rapidly emptying city streets. Now that they were headed away from the main thoroughfare and into a less active part of town, the number of people was dwindling down to the point where only a few could be seen dotting the sidewalks.

"So Ren and Nora mentioned that they delivered mail between towns to get by… How did you manage?"

Lotus smirked, "Kill quests."

"Ooh~, what's the biggest grimm you've killed?" Ruby's eyes widened in awe.

"A deathstalker, truth be told."

"Wow, you must have taken on a lot of difficult missions already then."

"You could say that. I was one of the best around, especially in the slums. Only the higher level missions really ever held my interest."

"So, do you already have a license or something?"

"Wasn't necessary in Mistral if you knew who to talk to."

Lotus's smile died on her lips as she felt a familiar presence flash into range then disappear, the elder spider faunus revealing herself for only an instant.

Lotus slowed her steps and took only a moment to think of an excuse. She remained facing towards Ruby as she patted down her back pockets and let a worried expression cross her face, "Speaking of lien… I think I forgot my wallet back in the shop. Where's the dust store? I'll meet you there after I run back."

"I could go with you…"

Lotus waved her hand, "No, no. They're almost closed, right? I don't want you to miss out on your magazine. It'll only take me a few minutes. I might not be as fast as you, but I _am_ fast."

Ruby glanced over her shoulder and pointed, "It's a block away. Take a left at the corner and you'll see it ahead of you."

Lotus smiled and nodded, making a small shooing motion towards the younger girl, "Don't wait up. I'll be there before you know it."

"O-okay!" Ruby replied with some uncertainty, "See you there!"

Lotus waited until she'd turned the corner before letting her gaze sweep back over to the mouth of the open alleyway. In a few short steps she was between the tall brick walls, peering into the shadowy corners that the dark interior provided.

"What do you want, Widow?" Lotus called out quietly, preemptively shrouding her limbs with her semblance. She may not be able to use them in their natural form, but as long as she could feel her own increased strength, she'd know they were activated.

"There's no need for _that_ ," Widow stepped out from behind an alcove, a smile plastered across her face, "The first day of Beacon starts tomorrow, and since you might make a scene if I showed up at the platform… I wanted to wish you good luck while I still had the chance."

"You had to do that now of all times?"

"Would you have appreciated me stopping by your apartment?" When Lotus failed to respond, Widow nodded, "And so, here I am instead. As always, I only have the best intentions."

"Aside from killing people I care about?" Lotus sneered.

"The best intentions for _you_ , Little Spider."

"Odd way of showing it."

Widow sighed, "You'll come to see the truth, in time. Tell me, do you believe you would have been _stronger_ than you are now if you had gone to combat school? Even here, you have fought others that attended such schools. Were you victorious?"

"That's not the point…"

"That is _my_ point!" Widow breathed out and took a step back, allowing herself a moment to calm down after her outburst, "Whether you like it or not, I have spent _years_ molding you into someone that can _protect_ yourself from anyone that might cross your path. I did that for _you_ , not for myself."

"And all it cost me was another family," Lotus replied flatly, taking a step back towards the mouth of the alleyway, "Now that I've found another… I can't trust you, anymore. Not around them."

"I can understand your hesitation…" Widow followed Lotus a few steps, " _Please_ , Little Spider. I only want to wish you luck. What would be the point in me repeating the mistakes of my past? You are already strong. The next lesson is one that you must learn on your own…"

"What lesson is that?" Lotus stopped backing away, as she had nearly reached the sidewalk and wasn't truly ready to fully break away from her mother.

"That trust is not something that should be so easily given. You are the _Black Lotus_. You cannot fully hide your past. The truth will be revealed, one way or another. I would warn against getting too comfortable around your 'team', whoever they end up being. Three knives to stab you in the back are far worse than anything _I_ could ever do."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lotus replied stiffly, taking note of Widow's continued approach, "Are we done here?"

Pain flashed behind Widow's eyes as her arms hesitantly raised out to the sides, open handed, "Would you allow me one last hug before you leave? It is all that I ask for…"

Lotus eyed her mother's hands, double checking that they were indeed free of anything. With one last backward glance over her shoulder, she instead crossed the final few steps and weakly hugged Widow around the waist. She had never grown quite as tall as the older woman and so her hold was much lower.

Widow pulled her in tightly, returning the hug in full force. Lotus was reminded of the few times in the past that they had embraced, and subconsciously increased her own grip. After everything… ' _She's still… my mother…_ '

An explosion tore through the night air, along with the sound of broken glass and a feminine shout. Lotus pulled away immediately, her mind trying to place where the sound had come from. Widow frowned in confusion, then seeing Lotus's obvious panic, pointed off in a direction that would have matched the way Ruby had gone.

"It came from that direction. Do you want me to help?"

"No… I'll handle it. I wouldn't want you killing anyone," Lotus took off through the alleyway, determined to take the shortest route to where the explosion had been, and to where Ruby was.

"Goodbye, my daughter."

Lotus barely heard the whispered farewell as she turned the corner, already in a full sprint with the assistance of her semblance. The world itself blurred past as she flew down the darkened streets, only one purpose in mind.

Another explosion ripped across the city street as Lotus turned the corner, forcing her to duck back for a moment and allow her eyes to readjust. The blood in Lotus's veins chilled as Ruby's scream of pain reached her ears. The faunus's eyes narrowed, and her sixth sense was brought into full effect as she took in the scene before her.

Lotus recognized Junior's henchmen from the club. All of them were currently armed, although only a quarter of them remained standing. The other dozen were scattered about the street, knocked unconscious or moaning on the ground from wounds sustained in their fight. Standing in their midsts was a man that Lotus did not recognize, wearing a long white coat and a black bowler's hat with a red stripe.

His position over Ruby, with his weapon aimed down at her face was what brought her blood to absolute zero. In a fraction of a second, Oath was in her hands and firing towards the man's back. The shotgun blast collided in a solid hit, sending a shockwave of aura rippling across his back as his aim was knocked off target.

"Back. Away." Lotus commanded, a growl threatening to work its way past her lips. She stalked forward towards the man, covering half the distance so that only a dozen feet remained between them. Lotus unfurled her semblance and hovered a pair of invisible appendages in the air, ready to strike the man if he dared point his weapon back in Ruby's direction.

A number of the goons shared uncertain looks amongst each other, likely recognizing Lotus from her time spent in the club. One in particular backed away the most, raising his hands as he dropped his sword, "Hey, uh, boss. We _really_ shouldn't mess with this chick."

"Listen to your lackey," Lotus warned, taking another step as she did, "I can and _will_ kill you where you stand if you even _think_ about continuing this."

"Well, well, well. Bit feisty aren't you?" the ginger man mocked, raising his cane to rest it on his shoulder as his eyes drifted to Lotus's wrists, "Then again, what else is there to expect from an animal? Do you even realize who you're talking to, Sweetheart? I'm Roman freakin' Torchwick!"

"You're a _dead man_ if you don't leave... Right. _Now,_ " Lotus spared a glance to those around, "That goes for _everyone_ here. I doubt Junior would mind as long as I paid him for your _replacements_."

The gathered henchmen scattered, each tucking tail and running from the person they already knew to fear. While Lotus had paid to have Junior keep everyone silent, that hardly would have stopped gossip amongst coworkers. Lotus's reputation among the guns-for-hire had only grown over the past month since she'd had her fight with Yang.

The man's expression darkened as he watched the other men retreat, then shrugged as he turned back to Lotus, "Ah well. Can't win 'em all, am I right?" Torchwick slung the cane across the back of his shoulders and turned to the side, "I guess if they know who you are, that means I'll be seeing you around? I look forward to doing business with you, kid."

Lotus only narrowed her eyes as a final warning. Torchwick tipped his bowler hat and flashed a smile before walking away, "Careful. A bloated ego is dangerous 'round these parts."

' _You're one to talk._ '

The warmth slowly returned back to Lotus's veins as Torchwick disappeared from sight. She knelt down next to Ruby and propped her head up, feeling for a pulse and simultaneously checking for any wounds. Lotus found her heartbeat, as she'd known she would, but double checking brought her a sense of ease that she hadn't felt during the entire confrontation.

Aside from some tinged clothing and a growing bruise on her temple, Ruby seemed alright. Her aura had already been weak from sparing earlier, so it was now having an even tougher time recharging than it would have had otherwise. As she sat there, though, Lotus could slowly feel it recuperating. The bruises progress was halted, and began to recede.

Another presence appeared, this one from behind and possessing a rather respectable aura level. Lotus turned her eyes away from Ruby to take in this new figure. ' _She's tall…_ ' The blond-haired, green eyed older woman was approaching the two of them, eyes scanning the mayhem that had been wrought on the city street. The limp form of many of Junior's henchmen still littered the ground. A few of those that had been conscious had managed to escape.

Lotus tensed as the woman pulled out what she first believed to be a weapon. At second glance though… ' _Is that a riding crop?_ ' Whatever it was, the woman raised it high. Shattered glass and cracked pavement alike returned back to an undamaged, unblemished state. Lotus could only watch in awe as the street around her was transformed.

With that matter settled, the woman returned her attention to the two younger girls. The blond's stern expression softened, "Is she okay?"

Lotus nodded, "I stopped Torchwick from doing anything worse…" the mental image of the ginger-haired man standing over Ruby with his weapon aimed at her face was still fresh in her mind. She had to clench her right hand into a fist to stop it from trembling with barely suppressed rage.

The older woman eyed the weapon that Lotus had set down next to Ruby, then glanced around at those that were still unconscious, "And the others?"

Lotus shook her head, "Ruby took care of them before I got here. She would have still been weak from our spar earlier…"

"And yet she managed to bring down eight of them. Impressive."

"Twelve, actually. There were a few more that crawled off somewhere," Lotus didn't bother to look up, sensing that Ruby was finally beginning to wake. Her breathing choked for a moment as she attempted to breathe more deeply, sending her into a coughing fit that racked her body.

Lotus placed a hand behind her back and helped to prop her up into a sitting position, "You're alright, Ruby. I've got ya."

The woman received a call on her scroll and stepped away to take it, leaving Ruby and Lotus with a little privacy.

"What happened?"

"I was hoping you could tell me that. I showed up and found you unconscious and surrounded by goons," Lotus puffed out her chest, "I scared them off, though. No big deal. What did they want?"

Ruby raised a hand to her head and rubbed at her temple, letting out a small groan as her fingers touched the thick bruise, "They came into the dust shop and tried to rob the place. I tried to stop them, but their leader caught me off guard in the middle of the fight."

"Said his name was Roman Torchwick. Ring any bells?"

Ruby nodded, "I've heard his name on the news a few times. Supposed to be a big shot gangster around here… Guess I have a face to put to the name now," the girl's eyes strayed over to the older woman nearby, "Who's that?"

Lotus shrugged, "Showed up after the fact and repaired the street."

Ruby's face brightened, but she was still in no condition to move just yet, "I bet she's a huntress!"

"Probably," Lotus didn't understand the excitement apparent in Ruby's voice. She lived with two huntsmen and was training to be one herself. Surely the allure of the position should have worn off by now. To her surprise though, Ruby directed her to help the younger girl to her feet, which Lotus complied with hesitantly.

The woman finished up her call and turned back around, "You're on your feet. Good. We'll need to head down to the station and get your statements."

Lotus grimaced, "I'll pass. You know, I've got an early day tomorrow, and-"

"That wasn't a request, unfortunately. There's already a squad car on its way to pick us up."

Ruby's previous excitement had died down under the tension between the two. The older woman's demeanor demanded respect though. She looked over Lotus with a curious eye, a spark of recognition glimmering there for a moment, "Ah, you would be Ms. Mandevilla, yes? My name is Glynda Goodwitch. If you end up passing Initiation, then I will be your Combat Instructor during your stay at Beacon Academy."

Lotus forced herself to calm down. It would hardly due to make a bad impression with one of her teachers before school had even started. ' _At least I didn't go straight to killing them. I doubt she'd have given me a gold star for that one._ ' The mention of a squad car had definitely raised alarm bells in Lotus's mind. Willingly stepping into one wasn't something she'd ever thought she would do, ' _Yet here I am…_ '

The small group waited in silence until the police car finally pulled up, flashing its lights but refraining from blaring the sirens. Ms. Goodwitch 'helped' the two of them into the back of the squad car, then took her own place in the front passenger seat. The man wordlessly set off for the police station, using his lights to assure that their ride was expedited, at the very least.

The car pulled up outside the front entrance and stopped, allowing the small group to exit. Ruby and Lotus were led by Ms. Goodwitch to separate rooms, which Lotus was annoyed to realize was an interrogation room. ' _We couldn't sit out in the office chairs for something like this?_ ' Lotus sighed, and let it go. It was a minor inconvenience at best, compared to years spent in Mistral.

Lotus sat on the table instead of in one of the chairs, refusing to play along if this _was_ some sort of tactic designed to manipulate her. After a few minutes had gone by, the faunus began to drum her heels against the table leg in boredom. Her feet froze soon after, though, when she felt a presence that sent chills down her spine. Lotus took the extra few moments to compose herself before the door opened.

A familiar, grey haired middle aged man stepped into the room, cane dangling at his side and a smile on his face, "Miss Mandevilla, is it?"

"That would be me," Lotus replied, careful to keep her voice in check, "And you are…?"

"Professor Ozpin, the Headmaster at Beacon Academy. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh," Lotus was taken aback by the admission, but thinking about it now, she supposed it made sense that someone working for the school would have been the one to deliver the chess pieces to the ruins for Initiation, "Nice to meet you as well, Headmaster."

"So, Miss Mandevilla, I wish to make this brief, if you don't mind. I'm certain that you are not opposed to that idea?"

"Read my mind," Lotus replied, more than eager to be literally anywhere else.

Ozpin turned to the side and activated a projection screen across the wall, displaying a scene depicting Lotus's stand off with the group of gathered goons and Torchwick, "Might I ask, exactly what was said during this conversation that spurred those men's reactions?"

Lotus hadn't quite been expecting for there to be footage of the event. Goes to show another reason why the Mistral Council was more responsible for the safety of its citizens than the general huntsmen or huntresses were. Proud hunters certainly weren't operating those cameras.

"I threatened them," Lotus shrugged, trying to be as vague as possible.

Unfortunately, it appeared that wasn't enough to ease Ozpin's curiosity, "And how did you go about doing so?"

If she revealed her own connections and how the goons had known her, then that would paint a target on Junior's back. While the crime boss wouldn't exactly be able to land a scratch on the ex-assassin, it was bad business to be known as a rat. Even if Lotus was getting _out_ of said business, she still had a reputation to maintain.

' _Besides, who knows what that might lead to? I can't say the same about getting on Cinder's bad side. That woman_ _ **is**_ _dangerous._ '

"I can be rather persuasive when I need to be," Lotus replied finally, giving Ozpin a nonchalant shrug, "I think they might have been a little unsure of themselves after a girl even younger than me managed to take out the majority of them before they could take her down."

"Hmmm. Well, I am glad that you were able to resolve the issue without resorting to any more violence. It is the mark of a true huntress to be capable of ending confrontations before they even begin. I look forward to having you in my school, Miss Mandevilla."

"Thanks. I can't wait to go there," Lotus spared him her best smile, though a good portion of it didn't have to be faked. Lotus was excited to go to Beacon. The existence of the man with two souls had put a damper on her mood, but that wasn't about to stop her from making the most of it.

"If you'll excuse me, I still must interview Miss Rose. Another officer will be here shortly to assist you with a few necessary documents, then you will be free to leave."

Lotus sighed, but acknowledged that she would wait patiently for whatever needed to be signed. ' _These people and their paperwork_.' Lotus hated having her actions documented. It was only common sense to avoid leaving a trail at any and all opportunities.

Ozpin left, and was replaced a few minutes later by a secretary of sorts that set down a folder full of papers. Thankfully, he filled her in on all the basics of each document so that she could skip along and just sign on the dotted lines. After only another ten minutes, Lotus was finally able to step back out into the hallway to be greeted by an overly ecstatic Ruby.

"You will never guess what just happened!" Ruby was practically buzzing with energy. Lotus could see the occasional rose petal fall to the floor despite the younger girl still standing in one place, as if her semblance was reacting to her mood and expecting them to zip off at any moment.

"... Youuuu, won the lottery?"

"No!"

"Bought another bag of aura infusion dog food for Zwei?"

"What? No!"

"Were you given one of those little 'get out of jail free' cards, but for real life?"

Ruby's patience broke, incapable of holding back her excitement any longer, " _No_ , Olivia! Professor Ozpin accepted me into Beacon two years early!"

"Wait, really?" Lotus was dubious of the implications, but couldn't deny Ruby her moment of happiness, "Congrats, kid!"

Ruby hugged her scythe tightly, "Me and Crescent Rose really proved our stuff out there!"

"I'll say. He must have been really impressed by the footage," Lotus tapped her chin and looked around before grabbing Ruby by the shoulder and ushering her out the front door, "You'd better hurry back home. You don't have very long to pack."

"I'll say," a gruff voice interjected from off to the side. Qrow straightened up from where he'd been slouched against the wall and gave Ruby a once over, "You don't look half bad, kid. Other than that shiner on your forehead."

"Uncle Qrow! You won't believe the good news!"

"Ol' Oz has got you headed into Beacon two years early. He told me already," at a look from Ruby, Qrow raised his hands, "Hey, don't blame me for ruining the surprise. That's all on Ozpin."

"Did he get into contact with you when he got to the station?" Lotus asked, walking side by side with the other two as they headed in the direction of the docks.

"Actually, Glynda messaged me around the time you got picked up by the police car. I flew over as fast as I could but you were already in the interrogation rooms," Qrow sounded mildly annoyed at that fact.

"They didn't really _interrogate_ us, Uncle Qrow," Ruby admonished.

Lotus gave a fake shudder and held herself tightly, "Speak for yourself, Ruby. They threatened to break my kneecaps if I didn't talk. But I refused to give away your secret!"

"Pfft, I don't have any secrets!"

Ruby was too wholesome for Lotus to even doubt that statement, "Aside from the occasional stolen cookie, no doubt."

Qrow snorted and shook his head, "We once put out a jar on the counter _full_ of them just to see how long it would take Ruby to talk herself into stealing them all," there was a twinkle of amusement in his eye as he turned to smile at them, "The first dozen were gone in a day, a second dozen the next. Once there were only five or so cookies left, she spent the next week breaking off chunks of them throughout the day to make it look like other people were eating them. We woke up to find the last pieces gone by the end of the week."

"Uncle Qrow! I was ten!"

"It was still hilarious. As if we _hadn't_ noticed the first twenty missing and the slower thefts would fool us," Qrow laughed and placed a hand on top of Ruby's head.

The young girl crossed her arms and turned her head to the side in defiance, choosing instead to speak to Lotus, "So, Olivia. Are you coming back to Patch with us for the night?"

Lotus considered it for a moment but held her hand up in rejection of the offer, "Sorry, I'm going to get what rest I can back at my apartment. Plus there's stuff I need to pack."

The group had reached one of the more major city streets as she said so, with only a half dozen blocks left to reach the harbor, and a similar amount to her apartment. While Lotus did feel a slight amount of trepidation in letting Ruby out of her sight after the night's events, she was more than reassured by Qrow's presence at her side. The older huntsman would never let someone lay a finger on his niece as long as he was still standing.

"I'll see you tomorrow then, Ruby.

"Yeah!" Ruby darted forward for a quick hug that Lotus reciprocated a moment later, "See you tomorrow!"

Lotus waved goodbye to the pair and watched them for a handful of seconds before turning off on to the street she needed to go down. Her apartment, and sleep, awaited.

' _It's finally time to begin my life as a huntress…_ '

And with the addition of Ruby to the roster, that now meant there were three people that Lotus _knew_ she could get along with. Lotus was starting to feel more positive than usual about how wrong Widow had truly been.

' _There's nowhere to go but up from here._ '


	29. Stacking the Deck

The crisp night air slowly melted away in the light of the morning sun. Lotus had arrived far earlier than most, loaded her luggage into one of the larger transports that was preparing for the influx of new students, and now waited in the shade of nearby tree. She wore her new outfit from the day prior with Oath clipped to her lower back, uncertain whether or not the test for initiation would take place today.

Lotus's fingers ran idly over the chess piece she kept in her pocket. Her previous indecision had been washed away in light of recent events. If she could sway the odds and have Ruby, Ren, and Nora on her team, then the faunus would be set for the next four years. Potential roommate agreements aside, Lotus knew she could trust those three to have her back, and more importantly, to not go digging too far into her past.

The new students gathered slowly, many choosing to load their luggage and board immediately. Lotus recognized some of them from the combat school; others that had tried their luck and succeeded in passing on to the greater test. Most were entirely new to her. From her place near the path on to the tarmac, Lotus measured the aura of each and every one.

' _Disappointing…_ '

Lotus was busy feeling out a few that were currently passing by when a vaguely familiar presence appeared at the fringes of her sixth sense's range, drawing nearer slowly and silently from behind. Lotus shifted where she stood, freeing up Oath in case of an attack, as she couldn't quite place where she'd come across this person before.

When the figure was ten feet behind her, Lotus leaned away from the tree and turned back. A pair of amber eyes widened in surprise as a small smile broke out on Lotus's face.

"I was wondering if you were another student."

The cat faunus crossed her arms on her chest, recovering from her momentary shock, "I could say the same. I saw you sitting over here from a distance, watching everyone. What are you doing?"

Lotus shrugged and gestured for the girl to stand with her, turning her eyes back on another group of new students that were making their way up the street, "Measuring the competition."

"Are you worried about making it past initiation?" the cat faunus accepted Lotus's offer and stood a few feet away, casually observing the others with her.

"After what I've seen?" Lotus shook her head, "Not at all. Some of the ones that were trained at the combat schools have potential, but even they're nothing special," the spider faunus turned back to the cat faunus and held out her hand, "Olivia."

"Blake," the cat faunus accepted the short hand shake, "So, what about me? How do I 'measure up'?"

Lotus laughed lightly, "I wouldn't have bothered to introduce myself if you weren't worth knowing," she pointed off at one of the students that had passed them recently; a boy with a green mohawk that was easy to single out, "You and I have twice the aura he does, and are more used to fighting."

Lotus noticed Blake eyeing her, how her gaze traveled along her arm to the now exposed blake veins on her wrists, "You're a spider faunus?"

"Yeah. I felt you approaching from about thirty feet away. It's been awhile though, so I wasn't sure who you were," Lotus looked the black haired girl up and down, "Must have been something important to keep you away. I can't imagine wanting to avoid that cafe, especially if I had a cat faunus's sense of smell."

Blake shifted uncomfortably, gaze locked on a group of passing humans, "Could you keep it down? I'm trying to blend in…" the bow twitched on top of her head.

"Relax…" Lotus dismissed the humans with a wave, "Their hearing isn't even close to yours and they're in the middle of a conversation," with how genuine the girl's reaction had been, though, Lotus decided it would be best to make amends, "I'll be more careful in the future, if it'll make you feel better. I'm not about to out a fellow faunus."

"That's… thank you," Blake replied. There were a few seconds of silence where she seemed uncertain about saying something, but finally turned to Lotus, "...I heard new students get grouped into teams of four... Did you want to partner up?"

Lotus sighed, giving the faunus an apologetic look, "I would… really, I would usually prefer to have another faunus around… but I've already decided on the other three. I'm going to be trying my best to end up on a team with them."

"Oh…"

"Sorry. I've known two of them for a long time, and the other… I wouldn't want her on any other team unless she ended up with her sister."

"Can't she take care of herself?" Blake's face reddened as soon as she said it and took a step back, "I'm sorry, that came out wrong. I just meant that if she's trying to be a huntress…"

Lotus smiled, "I know what you meant. Ruby is good enough at fighting. The last mistake any grimm makes would be to cross her path," Lotus looked up the street, spotting Yang from a distance, and next to her, Ruby. The younger girl appeared to be both excited and crestfallen at the same time, likely realizing only now that she was about to meet so many more new people, "But she's innocent… if that makes sense. Hunters don't _just_ fight mindless grimm, and she'll need someone around that can make tough decisions for her."

Blake seemed to notice that Lotus had locked eyes on something in the distance, and followed her gaze to the pair of girls dragging their luggage. Yang spotted the spider faunus and wave cheerily, bumping Ruby to get her to look up.

"The blond?" Blake tilted her head back at Lotus, a frown on her face.

"Nope. The blond can take care of herself," Lotus nodded her head as Ruby made eye contact, "The younger sister next to her. She made it in two years early."

With the pair of humans rapidly approaching, Blake appeared ready to leave her to it. The cat faunus gave Lotus one final smile as she departed, "Well, best of luck," her eyes roamed back over Yang for a moment, "Is the blond worth having on a team?"

"Yang is strong…" Lotus thought about the prospect of the two getting along and shrugged, "I don't think she'd like sitting in a quiet cafe, though. Raves are more her speed."

"...Pity," Blake took one last look at Yang before heading on to the tarmac, leaving Lotus alone to wait for the two girls to cross the last few dozen feet.

"Who was that?" Yang asked, eyeing Blake as she left.

"Just an acquaintance," Lotus turned to Ruby and placed a hand on her shoulder, "How are you holding up, kid?"

Ruby's eyes roamed across the gathering of new students that had long since filed on to the tarmac, a queasy expression crossing her face, "So many…"

Lotus laughed and patted her on the back, "Don't worry. You won't have to meet all of them. Wait until after the weak ones get culled from initiation."

"Culled?" Ruby's eyes widened.

"I mean most of them won't make it through. I doubt the school is going to let anyone die," Lotus shook her head and turned to Yang, "So, any friends from Signal you're trying to end up on a team with?"

"Nah," Yang placed both hands leisurely up behind her head, "Trying to plan that all out would be boring. I'm just gonna see what happens," her eyes caught on to a group standing on the tarmac, "Speaking of friends, though, I promised I'd meet up with some of them. I'll leave Rubes with you."

Lotus gave a mocking salute as Yang left, luggage in tow. She breathed out a sigh and turned back to Ruby, "Ready to get this started?"

Ruby gave a hesitant nod in response. Lotus placed a hand against her back and ushered her forward, matching pace with the younger girl's tentative steps through the gathered crowd. A few other students seemed to recognize the younger girl, likely others from Signal that were supposed to be here. They saw her luggage, too, but with Lotus narrowing her eyes at any that might approach, they kept their distance.

Once Ruby's things were stowed, Lotus led her a short distance away from everyone else, voice dropping to a whisper despite what she'd told Blake only minutes before, "Do you want to try and get on the same team, Ruby?"

The younger girl nodded fiercely, "I was hoping we would."

Lotus paused, weighing exactly how much she should tell Ruby. After a few seconds of consideration, she slowly pulled the chess piece out of her pocket, making sure to keep it hidden from any prying eyes.

"Teams are going to be decided with these," once Ruby had gotten a look, Lotus slipped it back into her pocket, "There are more chess pieces out in the Emerald Forest, at some old circular ruins. I snagged this one after I followed Ozpin out there and saw him leaving them behind. Figured it couldn't be a coincidence, so close to the start of the new year."

Ruby was wide eyed and glancing back over Lotus's shoulder by the time the faunus finished speaking. Her voice lowered to a whisper, "You _stole_ one of them!?"

" _Steal_ is a harsh word for it. I claimed one early, that's all."

"What if they find out!?"

Lotus waved away the girl's worry, "You really think they'd bother going all the way back out there to check on them? Who else goes for a walk in a grimm infested forest?"

"What if they have cameras?"

Lotus paused, she hadn't considered that possibility, and with Ozpin thoroughly distracting her on the walk in… She shrugged, some slight worry clawing at her stomach, "It's possible. Too late to go back now, though. Would you rather end up on a team with people you don't know?"

Ruby was quiet for a while as she thought it over. Eventually, the girl gave Lotus an uncertain nod, "What were you thinking we do?"

Lotus breathed a sigh of relief and glanced around once more before turning back to Ruby, "Teams are split into four. There were two of each piece at the ruins, so pairs are going to be decided somehow before then. I think our best bet is to give this piece to Ren and Nora. With your speed and my guidance, we have the best chance at getting to the ruins before anyone else. Once we're there we can grab the other piece."

"Can you keep up?"

Lotus smiled, "I might not have a speed semblance, but I'm fast when I need to be. Don't worry about me, kid."

"Okay. I guess all we have to do now is find Ren and Nora?" Ruby's eyes searched across the other students on the tarmac.

"Don't bother. They aren't here yet," Lotus confirmed, "I'd bet they were up later than usual 'celebrating'. It was the last night before we all get packed into dorms with other people."

"Why would that matter? They could just celebrate with their new team!"

Lotus laughed and ruffled Ruby's hair, "Oh you sweet Summer's child."

Ruby huffed and crossed her arms, "Yang would be proud. I don't think she's ever used that one before."

With the ships now boarding passengers and getting ready to depart, Lotus stepped past and waved for Ruby to follow, "Come on. They'll be around soon enough. We should have plenty of time before initiation to get the plan across."

Together they hopped aboard one of the ships. Lotus wasn't sure exactly what they were called, but they were much larger than the usual bullheads. Another thirty or so applicants were packed on to the ship with them. Lotus claimed a spot near the windows for the pair and kept an eye on the ramp, but the Mistralians didn't appear by the time the it sealed and lifted off.

The four larger transport ships would be ferrying students up to Beacon for the next hour or so. While the temptation to wait for them had been there, Lotus also couldn't wait to finally step out into Beacon. It would be the culmination of everything she had worked towards.

"Oh wow!" Ruby pressed her hands up against the window as the city began to grow distant, the ships themselves rising easily past the rooftops and giving a picturesque view of everything from above.

Lotus's eyes were dedicated to Beacon. The large spires and grand buildings were beginning to come into view, the CCT towering above all. The top floor glowed a dim green, it's light still visible despite the sun's best efforts. The plateau was massive, sporting dozens of buildings that could have been mistaken for a small town from a distance, if not for their sheer size.

Their transport floated in midair, a few hundred feet away from the singular dock. Another transport had pulled ahead and was already beginning to unload its students on to the plateau. Lotus could have sworn she could see a speck of golden yellow hair, but it quickly disappeared deeper into the school's grounds.

" _Excuse me?_ " a shrill voice loudly exclaimed from somewhere across the group of students. Lotus frowned over in the direction of the voice, annoyed at the interruption.

A white-haired girl dressed in a frilly white dress, tinged blue near the bottom, and with a small coat with puffed sleeves was angrily shaking her finger at a taller boy, one that Lotus vaguely recognized. It took her a moment to think back on where she'd met him before. When the ginger boy cracked a mocking grin, though, Lotus had her answer.

"I'll be right back," Lotus announced to Ruby, who hadn't yet taken her eyes off the town below. The younger girl gave a very distracted 'Okay', before Lotus left to see what all the ruckus was about. She slowed as she spotted the set of finely dressed butlers that flanked the white-haired girl.

"I asked how much you paid to get into Beacon," the ginger sneered, eyes challenging the much shorter girl.

It was the butlers, and the contents of the carts they held on to, that drew Lotus's attention. The SDC logo was emblazoned on each suitcase, black and blue snowflakes that caused the faunus's blood to boil as she noticed the same symbol on the girl's back.

' _A Schnee at Beacon?_ ' Lotus cursed whatever gods might have existed, ' _But, this is a perfect opportunity. I could..._ '

Lotus stopped herself and let out a deep sigh, withdrawing her appendages from the striking position they had been taking, ' _No. I'm not a part of that world anymore…_ ' The thought of what the SDC had done to faunus over the years still left a burning pit in her stomach though, no matter how she tried to quench it. Putting an end to a Schnee right then and there was _tempting_.

"I did _not_ pay to get into Beacon! I earned my place like anyone else!" the girl snapped, still shaking her finger at the taller boy as if he was supposed to find her imposing in the slightest.

"I don't know why you two are fighting," Lotus cut in before the ginger could retort, giving the two a false smile, "I bet a pair of racists like you would be _perfect_ for each other."

"H-How dare-!"

"Save your outrage for someone that cares, princess, and keep it down. Some of us are trying to _enjoy_ our first day, not have our ears blown out by your shrieks," Lotus turned on her heel and left, not trusting herself to speak further with the Schnee. The crowd that had gathered to watch parted so that she could pass.

Lotus could hear the ginger laughing along with a few others, but didn't bother to pay them any mind. She'd take a basic racist over a _Schnee_ any day of the week.

Ruby's eyes had been pulled away from the window finally, as the allure of the view wore off. She frowned at the crowd gathered behind Lotus, "What's going on?"

Lotus shrugged, feeling herself calm down now that she was back with Ruby, "It's nothing. Ignore them."

"But…" Ruby hesitated, then cupped her hand to her mouth to whisper to Lotus, "Your _eyes_ , Olivia. Were you about to fight someone?"

Lotus cursed quietly and placed a hand across her face, willing her emotions to come further into check before slowly lowering it and putting on the best smile she could, "Don't worry about it. It's just… one of the other applicants is a Schnee."

Ruby's brows knit together in confusion before realization came. Her eyes scanned the crowd once more, "Which one?"

"The princess with white hair," Lotus replied, not bothering to turn around, "I guess 'heiress' would be more accurate since it's a family run company… but I'm not about to show her an ounce of respect."

"The one glaring at your back?"

"That would be the one," Lotus confirmed, "Ignore her. Those type feed off attention."

"She doesn't seem too happy about it right now…" Ruby averted her eyes back to Lotus, "Have you met her before?"

The faunus frowned, "No, why would I need to?"

"I mean…" Ruby nervously poked her fingers together, sensing Lotus's mood, but forged ahead, "How do you know she's like the rest of her family?"

Lotus shook her head, having to remember how naive Ruby really could be, "The Schnees use faunus as slaves for their mines, Ruby. I almost could have been one myself, once upon a time. That girl has been around other racists her entire life. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

Ruby's eyes widened at Lotus's admission, then shook her head, "But she's coming to school at Beacon. Why would she go so far from Atlas like that?"

Lotus paused, "Spreading their influence, maybe? I doubt the SDC is happy with _only_ ninety percent of all dust trades," she gave Ruby a suspicious glance, "Why do you care so much? Thinking you want to introduce yourself to her?"

Ruby shook her head, "I just think everyone deserves a chance…"

"Not a Schnee."

Their conversation died out as the ship began to turn, its starboard side swinging to face the platform below. The gathered crowd broke apart as many of them got ready to depart. Lotus took some small glee in seeing the Schnee so far back, furthest from the ramp with her servants.

With a slight lurch, the ship came to a stop, the ramp swinging down to allow their exit. The applicants funneled out, back into the warm midmorning air, and dispersed to once again meet up with friends or to just explore. Lotus spotted Blake a ways ahead along the path, sitting on a bench and pretending to read a book while she kept an eye on those that passed.

' _Great minds think alike,_ ' Lotus's heart went out to the other faunus. She certainly wouldn't want to run the risk of ending up on a team with the Schnee. Her plan was that much more important now. No way would the ex-assassin and White Fang member last four _years_ with a racist like that.

Lotus led Ruby in a wide arc around the Schnee and her servants, and gave Blake a passing nod on their way to the large building ahead. It seemed like the general influx of students was headed that way. Blake made eye contact but didn't give any outward sign of greeting. Lotus understood. With her spider trait clearly visible as it was, the other faunus didn't want to risk being discovered through association.

"Do you see Yang anywhere?" Ruby asked, her head on a swivel as she swept her eyes around the courtyard.

"Yang was on the first ship," Lotus replied, "She's probably already in the auditorium by now," she smiled, "Why? Missing big sis so soon?"

"There's just so many people…"

Lotus sighed and wrapped an arm around the younger girl, pulling her in close as they walked side by side, "Ignore them, kid. Most people aren't worth getting worked up over."

"What if I make a fool out of myself?" Ruby really did seem to be having trouble with the crowds around them.

"So what? Do their opinions matter to you?" Lotus pointed off to a random boy nearby, "Do you know who that is?"

"No…"

"And he doesn't know you either. Trust me, you're thinking about these people way more than they think about you. People don't bother remembering everyone they meet," Lotus nudged Ruby playfully, "Even if they _are_ adorable little girls."

Her face turned a few shades redder as she gave Lotus a timid smile, "Are you sure…?"

"Definitely. You could blow yourself up with dust right out here in the walkway in front of _everyone_ , and I doubt it would ever get brought up again."

Ruby giggled, "How would I blow myself up like that?"

"I don't know, it was just an example," Lotus smiled and turned back to face the way they were headed, "Looks like we're here."

The building had grown in size as they approached, its full stature now apparent as it towered above them. The pair of wide open doors reached nearly twenty feet high, and revealed a couple dozen applicants that had already made it inside. The auditorium mainly consisted of a wide open marble floor, with a raised platform near the back that had a microphone stand a few feet from the edge.

Ruby's eyes darted about those inside and latched on to a long mane of golden hair. She broke from Lotus's grasp and rushed off to meet her sister, leaving the faunus standing and shaking her head. Her eyes roamed over the others there, knowing that she wouldn't find Ren or Nora. Lotus gave the two sisters a small wave then stepped back out into the courtyard and leaned against the wall.

The last few from their ship were filing in, along with the Schnee. Lotus was glad for the girl's adamant attempts at ignoring her. The less interaction the better. Lotus wouldn't hold herself responsible for what might happen if the Schnee tried her rich girl routine on her.

The third ship had docked not long after their own, and Lotus finally spotted orange and black hair on their way towards the building. Nora made eye contact mid-skip and grabbed Ren's hand, ushering him along.

"I was worried you two got cold feet," Lotus smiled, giving Nora a small welcoming hug.

"Not a chance!" Nora feigned insult and slapped Ren on the back, "This guy wanted to sleep in."

"Because you kept me up all night watching Vale Police reruns."

"Can you blame me? Who would have thought there were so many dumb criminals out there? And some of their _new_ stuff!? That Torchwick guy got stopped by a couple of kids!"

" _Right…_ " Lotus realized she hadn't told the pair the good news yet and laughed, "So... Ruby and I might have been those 'kids' that stopped him."

"What!?" Nora exclaimed, "Tell-me-tell-me!"

Lotus shrugged, "He tried to rob a dust shop we were at. Ruby was there for the beginning of it and took down most of his goons. I scared off the rest."

"Is Ruby okay?" Ren asked calmly, placing a hand on Nora's shoulder. Lotus watched a tiny surge of grey ripple across the excited girl's body, dropping her mood to a more bearable level.

"Yeah, about that…" Lotus pointed over her shoulder through the wall, "She's inside. Turns out some cameras picked up the action. The headmaster was impressed enough to let her in two years early."

"That's amazing," Ren replied genuinely, his eyes widening a fraction of an inch.

It seemed the second revelation had overpowered Ren's semblance, as Nora's energy came back with a vengeance, " _No. Way!_ Oh, I hope we all get on a team together!"

Lotus eyed the passerby and nodded her head to the side, leading the two a little further from the main thoroughfare. They gave her curious and confused glances, but followed regardless. Lotus stopped another dozen feet along the side of the building and motioned for the two to step closer.

"So, since you mentioned it, I might have a way of guaranteeing we end up on a team together."

"How?" the pair replied in unison.

Lotus pulled out the golden knight chess piece and handed it to Ren, garnering further confusion, "The headmaster took a bunch of chess pieces out into the Emerald Forest and left them at some ruins. Each piece had a duplicate. I don't know how we get initial pairs, but I think each full team will be grouped based off what they grabbed."

"Isn't this…" Ren turned the piece over in his hand hesitantly, eyes flicking firmly back up to hers, "This _is_ cheating, Olivia."

"Cheating who? The odds?" Lotus rolled her eyes, "I've got a good sense of what the other applicants are capable of, Ren. There's no way _any_ of us would fail initiation. All we're doing is skewing fate in our favor so the next four years are as enjoyable as possible."

"That's still-" Ren began but was cut off by Nora, who snagged the piece from his hand.

"Don't be a spoil sport, Renny! Do you think Olivia wants to take a chance of getting someone that isn't cool like us?"

"I mean…" Ren's eyes flicked over to Lotus's exposed veins and back up to her eyes, considering. "Okay… I'm in. I don't like it, but… we can do it for you. What's your plan?"

Olivia sighed with relief, "You two hold on to this one. Ruby and I will try to meet up and rush to the ruins as quickly as possible. I still have a good idea on where to go, and with her speed semblance we should be there faster than anyone else. We'll grab the other piece that matches that one."

Ren stroked his chin, "...It's a good enough plan, with what little information we have to go off of."

"You'll still have to get to the ruins to keep up appearances. Are either of you good at sleight of hand?"

Nora smirked and handed the chess piece back to Ren, who made it disappear up his sleeve in a flash of gold and green that was outright confusing to the eye.

"It should stay in place behind my weapon easily enough when I need it to," the piece reappeared, and he pocketed it instead, "But for now, no point risking it."

Lotus nodded in agreement, "If it turns out that the pieces only decide initial pairings, then at least the two of you can get on a team together."

"Thank you, Olivia," Nora smiled, "Let's try our best!"

The sound of tapping on a microphone drew their attention, and Lotus followed the two as they quickly entered the auditorium with the last of the other applicants. Everyone's eyes were on the stage, where Ozpin stood next to a curvaceous blond woman holding a clipboard.

Ozpin cleared his throat and pressed his glasses further up his nose, "I'll… keep this brief. You have traveled here today under a certain assumption... that doing so would allow you a new life. You are mistaken... What you do and how you act from here on out will dictate the experiences you have, and the way others see you. Joining Beacon was merely the first step... I hope to see all of you continuing down the path of becoming valiant huntsmen and huntresses."

Ozpin stepped away from the microphone and was replaced by the blond, "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. _Be ready_. You are dismissed."

' _That was… oddly personal,_ ' Lotus shivered, watching Ozpin leave through a back door that connected to the stage, ' _It has to be a coincidence. If he knew who I was then I never would have made it into Beacon in the first place._ '

Lotus tried to let it go. She waved for Ren and Nora to follow her, and led them across the marble floor to Ruby and Yang. The Mistralians introduced themselves to the blond, and Lotus was glad to see Nora hitting it off with Yang particularly well. The faunus was content to sit back and watch the group, her mind still caught on Ozpin's words no matter how fervently she told herself to ignore what had been said.

Lotus's attention was pulled away as she felt someone stepping too close for comfort. With a quick sidestep, the tall ginger boy from earlier swept past. Lotus could see a brief look of surprise on his face before he turned to face her, a sneer replacing the momentary confusion.

"Don't think your little joke on the way up here made me forget what you did, freak," his eyes drifted down to Lotus's veins, "Bet you're only at this school so you can join up with the White Fang later on. That's all your kind do these days."

A false smile spread across Lotus's lips that didn't reach her eyes in the slightest. She took a step closer, narrowing the gap so that she was staring straight up into the taller hunter's face, " _Watch it_ , human. _Anything_ could happen in that forest. A weakling like you shouldn't be running his mouth."

"Is this guy giving you problems, Olivia?" Yang interrupted whatever the boy had been about to say next, cracking her knuckles as she did so.

The ginger sized the two of them up, then noticed the other three standing behind and watching as well, "I'll find some time for you to pay me back for the dent in my armor." He walked away, shoulders stiff and back straight.

Lotus watched him go with a sneer of contempt, "Let's see him try. He wouldn't be the first I've… ' _buried_ '... put in their place."

"What a douchebag," Yang shook her head and clapped a hand on Lotus's shoulder, "If he gives you any more trouble, let me know."

' _Why? Do you have a gravestone I could borrow?_ ' Lotus let her scowl relax and gave Yang a weak smile, "Sure thing. I think I could take him easily enough, though."

"I believe it. His type think they can throw their weight around and get away with whatever they want. He isn't even worth your time."

"No…" Lotus turned back to the rest of the small group they had and smiled, "He really isn't."

The rest of the day and night went by uneventfully, with Lotus breaking off from the general crowd to find an unused classroom instead. ' _Chances of managing to fall asleep in a place like that? Zero._ ' Her adventure was short lived, since all of the classrooms were currently empty so much later in the day. The spider faunus bedded down for a night of sleep that was at least more restful than it would have been otherwise.


	30. Bust

Lotus awoke to the vibration of her scroll, its motion alerting her sixth sense and waking her instantly. Her hand shot out and snatched it reflexively, pulling it to herself. A message from Ruby was apparent across the front, " _Where are you? We're headed to the dining hall for breakfast._ "

" _Be there in a few,_ " Lotus quickly typed the message out before setting the scroll back down. She unzipped the sleeping bag and pulled herself free, standing up to stretch and arch her back. She smiled in satisfaction as quite a few 'cracks' emanated from her spine. Lotus twisted a few times for good measure, setting off another small series of pops.

Lotus yawned and picked up her bag, content to just change back into her combat outfit in the comfort of the empty classroom. In a few minutes, she was once again dressed her best, having switched out of the tank top and shorts that served as her sleepwear. She packed up the clothes and sleeping bag before heading off to the locker room.

The school had provided each of the initiates with lockers of their own to store their things in until rooms became available to teams. Lotus dropped off her bag and then followed the general flow of other students on their way to the dining hall. A few signs here and there had been set up to guide new students.

' _How could they not find it?_ ' the dining hall itself was letting off a wide assortment of smells that wafted across the campus, pushed along by the light breeze that rolled over the plateau. Lotus was once more left wondering just how bad humans senses must be if the signs were at all necessary.

A long line of students wound its way out the front of the dining hall. Lotus joined the queue and peeked through the windows, but couldn't spot Ruby or the others from where she was. The building itself was too large for her sixth sense to cover all of it, either. She couldn't sense any familiar figures nearby, except…

"This is ridiculous," the Schnee grouched, standing on tiptoe to try and peer over top the other students, "Why is this line taking so long?"

' _Ignore her… ignore her…_ ' Lotus chanted the two words over and over, trying to avoid even looking at the Schnee. She was already dressed in her outfit from the previous day, that damned snowflake emblazoned across her back, perfectly groomed white hair that fell past her shoulders as if she was attending a _gala_ instead of a _combat_ school... ' _No, don't think about it. Ignore her…_ _You're starting a new life. That brat means nothing to you anymore…_ '

Another familiar presence lit up in Lotus's sixth sense, a dim beacon of hope to get her out of the Schnee's presence. Her eyes darted to the side, already calling out when the pair came into view.

"Coco! Velvet!"

The pair paused on their way into the dining hall, heads swivelling to find the source of the voice. Velvet spotted Lotus first and pointed her out to Coco, both cracking a smile and heading over to her.

"What's up, kid?" Coco stopped in front of Lotus, arms crossed and hip cocked to the side. Her eyes scanned the line on either side of the faunus, "Why are you waiting with these losers? Come on." She waved for her to follow, leading her and Velvet as the rabbit faunus fell into place next to Lotus.

"How's it going, Olivia? It's been a while!" Velvet's ears were excitedly perked up and pointed in Lotus's direction.

"Never been better," Lotus smirked at the Schnee as they passed and nodded her head so that Velvet would pick up on her as well, "Watch out for that one. Nasty personality, but what can you expect from a _Schnee_? Common decency?" Lotus's tone made it clear exactly what she thought of _that_ possibility.

The Schnee girl's face grew heated and she began to stammer out a response, but the trio disappeared through the doors before Lotus could catch a word of her retort. Velvet glanced back a couple times, but didn't remark on her presence.

Coco smiled over her shoulder and pointed out how the lines had been divided, one for newcomers and another for returning students. The line for older students was significantly shorter, "You're kind of small even for a first year, but they won't mind as long as you're with us."

"Oh? Did I make it into the cool kid's club already?"

"Damn straight!" Coco pulled her sunglasses down to wink at Lotus, "You're lucky Velvet has a thing for shorter girls."

Velvet's cheeks turned bright red and she threw up her hands to hide her face, "That isn't why _at all_ , Coco," the rabbit faunus pulled her hands away enough to peek at Lotus, "Don't listen to her. _She's_ obsessed with fashion and wanted to dress you up."

"Speaking of which," Coco spared an admiring look up and down Lotus before pushing her sunglasses back up, "Nice look, kid. Who'd you go to for that outfit?"

"Madam's Matchmaking," Lotus pointed out the band on her left arm, "Her semblance lets her change the color on any piece of clothing," Lotus snapped her fingers, "Like that."

"Tell me more~"

Lotus gave Coco the rundown on how to get to the shop, as well as she could remember it, anyway. There had been a lot of twists and turns in order to get there. Lotus was only mildly surprised that Coco had never been there herself.

"She's specializes in combat outfits," Lotus eyed the buffet as she spoke and set her sights on a simple salad, ' _Better not have anything heavy before initiation…_ ' She grabbed up a water bottle as well once they reached the end of the line and turned to face the collection of tables.

Orange hair bobbed up and down as Nora waved to her. Lotus gave a smile to Coco and Velvet, "We'll have to catch up more after I pass Initiation."

Coco spotted Nora waving as well and smiled, "Catch ya on the flipside, kid."

"Good luck, Olivia!" Velvet called out as she walked away.

Lotus flashed the pair a smile and left to join up with the two Mistralians. A quick scan through the line showed her that both Yang and Ruby were almost through as well. Lotus took a little pleasure in seeing that the Schnee had only just made it inside, and still had a couple dozen people ahead of her before she'd even reach the trays.

"Good morning," Ren said nonchalantly as Lotus sat down on the bench across from them. His hand slowly sawed back and forth, slicing down through a thick stack of pancakes on his plate.

"You made it!" Nora cheered, inhaling half a pancake in less than a second. Her own plate was stacked twice as high as Ren's, with a hefty amount of syrup poured over top. Lotus didn't even bother questioning it. She'd more than become used to Nora's eating habits over the last few weeks. The girl could put away more than most and didn't gain a pound because of it.

Lotus slowly picked away at her salad, "Why wouldn't I have made it?"

"Well, we were looking for you last night but didn't see you!"

"Oh," Lotus shook her head, "I wouldn't have been able to sleep in that room. Too many people. My sixth sense would have been going haywire every time someone moved in their sleep or got up to go to the bathroom."

"Are you going to be alright in a room with three teammates?" Ren asked with concern, pausing in his motions to give Lotus a worried glance.

"If it's the two of you and Ruby? I'll be fine," Lotus confirmed with a nod, "As long as I trust whoever it is then there's no problem."

"Awww," Nora shoved another pancake in her mouth and spoke between bites, "We trust you too!"

Lotus wasn't able to put it into words, but that single admission gave her a warm feeling in her chest… ' _It's been a long time since I've felt like this…_ ' What was it? Hope? ' _No…_ ' Lotus couldn't quite put a name to it.

Lotus felt the presence of both Yang and Ruby approaching before they each set their trays down on either side of her. Ruby gave her a nervous smile and munched down on her pizza. Yang gave a loud and melodical " _Helloooo~_ ".

"You ready, Yang?" Lotus asked.

"Bet your ass I am!" Yang gave her a determined smile, "Those Grimm won't know what hit 'em!"

"I like your energy," Lotus swallowed a bite of her salad, "Just don't get left behind because you're too busy punching beowolves."

"What do you mean, 'Get left behind'?" Yang leaned closer, eyes suddenly intense, "I _knew_ Qrow told you something. Spill it!"

' _What's the harm?_ ' Lotus leaned in as well, though she doubted anyone from the nearby tables would be able to hear them anyway, "We're going to get launched into the Emerald Forest and have to find some chess pieces at some old ruins," Lotus held her hands up, "That's all I know for sure."

"Chess pieces… at some old ruins…" Yang's arms were crossed while she tapped her fork against her chin, "Best to get as much air time as possible then, eh?"

Lotus laughed, "What? Going to try and fly the whole way there?"

"Hey, I can get some distance with the recoil on my gauntlets. Throw in some gravity dust…" Yang nodded to herself.

"You aren't going to beat Ruby and me," Lotus grinned, "You're welcome to try, though."

A fire seemed to light in Yang's eyes, "Oh hoh?" her eyes darted past Lotus to Ruby, "My little sis is certainly fast. Sure you can keep up?"

Lotus laughed, "You just worry about yourself, Xiao Long. How _embarrassing_ would it be if Ruby passed initiation two years early and her older sister _failed?_ "

Yang's eyes narrowed, "Isn't gonna happen."

"We'll see. Meet you at the finish line~" Lotus teased.

"You'll be fine, Yang," Ruby chipped in from the other side, lifting her eyes from her tray to give Lotus a disapproving glower, "Don't let Olivia get to you."

Lotus raised her hands defensively, "I'm only making it a little more fun, Ruby," she turned and slapped a hand on Yang's back, "You'll do fine. Honestly, there's hardly anyone here that compares to us."

"Really? Who else is there?" Yang's eyes roamed around the mildly crowded dining hall.

"As much as it pains me to say it," Lotus nodded her chin off towards the girl in white, "That Schnee has a decent aura reserve. More than Ruby or Ren, less than you or Nora," Lotus shivered and made a gagging sound after the compliment, "Ugh, that just felt _wrong_ to say."

"Anyone else?" Yang spared the Schnee a curious glance, but otherwise ignored her.

Lotus searched with her sense and pointed out a girl with long red hair a few tables away. She sat by herself on the bench, "The red head is strong," Lotus felt like she knew her from somewhere but couldn't place it, "Aside from that…" the cat faunus was nowhere to be seen, and Lotus wouldn't have singled her out anyway, "I... think that's _it_ for new students."

"Wow, now that you put it that way…" Yang shrugged and picked up her tray, "Guess I'll get in some early introductions."

"As long as you aren't going to get buddy buddy with the Schnee…"

"Pfft, of _course_ not," Yang shook her head and walked around the edge of the table, headed for the red head that had been sitting alone.

Ruby tapped Lotus's arm to grab her attention and leaned over to whisper, "You don't recognize her!?"

Lotus frowned, "Who?" and followed Ruby's pointed stare, "The red head? What about her?"

"That's _Pyrrha Nikos!_ " Ruby whispered fiercely.

Lotus raised herself up to look over Ren's shoulder and get a better look, but now that Ruby mentioned it… "Huh, she looks so different without the gold and leather."

"How could you not recognize her?"

"I know more than one person with red hair...?"

"Still…" Ruby seemed lost for words, devolving into hand gestures and stuttering.

Lotus placed a hand on her head, ruffling her hair, "Is she your idol or something? Go say hi, maybe you can get an autograph."

Ruby withdrew into herself, "M-Me? No way!" her index fingers poked against each other, "I don't want to disturb her…"

"I think Yang beat you to that," Lotus commented, watching the blond brawler seeming to get along well enough with the Mistralian champion, ' _I wonder if Yang recognized her too, or if just Ruby did._ '

With another glance around the room, though, Lotus could see that a lot of other eyes were directed in Pyrrha and Yang's direction. Most seemed too nervous to introduce themselves, either. One other person aside from Yang appeared not to notice the slight tension surrounding the Mistralian champion, as Lotus watched the Schnee marched past their table and head for the bench to sit next to Pyrrha.

Some quick words were exchanged, but it seemed as though neither were particularly comfortable with the Schnee's presence. Yang picked her tray back up and excused herself, heading back over to the table with the others.

"Wow, did you guys know that was _Pyrrha Nikos!?_ "

Ruby nodded while the other three shrugged.

"Pay per view isn't exactly tempting when you're a poor orphan, Yang," Lotus added in, noticing her visible confusion.

"Yeah, but that's Pyrrha. Freaking. Nikos! That's like not knowing who Spruce Willis is!"

The three Mistralian's exchanged glances, "Who?"

Yang's mouth dropped open in shock, and Ruby put a hand against her face, "Uh-oh. Shouldn't have said that."

Yang took a deep breath and opened her mouth, ready to launch into a tirade about whoever Spruce Willis was before she was cut off.

The speakers let out the sound of chimes, "Would all first years please head to the locker rooms to prepare. Initiation will begin in fifteen minutes." Lotus recognized it as the voice of the blond from the previous day.

"Wow, that's too bad Yang. Guess you'll have to tell me all about Spruce Willis some other time," Lotus feigned a pout and snagged a last large bite of her salad before standing up, "Really, it's a pity."

"Yup, gotta get ready!" Nora and Ren both stood up as well, grabbing their trays to dump on their way out. Nora snagged one last pancake to eat on the way.

"I'll let you borrow all his movies!" Yang shouted after them, staying behind with Ruby to finish up her food quickly.

"What have we _done?_ " Lotus whispered in mock horror.

Nora laughed, "It probably isn't that bad. Maybe we'll enjoy it!"

"He must be an actor of some sort," Ren stated flatly, "Judging by my few interactions with Yang, I'd guess she's into action films."

"Ugh, the worst ones," Lotus sighed.

"Whaaaat? I love a good action flick!"

' _You wouldn't say that if you lived it. There are a lot less dramatic speeches in real life. Not to mention they usually end with the 'bad guy' getting killed, and if I'm being honest, I don't think I've really fit the 'hero' type up until now,_ ' Lotus had no doubt that she'd be the antagonist if anyone made a movie about her life, " _Some boozed up private investigator like Qrow would be the one to eventually catch me. I'd die in the final act, plans thwarted while some inspirational music played in the background..._ '

Lotus could feel both the Schnee and Pyrrha around twenty feet behind them, both on their way to the locker rooms as well. A quick glance back showed that the champion seemed to be tolerating the other girl's presence. Lotus ignored them for now and led the other two into the locker rooms, splitting off from both of them to return to her own locker.

Oath sat nestled inside, edge gleaming and ready for use. Lotus had spent a part of the previous day with Ruby, making sure that her weapon was entirely ready for today. Aside from the day they'd built it, Oath had never looked cleaner or sharper. ' _I should do something nice for Qrow… I couldn't have asked for a better weapon._ ' Lotus slipped on her gloves as well, each infused with purple gravity dust that formed lines along their exterior.

It seemed as if both the Schnee's and Pyrrha's lockers were nearby, only a single row away. Lotus paused while getting ready to listen in on the conversation.

"So, Pyrrha. Have you given any thought on who's team you would like to be on? I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong, well known individual such as yourself."

' _Ugh, sucking up to the champion, huh?_ ' Lotus could feel Pyrrha's desire to escape the conversation. The way her feet were angled, the way her head was always slightly off to the side, as if ready to leave at any moment. Clear signs that she was done with the Schnee's attempts. ' _Might as well help her out._ ' Lotus wouldn't hesitate to admit that any excuse to harass the Schnee was an excuse she'd happily use.

"The weak ones, maybe," Lotus stepped out around the corner and leaned up against the end of the lockers, eyes on her fellow Mistralian, "I'd steer clear of any team with a Schnee on it. She's probably out to hire you for an exclusive ad campaign. 'Faunus slavery, approved by Pyrrha Nikos!' I'm sure your agents would _love_ that bit of marketing," Lotus shrugged, "Bet it pays good, though. They have more than enough money to throw around."

The Schnee glared at Lotus, "My name is _Weiss_ , not 'Schnee', and I am _not_ trying to get Pyrrha to do an ad campaign!" Pyrrha backed up from between the two, awkwardly glancing back and forth.

"Could have fooled me, Princess," Lotus clipped Oath to her back in its compact form, "Why else wouldn't you just stay in Atlas with the rest of the racists where you belong?"

"I- How dare you!?" Weiss's hand trembled on the hilt of her rapier, muscles quivering as she glared at Lotus.

Lotus tilted her head to the side, eyes challenging, " _Aaaaah_ , I get it now! Watching slaves getting beaten to death in the mines wasn't _good_ enough for you," Lotus pointedly glanced down at the rapier and smirked, "You wanted to be able to kill them _yourself_."

"That's… I would… No, I would never-!" Weiss blinked back tears and turned on her heel, quickly marching off with her head down and shoulders shaking.

A brief silence passed between the two girls left standing there before Lotus breathed out a sigh of relief, "Whoo, you dodged a bullet there, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha narrowed her eyes at Lotus, "That was entirely uncalled for."

"Was it?" Lotus shrugged, "Tell that to all the faunus with SDC brands burnt into their skin. I'm sure they'd be empathetic for a Schnee who got her poor little _feelings_ hurt."

"I doubt Weiss is responsible for _any_ of that."

"Give it a few years," Lotus watched the princess disappear around the corner and out of the locker room, "She'll be stacking her body count soon enough."

"You don't know _anything_ about her," Pyrrha glared, "You can't just assume something like that about another person."

"Why not?" Lotus remained relaxed despite the tension in the air, "You humans do it all the time. I guess it was too much to ask for a pampered Mistralian to understand, though." Lotus shook her head, "I was hoping for better out of you, Nikos."

Pyrrha flinched back at the words, "I am not a racist."

Lotus sighed and turned back to her locker, "Any friend of a Schnee's is an enemy of the faunus, Pyrrha. That's just how things are."

Lotus could feel the Mistralian champion leaving, back straight and head held high. She shook her head, ' _Two that I'll need to avoid…_ ' Lotus hadn't been able to stop herself. The Schnee's voice alone grated on her nerves, and to hear her sucking up to Nikos? Watching the princess leave had been the most satisfying part of Lotus's morning so far.

Yang and Ruby entered the locker room and ran to their lockers, each snatching out their weapons. Ruby did a quick inspection of Crescent Rose while Yang slipped the condensed Ember Celicas over her wrists. They each stopped what they were doing as the voice once again rang out over the speaker.

"Would all first years please report to the Beacon cliffs for Initiation."

"You ready?" Lotus asked the pair, doing one last thorough check of her own attire.

"Ready to kick your butts," Yang confirmed with a thumbs up and a smirk.

"Well, you're zero and two for our fights. Maybe you can run away faster?" Lotus laughed to show she was joking, "Just don't get caught by a King Taijitu or anything."

"The Grimm would be _lucky_ to get a piece of me," Yang offered a fistbump which Lotus took before the blond turned to her younger sister, "How about you, Rubes?"

"I'm nervous…" Ruby idly ran a finger down the length of Crescent Rose's blade, her aura sparking lightly, "You're sure we can do this?" Her question was directed at Lotus specifically.

"No problem," Lotus gave her a confident smile, "Follow my lead and everything should be fine."

Ruby nodded, some of her anxiety ebbing away, "Shall we?"

The three were joined up with by Nora and Ren as their small group headed out to the Beacon cliffs. A sparse forest that ran along that edge of the plateau blocked line of sight to the edge itself, but the path was clearly marked. The tree line opened up to reveal a line of students, around thirty in all so far with more to come, spread out across the edge of the plateau.

The group of five joined them, noticing that everyone was standing on their own individual platforms of sorts, ' _Launch pads?_ ', and were patiently waiting for everyone else to arrive. Lotus took up the last pad on the far right, with Ruby on her left, then Yang, Ren, and Nora closer to the center. The tall ginger racist and his friend that had been with him at the cafe were both further down. His eyes scanned those gathered until he spotted Lotus and grinned darkly, tapping his friend to point her out.

' _Good luck keeping up, human,_ ' Lotus mentally sneered and turned away, fine with ignoring what amounted to nothing more than a nuisance.

Pyrrha and Weiss both joined the line at different times, a fact that gave Lotus at least a small amount of hope for the champion, ' _Pretend to have the moral high ground all you want. I could tell you didn't want to be on the same team as the Schnee either._ '

The last of the students finally stood in line, nearly forty in all. Ozpin and the older blond woman both stood at the edge of the cliff in front of them. Ozpin's eyes scanned across them all and he nodded, taking a final sip of coffee from his Beacon branded mug.

"For years you have trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

The blond spoke up once Ozpin had finished, "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors of the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates… today."

Ozpin started once again, "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

There was some muttering among the students that Ozpin waited for, "After you've partnered up, make your way to the Northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you _will_ die."

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your Initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path, containing several relics. Each pair must choose one, and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

No one replied.

"Good! Now, take your positions."

Everyone got ready, many lowering their center of gravity closer to the platform itself to try and remain in control after the launch. Lotus heard the platform furthest away snap outward with a loud metallic clang, launching its occupant high above the trees. The pads went down the line, drawing closer and closer to Lotus's own.

"Looks like you'll have a little advantage, Yang," Lotus smiled and raised her hands in a 'what can you do' motion, "Guess there won't be any excuses when we still beat you there."

"Ha! Good luck with that," Yang pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on, "At least _I_ came prepared."

"See you at the ruins!" Nora cheered as she was fired off, Ren simply nodded as he followed suit. Yang blasted off with her gauntlets at the exact moment the pad launched her, flying off with quite a bit more force than any of the other students. Ruby gave a weak smile and was shot off the cliff as well.

Lotus braced herself, shrouding her limbs with her semblance and gave a confident smirk to the headmaster, who nodded in return. Lotus lowered down, her weight and center of gravity centralized to the finest point she could make it…

The launch pad grinded, it's gears protesting as it failed to move.

"What the hell?" Lotus looked down at it, but the cause for the malfunction wasn't clearly visible. It looked to be the same as any of the other pads that had already sent students into the trees.

Ozpin's face frowned in confusion, "I'm sorry Miss Mandevilla, something appears to be wrong with your pad…" he stepped forward to look more closely along its edge and tapped along the side with his cane. The inner workings continued to grind, "If you would like, we could reset one of the other pads. It should only take a couple minutes-"

Lotus didn't bother to listen any more. She was losing ground, _fast_. With a few quickened strides, the faunus hurled herself off the edge of the cliff, semblance kicking into overdrive to give her the maximum distance she could manage. It still wasn't nearly as far as the other students had been flung by the launch pads, but it was better than waiting any longer.

Lotus unfurled the two appendages from her arms and used them to grab a tree as she passed, changing her downward momentum into a horizontal one. The limbs returned to their shroud form as she rolled across the ground and up into a sprint, already making a beeline for the last place she'd seen Ruby. There was a lot of ground to cover.

Trees and large boulders blurred past as Lotus ran through the forest. Her sixth sense scanned her surroundings constantly, heightened to an extreme level.

That focus was what allowed her to dodge the first shots that rang out in her direction, her body contorting midair to narrowly avoid the bullets that whizzed past.

Lotus skidded to a stop, eyes narrowed at the two boys that walked out from behind the tree, laughing.

"Nice shot, Dove. You almost had her," the ginger hefted a large war mace with a fire dust crystal embedded in the center of it, "Too bad she didn't wait any longer. We could have set up a proper ambush."

Lotus sneered, "I don't have time for you. Get out of my way before you get hurt."

"Oh?" the ginger scoffed, "But Dove went through all that trouble using his semblance on your launch pad. We wanted to get you all alone, and now we do. No _friends_ to back you up…"

Lotus could feel another familiar presence, circling back around the two boys at the edge of her sixth sense. She raised her hands, palms up, "The two of you don't stand a chance. I'd suggest you walk away and try to go after the relics like good little boys."

"We'll get the relics," the ginger spat on the ground between them, " _After_ we're done with _you._ " He brought his mace up and charged while Dove raised his weapon and fired. Lotus watched as, the instant the larger boy had his back turned, a bladed black pistol attached to a ribbon flashed out of the foliage behind Dove and wrapped around his arm. The shot meant for Lotus was fired into the ginger's back instead, flaring his aura and distracting him right before his swing.

Lotus stepped into his guard and caught the mace by the haft, whispering, "You should learn your place," her fist slammed into his chest with the force of all four appendages. The steel armor itself dented inward, caving in against his chest. The boy's aura shattered instantly as he dropped to his knees, clutching at the piece of armor that had sunk an inch or two into his ribcage.

Lotus heard several of his bones snap under the pressure.

Blake charged out of the forest, yanking back on her weapon as she did so to pull Dove off balance. Her foot collided with the side of his head and he was sent flying across the forest floor. Blake whipped her weapon free and caught it by the handle grip, pointing it in pistol form towards the downed Dove.

Lotus watched her bow twitch in confusion as she turned to look at the ginger. The large boy was still clutching at his chest, and Lotus could hear his breath rasping, each inhale weak as he struggled to draw in air.

' _Murder won't look very good, even if it was self-defense,_ ' Lotus bent down and reached a hand beneath the boy's chest piece. With one quick pull, she ripped off the front plate. The boy immediately inhaled deeply, then began to cough in pain, rolling on to his side. Lotus could smell a little stomach bile mixed in.

"Thanks for the assist…" Lotus gave a wary smile to the other faunus, "You didn't happen to see the girl in a red hood around, did you?"

Blake pointed towards where Lotus had been headed, "I saw her land that way," she glanced over the other students, "What are we going to do about them?"

Lotus waved her hand dismissively, "Ozpin was lying about the teachers not intervening. With how many weaklings there were on that cliff, a lot of them would _have_ to die each year without supervision," she kicked the ginger in the ribs, eliciting a pained grunt, "They'll pick them up soon enough."

"You're sure?"

"No doubt," Lotus confirmed, turning away to face the direction of Ruby, "I need to hurry… you can tag along if you want until we find another person, but I did make a promise…"

Blake raised her hand, "I understand, Olivia. Lead the way."

Lotus nodded and set off once again, slowing her pace enough so that Blake could keep up. It was unfortunate that she needed to, but after her help with those two fools, Lotus wasn't about to ditch her fellow faunus.

As they drew closer, the sound of multiple shots rang out, echoing through the trees. Lotus recognized the heavy thud of Crescent Rose's massive rounds being fired and glanced back at Blake.

"Where is that?"

Blake slowed and focused on her hearing, listening in to each shot. Her ears twitched atop her head, disturbing the bow. Her amber eyes opened, focusing a bit off to their right, "That way."

Lotus burst into a sprint, willing to leave Blake behind for the moment with the sounds so close. After another thirty seconds of running, the tree line broke open into a wide clearing. Oath appeared in her hands by reflex as Lotus aimed it at the back of one of the dozen beowolves. Her shotgun boomed out, ripping a hole through one of their chests. Those nearest whipped around, snarling at the new intruder that had stumbled upon them.

Lotus ignited the blade with lightning dust and let it fully extend, now three full feet of electrified blade. She dashed forward and attacked the grimm, a flurry of slashes and cuts that tore them to shreds as easily as a hot knife through butter. In only a handful of moments, the grimm lay in pieces on the ground.

A cloud of black grimm's dust hung in the air, as the last of the beowolves began to disintegrate. Lotus scanned the clearing and spotted Ruby, finishing up a fight of her own, and behind her…

' _No…_ ' Lotus rubbed a hand across her face in annoyance, ' _The Schnee of all people!?_ ' Lotus was dimly aware of Blake arriving, the pair of them still obscured by the thick black cloud.

"Looks like the heiress found her first," Blake remarked sadly, eyeing Lotus to see how she was taking it, "Do you want to try and get her to break the rules?"

Lotus watched Ruby for a few more seconds, then shook her head, "The Schnee would never do that. Not after what I said to her…" Lotus could see Ruby smiling at her new partner, both of them congratulating each other on their kills.

Lotus's heart ached as she turned away. She felt betrayed, even though it wasn't Ruby's fault. 'The first person you make eye contact with' was one of the most ridiculous ways to pair people up that Lotus had ever heard of. Lotus stepped back with Blake, out of the clearing and back behind the trees.

"... Let the humans partner up…" she gave Blake a weak smile, "You needed a teammate, right...?"

"Are you sure…?"

Lotus held out a hand, "... I wouldn't make another faunus take a _Schnee_ for a partner..."

Blake took an extra second to consider, but accepted the handshake with a smile, "I think we'll get along just fine."

With only a brief moment to reorientate herself, Lotus nodded her head in the direction that the ruins should be in. The two set off at a brisk pace, leaving behind the pair of humans that were only then beginning to bicker…

* * *

"We've successfully recovered Winchester and Bronzewing," Oobleck's voice buzzed through the pad that Glynda held, announcing their success, "The damage they sustained doesn't appear to have been from a Grimm, though…"

"Well done, Barty. I'll fill you in on the details later. For now, get those two extracted and wait for further instructions."

"Sir," Oobleck's coms buzzed off, disconnecting for the time being.

Ozpin swirled his coffee and watched the display that currently tracked both the Black Lotus and Miss Belladonna, "Now that is an unforeseen turn of events."

"Professor?" Glynda frowned from nearby, watching another portion of the feed, "Are you going to do anything about the attack?"

"It was more like self-defense, Glynda," Ozpin sipped his coffee, ' _And would have ended much worse for both those boys if not for Miss Belladonna's arrival._ ' Ozpin had no doubt that a frustrated Black Lotus wouldn't have hesitated to tear those two apart on any other day, ' _It is not that simple to turn over a new leaf. At least she shows restraint when others are present._ '

Still, an ex-assassin and an ex-White Fang member had ended up partnering together, of all things. Ozpin couldn't help but feel the threads of fate manipulating events to their own liking. ' _If only you had been here, Amber…_ ' with the Relic of Choice locked away, he could not manipulate events as he usually would each year. A simple suggestion in their minds of which piece to grab was all it would take to bring them together. Ozpin could have guaranteed that Miss Mandevilla end up on a team with her friends from Mistral and Miss Rose.

' _Now? I can only hope that none of them beat her to grabbing the piece she needs…_ '

* * *

Yang blasted over the trees, firing off round after round of her gauntlets to propel herself further than any of the other initiates. The trees were rushing up to meet her, and with a quick succession of shots, she hit the ground in a roll.

"Whew!" Yang raised a hand to whip off her glasses, "I _can_ go the distance!"

She pocketed the shades and squinted through the forest, ' _Now, where was I supposed to go?_ ' "Pretty sure it was that way."

Yang began her march through the forest, keeping an eye out for either the grimm or other first years, "Hello!?" she called out loudly, cupping her hands together, "Anybody there!?"

There was no response other than the rustling of wind through the leaves above her. Yang let out a 'hmph' and kept walking. She called out occasionally, and was continually met with silence for her efforts, ' _Why did they have to shoot us out into such a big forest? This isn't even a challenge!_ ' Yang was half tempted to rush off and try to get to the ruins first, but she didn't want to do that _alone_. The entire point was to find yourself a partner before you got there.

Yang stopped in the middle of a clearing. The grass reached up almost to her knees, and the area was surrounded on all sides by massive trees, "Helloooooooo!?" Yang called out once again.

The bushes nearby shifted, drawing Yang's attention towards that edge of the clearing, "Hello? Is someone there?" her voice was clipped and excited.

The pair of massive ursa growled in response, shuffling out of the tree line and into sight, large red eyes burning in Yang's direction. The blonde let out an exasperated sigh, "You didn't happen to see any other students around, did you?"

The larger of the two roared and stood up on its hind legs, its body covered in a multitude of dull grey bones. Pieces jutted up from its arms and back, resembling teeth that really didn't belong there.

"I'll take that as a _no_ ," Yang pumped her fists, loading the next shot in each of her gauntlets, "How about some ruins?"

The lead ursa charged across the gap between them, forcing Yang to dive out of the way to avoid it. Ursa were strong, but slow. Anyone dexterous enough like Yang could keep out of their grasp without too much effort, making their strength mute. Yang fired off a shot and watched it explode against the ursa's flank. It roared in pain and spun back around.

Yang fired off a few more shots and then turned back in time to roll away from its sudden charge. She switched targets, aiming for the other ursa while the first recovered, "I could do this all day!"

A red and gold spear flashed out of the trees and pierced deeply into the neck of the smaller ursa. It tried to growl in pain, but only gurgled as it slumped to the ground. Black ichor leaked from the wound, and the body itself slowly began to disintegrate.

Yang turned to see a familiar figure standing at the edge of the tree line and smiling at her, "Nice shot!" the blond cheered as she was forced to flip backwards to avoid the larger ursa.

Yang dashed back into range of the ursa and punched it in the chest, firing off her gauntlet at the same time. The grimm recoiled, knocked backwards by the force of her punch and the shotgun round blasting it in the same spot. She followed it up with another, and another. A quick succession of rounds pounded into the ursa's chest, until it finally crashed backwards through a tree, a smoking crater left where its chest had once been.

Pyrrha pulled her spear free from the ursa's throat and looked over the damage Yang had caused, still smiling, "A little on the extreme side, don't you think?"

"Whaaaaaat?" Yang looked over the smashed trees and scorched earth beneath her feet, "I think that was _just_ right." She took the time to reload completely, having used the majority of her rounds since getting launched off the cliff, "So, I know this is sudden, but I'm sort of in a competition with a friend to see who can get to the ruins faster. You in?"

"How could I refuse a challenge like that?" Pyrrha chuckled, "Lead the way."

* * *

Weiss was beginning to think coming to Beacon had been a _mistake_. Here she was, out in the middle of the forest for Initiation, with a child that wouldn't stop complaining and just _let her think for a second_.

The heiress scanned the forest around them and sighed, "It should be that way."

"That's what you said the last five times!" the small child stomped behind her, arms crossed and a pout on her face.

" _Yes_ , and now I've narrowed it down," Weiss tried to explain. She knew her voice was coming across as impatient. She couldn't help it, especially after how her morning had gone already, ' _That faunus girl was so out of line! I would never do anything like that!_ ', but it was the price of being a Schnee, after all. A price that she _thought_ she could get away from, but apparently, there _was_ no getting away, not for her.

"Oh, okay. Five _more_ circles and we should be well on our way then, right?"

"Hey! I'm doing my best! I don't see you offering up any suggestions!"

"I said we should turn left back at that big rock!"

"I meant _good_ suggestions! That would have led us right back to where we were before!"

"You mean like we are now anyway!?"

Weiss put a hand up, letting herself relax for a moment so that she could take the edge out of her voice, "Fighting won't get us anywhere, either. Let's put our heads together on this. What _can_ we do?"

The child finally managed to listen to reason and paused with her mouth open. She closed it and slumped, "I don't _know_ … My friend was supposed to meet up with me. _She_ knew where the ruins were."

"Well, your friend isn't here right now. _We_ have to figure this out. The ruins were supposed to be on the other side of the forest, right?" Weiss scanned the tree tops and pointed up towards a noticeably thicker branch that reached up past the foliage, "Can you climb that and get a look around? If you can see the cliffs we started at, then we should keep heading _away_ from them."

"Pfft, can I climb a tree," the girl replied mockingly. She pulled her ridiculously massive scythe off her back and charged up the side of the tree in a burst of speed, then used the blade to wrap around a branch and launch herself even higher. In only a few seconds, she clung to the top of the branch that Weiss had pointed out.

' _That wasn't half bad…_ '

Weiss cupped her hands together to shout up at the girl, "Do you see anything!?"

"Yeah!" she called down, then pointed mostly back the way they'd come from, "The cliffs are back that way!" she shuffled on the branch to look ahead, "We're not far off. We need to head a bit more to the right!"

"Okay! Come on down!" Weiss yelled finally, then turned to face the direction the girl had pointed out. There was the sound of a gun firing, and then the thud of the girl landing next to her.

The pair set off together, at times having to cut their way through the underbrush, but maintaining their path as well as they could. Weiss was partially distracted. Each time she opened her mouth to say something, her mind went to their previous conversations.

' _She was expecting a friend and found me instead… Not that I mind so much, this girl wouldn't have been_ _ **my**_ _first pick either, but at least she's better than getting that faunus as a partner. That would have been a nightmare,_ ' Weiss's cheeks tinged slightly from her own internal monologue, ' _Not because I'm racist! She was just cruel! Who says things like that to someone they don't even know!?_ '

And she'd embarrassed herself in front of Pyrrha Nikos by _crying_. No, that morning had not gone very well. Getting stuck with a child as a partner was the least of her worries. ' _Still… I'll take this over attending a school in Atlas. Everyone would be more kind, but I'd never know if that was because they liked me… or my family's money._ '

"So…" the girl awkwardly coughed to try and break the tension, "What's your weapon's name?"

' _My…?_ ' Weiss frowned at her but answered, "Myrtenaster. I suppose I'll ask what yours is called."

"Crescent Rose!" the girl hugged the scythe in its collapsed state, rocking her arms back and forth like she was holding a baby, "We're going to travel the world together, saving people and killing monsters!"

"I'll admit… you did well against the beowolves back there. Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon, though?" Weiss _had_ been wondering, and now was as good a time as any to ask.

"The headmaster let me in two years early," the girl confided, giving a self-conscious shrug, "I beat up a bunch of bad guys and they caught it on camera…"

"So you're a vigilante?"

"I prefer superhero."

There were a few seconds pause in the conversation while the girl waited for Weiss to challenge her interpretation of events. Instead, she gave an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry you didn't meet up with your friend. Who was it?"

"Olivia," the girl seemed to skip a step when she said the name and shot an uncertain glance at Weiss, "She… doesn't like you."

"You mean that faunus girl!?" Weiss placed a hand against her face and closed her eyes, ' _Of all people…_ '

"She isn't 'that faunus girl'. She's Olivia! O-li-vi-a."

"I didn't mean-," Weiss threw her hands up in exasperation, "I'm guessing she told you I was a racist."

"... I mean…" the girl nervously played with the frill on one of her sleeves, "Olivia said you were… I told her that she should give you a chance…" two wide, hopeful silver eyes turned to stare into Weiss's own, "I was right, wasn't I? You might be a bit _bossy_ , but you don't seem like a terrible person…"

"I'm _not,_ " Weiss confirmed vehemently, "Also I'm not bossy."

"You're a _little_ bossy."

Weiss sighed and shook her head, "I should have left you to the beowolves…" when the girl's face paled, Weiss waved her hands in front of herself, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"

"Oh," the girl smiled, "You know, if you say jokes like that in front of Olivia she might actually like you."

"Why would I _want_ her to like me?" Weiss asked, once again frowning at the girl.

"Well… Olivia and I are friends… and now _you're_ my partner…"

"I see what you mean," Weiss crossed her arms, "Unfortunately, it isn't up to me whether or not we get along. _I_ have done nothing wrong. _She_ has insulted me on multiple occasions."

"Can you really blame her…?" the girl hesitantly glanced away and then back to Weiss with a bit more determination in her eye, "Olivia said the SDC uses faunus slaves for their labor."

"That's ridiculous. All of our workers are _employees_. They get _paid_ for it," Weiss shook her head in exasperation, "It's no wonder she hated me on sight if she's _that_ misinformed."

Weiss could tell the girl was uncomfortable with her answer, but refused to phrase it any differently, ' _Honestly, who would believe something like that?_ ' Weiss's tutors had been teaching her all about it since she was barely out of diapers. The SDC didn't use _slaves_ , that would be illegal.

The pair ducked as the sound of rushing wings swooped overhead, the trees swaying in the sudden buffeting breeze stirred up by its forty foot wingspan. The girl whipped out her scythe and watched it pass. One beady red eye stared down through the trees at them before it's attention shifted ahead, in the direction they were going.

"Looks like it's going for the ruins. We should hurry," the girl stated, replacing her scythe to her back.

"You're right. It's _massive_. They'll need our help," Weiss sheathed Myrtenaster and began to run at a brisk pace. The girl kept up easily enough, seeming hardly affected as tree trunks and bushes blurred by.

The elder nevermore disappeared from sight with another loud screech.

Gunfire answered it in the distance.

* * *

"How about a cute little pony!?" Yang snagged the golden knight piece and raised it up for Pyrrha to see.

"That sounds splendid," Pyrrha giggled, looking at the rest of the pieces that remained, "It appears at least one team beat us here. Do you think it was your friend?"

Yang crossed her arms and laughed, "No, she would have stayed to _gloat_."

Pyrrha's next words were interrupted as an unholy screech erupted from the trees at the edge of the clearing. Both the girls were instantly on alert as the enormous nevermore soared into sight, it's gaze fixated on the two of them. They shared a glance before retreating behind one of the pillars.

They weren't an instant too soon, as the ground around them was scattered with thick black feathers, each quill thicker than their forearms. The feathers buried themselves into the ground with enough force to crack through the stone floor, sending streaks of broken stone out like a web from each point. One of the feathers pierced through the pillar between the two of them, its point extruding out a foot past their faces.

Yang fired off a half dozen shots at the nevermore's retreating form, trying to lead her shots well enough to hit it. The blasts that managed to hit didn't seem to have the slightest effect.

"Maybe this isn't the best place to take cover?" Yang suggested with a tentative laugh.

"We should get out of the clearing," Pyrrha agreed. The two of them tracked the nevermore, seeing it swoop in a long arc, preparing for its return trip.

"Best to go now, I think," Yang took the lead as the pair of them sprinted out from behind the pillar and towards the trees they'd come from. They managed to dive into cover before the next volley of feathers slammed into the ground behind them, burying even deeper in the soft earth and showering their backs in dirt.

They watched as the nevermore once again banked off, preparing for a return trip. Yang glanced at the devastation it had already caused, and the ruins that it now guarded, "If we run now, we'll be leaving it for someone else to deal with. We need to help everyone."

"Agreed. It's too dangerous for us to leave," Pyrrha nodded her head behind Yang, who turned to look at a pair of boys that were headed their direction, "Others are already arriving. Are you ready?"

Yang reloaded her gauntlets and stepped out of the clearing, "Let's do this!"

* * *

Lotus slowed as Blake held up her hand, both stopping to listen more closely. The cat faunus's ears twitched beneath her bow as Blake concentrated, eyes closed for the moment. They snapped open as she nodded with her chin in a direction ahead of them and slightly to the left.

"Gunshots," her ears twitched a few more times, "A _lot_ of gunshots."

"That's around where the ruins are. We should hurry," Lotus broke off into a run, confident that her partner could keep up. Blake had been holding their pace for a good amount of time, and hadn't even broken a sweat yet. ' _Damn it. Others beat us to it,_ ' Lotus felt the hole in her chest deepen, ' _Please still be there…_ '

They'd been stalled even longer by a herd of boarbatusks that had been on their heels. Despite their overall lack of strength, the boar grimm were more than capable of keeping up with the two faunus, and they'd been forced to deal with them. They'd lost even more time because of it, time that Lotus couldn't get back.

After another minute of running, Lotus could hear the shots for herself. One set sounded familiar enough, ' _Yang_ ', while there were quite a few others mixed in, "You weren't kidding. That _is_ a lot."

"What do you think they're fighting?"

Lotus considered the question, "Something heavily armored or very mobile… Either that or an entire swarm of grimm came through."

"You think they'd leave a grimm that strong for us to fight in initiation?"

Lotus let out a short laugh, "I killed a deathstalker in these woods around a month ago," at Blake's shocked expression, she shrugged, "I had help."

The sounds of gunfire drew nearer. Lotus could now see flashes through the trees, dust rounds being fired up into the air as well as some fighting taking place on the ground level. A multitude of grimm had been drawn in by the fighting, beowolves, ursa, and boarbatusks were all in combat with the gathered students.

The shots aimed up were met with a loud shriek. Lotus watched as those that had been firing all ran back into cover before a flurry of black feathers pierced the ground where they'd been standing. Pyrrha and Yang numbered among them.

"Nevermore," Blake confirmed.

Lotus was too busy counting the amount of teams that had already arrived to pay any attention to the grimm, ' _Six!? Six teams beat us here!? If I ever see those boys again..._ '

Lotus wouldn't hold herself responsible.

Three loud 'thump' sounds announced Nora's presence as her grenade launcher fired, exploding in the air and offering some cover for another group of two that ran back across from the ruins. Ren was there right beside her, using his semblance to hide the two of them while Nora was out in the open.

"Ren!" Lotus called out as she arrived, pushing past a couple others to stand at the edge of the tree line and peek out. The nevermore had been knocked off course by the grenades and was now circling away, preparing for another attempt.

"Olivia!" Ren's face was washed with relief, "What took so long?"

"My launch pad was sabotaged and we ran into trouble on the way," Lotus replied flatly, not wanting to show too much of the burning hatred she felt, "Did you cross yet?"

Ren nodded, "It was too hectic to double check, but… I didn't see the matching piece. Someone already has it. We've only been here a couple minutes, but other teams have already gotten across to take their own."

' _Damn it!_ ' Lotus's fingernails dug into the aura on her palm. She looked across the clearing to the ruins. The ground between was littered with dozens upon dozens of thick black feathers that had pierced into the ground every which way. She turned back to look at Blake, "I hope you're agile."

Blake scoffed, stretching her legs, "That's one way to put it."

Lotus peeked out from behind the tree line. The nevermore had banked off to its left, and was slowly making its way back for a return trip. She gave Nora a quick smirk, "Do you mind?"

"My pleasure!" Nora dipped out of the trees, Ren in tow, and fired off another volley of grenades. They all exploded midair, creating a thick cloud of pink mist that blocked sight to the ground below.

Lotus charged out of the woods, headed for the ruins with Blake right behind her. The nevermore shrieked in frustration from above, soaring past. The wind generated from its wings whipped through the pink cloud, dispersing it enough for a pair of beady red eyes to lock in on them. It wheeled off, quickly preparing for its next strafe.

Lotus and Blake ran between the feathers that already marred the ground, keeping pace with each other and an eye on the nevermore. With only a couple dozen feet left to go, the two dove into cover. Lotus's eyes darted to the chess pieces that remained, confirming for herself that the match to Ren and Nora's was indeed missing. Her heart dropped out of her chest entirely.

' _I was too late…_ ' First the two boys had chosen initiation of all times to get their vendetta, then Ruby had made friends with the Schnee, and now this? Her anger boiled into a cold fury, ' _Why!? This should have been easy!_ ' The nevermore screeched once more, drawing her ire.

"Choose whatever you want, Blake," Lotus could tell her voice had fallen into a monotone, stripped of emotion along with what hope she'd had left, "I'll take care of the nevermore."

Blake paused in the middle of grabbing one of the pieces, "Wait, what? You can't take that thing on _alone!_ That's crazy!"

"Is it?" Lotus used the feathers that had stuck into the stone ruins to pull herself to the top, now standing in the open, forty feet above ground level, "I'd just call it 'letting loose'..."

The nevermore's red eyes glowed as they locked on to Lotus, both wings adjusting their arc to instead prepare to swoop down on the exposed faunus. Lotus drew Oath from her back and set it to its sickle form, igniting the lightning dust along its edge as she did. There were frantic shouts from both Blake below, and Ren and Nora from across the clearing. Lotus ignored them and focused instead on her prey.

It had been long, _too long_ , since she'd put her all into killing something.

The nevermore approached, hurtling towards Lotus in a partial dive. ' _Sixty feet… forty feet… twenty,_ ' she drew Oath back in her arm, and with the strength of all four appendages, hurled her weapon end over end in the grimm's direction. Already so close and incapable of avoiding the weapon streaking towards it, Oath buried itself into the nevermore's chest, curved blade biting all the way down to the hilt.

A scream of pain washed over Lotus as the nevermore blew past, its body and muscles seizing up from the lightning coursing through its veins. It careened off to the side and slammed into the ground, beak and talons leaving deep furrows through the soft earth. It thrashed there for a few more moments, body straining to get itself upright and into the air. Its struggles weakened, each attempt appearing less likely than the last, until finally, it collapsed on its side. There were a few more futile attempts, then silence. The surrounding black feathers began to turn into a black ash, signalling the nevermore's true demise.

Lotus activated the gravity dust in her glove and weapon, watching as it tore itself free in a shower of black ichor before spiralling end over end back to her hand. She caught it deftly, transforming it back to its full length blade and slashing it through the air to rid it of blood in one smooth motion. Lotus collapsed it and returned Oath to her lower back before dropping down off the ruins.

Blake hadn't yet moved, and was instead standing their aghast at what had just transpired. Lotus nodded her head back across the clearing, "Let's go. It's safe now." Her voice still lacked any emotion, but it was better than giving in to the anger she felt. She started to lead the way, hands at her sides, forced to remain loose instead of in fists.

Lotus could feel the slight hesitation in Blake's steps, the way her eyes furtively searched Lotus's figure, ' _Did that scare her?_ ', she shook her head, ' _I would hope anyone might appreciate having a strong partner…_ ' She decided to leave it alone for now.

"Holy crap, Olivia!" Nora exclaimed as they drew closer, "Nice shot!"

Her friend's exuberance did manage to cheer Lotus up a little, but it was immediately quenched as a reminder that they wouldn't be on the same team. Several of the other students there were looking at her with a mixture of awe and fear, while most others were still further into the tree line fighting smaller grimm and hadn't noticed.

Lotus waved it off, "I got lucky, that's all," she eyed the remaining students in the distance, noting that Pyrrha and Yang were among them, and that Ruby and Weiss had finally arrived. ' _I can't deal with the Schnee right now…_ ' Lotus raised her hands behind her head, trying to appear relaxed, and turned back to Blake, "Ready to head back?"

Blake nodded, eyes firmly set, "Let's get out of this forest."

Nora and Ren came with them as they travelled back at a more leisurely pace. Lotus interjected into their conversation here and there, making it clear to Blake that the two Mistralians were 'some of the good ones', but ultimately left it up to her whether or not she wanted to reveal herself as a faunus. Aside from that, she simply listened to them talk. Lotus couldn't help but get the feeling that Blake was lying about her past, ' _Takes one to know one,_ ' but left it alone for now.

With the Beacon cliffs back in sight, the four climbed back up along a winding trail to return to the top of the plateau.

' _At least it can't get any worse…_ '

* * *

' _If there is a god, they hate me…_ '

Lotus seethed beneath the surface, but outwardly tried to appear calm and composed. It was a difficult task, all things considered.

"Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna, Olivia Mandevilla, and Weiss Schnee. Your teams both reclaimed the black rook pieces, and will henceforth be known as Team Rainbow," Ozpin stood with his head held high, looking over the four girls in front of him, "I wish you all the best of luck."

The crowd cheered loudly, but those that knew Lotus were not among them. They looked on in concern as she refused to even glance at the heiress, ' _Ruby and Blake… Ruby and Blake…_ ' it was the only way to calm herself down.

' _This is going to be a long four years…_ '


	31. Importance of a Name

Lotus furiously gathered up her belongings from the school locker and marched upstairs ahead of the rest of her team, ' _How the hell could this happen!? A Schnee… a fucking Schnee! And team 'Rainbow'? What kind of nonsense is that!? Widow would be rolling in laughter if she found out!_ ' The only solace had been the Schnee's surprise at _Ruby_ being chosen as leader. Lotus didn't mind. _Anyone_ was better than the racist.

Stopping in front of the door to their new dorm, Lotus swiped her scroll past it to unlock the door and slammed it open, revealing the decently sized room with four beds aligned across the far end. Lotus dropped her things next to the right most bed and extracted some clean clothes and a towel. The team announcements had been directly after Initiation finished, and the spider faunus still needed to take a shower.

Lotus stepped into the bathroom and locked the door behind herself, turning to face the midsized tiled bathroom. It was nice enough, all things considered. Better than the one at her hotel room, at least. Lotus set her things down on the counter top and leaned against it, hands white knuckled against the edge.

She looked herself in the eyes and wasn't surprised to see it was as Ruby had described it long before. Lotus's eyes were cold, her mouth set in a grim line that refused to move. It was the face of a killer, though the child couldn't have known that. Lotus shifted lower to lean her elbows against the counter and held her head in both hands.

' _This isn't how it was supposed to happen…_ ' For _years_ she'd dreamt of coming to Beacon, hopefully getting on a team with Ren and Nora, and enjoying a new life, ' _Now? I'll be lucky to last a week without killing that arrogant brat._ ' Lotus remained that way for a few minutes, willing herself to try and calm down. The sounds of her team arriving only served to reignite her hatred.

Lotus whipped the bathroom door open as they shuffled in and pointed to the bed closest to her own, "Blake, go ahead and take that one. Ruby, take the next one over." Lotus didn't even glance in the Schnee's direction, but the message was clear, ' _Stay as far away from me as possible_.' She shut the door again before any of them could respond. Through her sixth sense, she could feel them tentatively doing as she'd asked, which was at least a mild relief.

Lotus started the shower and undressed, hoping to distract her sixth sense with the water that fell across her body. It wasn't by much, but the constant vibrations caused by it did help to dull her senses. Lotus did her best to relax as she stood under it, ignoring the low murmur of conversation that could be heard through the door.

' _Maybe I could blackmail Ozpin into letting me change teams. I doubt anyone else knows his secret, whatever that is exactly. I've never felt anyone else with two souls before, let alone one as ancient as his. Then again, there might be a power that comes with that age,_ ' Lotus scrubbed a hand over her face, ' _That could just as easily end with me getting kicked out of Beacon._ '

Could Qrow put in a good word? He apparently knew the headmaster of Beacon, and Lotus would like to think they'd gotten fairly close over the last month, previous attempt at murder aside. Lotus could feel a headache beginning to form, and let the water wash over her head, drenching her shoulder length black hair.

' _I need to blow off some steam,_ ' she decided, quickly finishing up her shower and stepping out to dry off. Lotus's scroll was still in the pocket of her combat outfit, and she slipped it out to send a message.

" _I'm coming over. I don't care if Junior wants you working tonight._ "

" _No biggie. He still owes me for saving his ass and Miltia can keep an eye on the place,_ " Melanie's response buzzed back almost immediately, " _Got any plans?_ " the words were followed by a series of X's and O's.

" _Need to keep my mind off some things. Hope you're up to the task._ "

" _Always~_ " the message was followed by a heart. Lotus promised to be there within half an hour and finished drying herself off before getting dressed. She'd chosen the same outfit as the first night she and Melanie met; tight black jeans, a short cropped purple tank top, and a black coat with little to no back.

She grimaced when she saw herself in the mirror, ' _It's almost like a black version of the Schnee's…_ ' but decided to leave it on, ' _At least mine isn't frilly or poofed out at the cuffs like some kind of princess._ '

Lotus gathered up her other clothes and damp towel before opening the door. Three pairs of eyes turned towards her, looking for all the world like they wanted to have a group chat. Lotus rolled her eyes in annoyance and tossed the garments on the end of her bed.

"I'm going out. Don't stay up waiting for me or anything," Lotus directed her comment to Ruby in particular.

"You're going out _now?_ We have class in the morning!" the Schnee directed a disapproving frown in Lotus's direction, "We… _I_ was hoping to clear the air a little."

Lotus raised an eyebrow at the other two, having to unclench her teeth to speak, "Did either of you hear anything? I could have _sworn_ someone was speaking… Oh well. I guess it'll get ignored like _every_ faunus rights' protester."

"Oh, don't be so-!"

The Schnee's voice was cut off as Lotus walked out and ripped the door shut behind herself. The sound echoed down the hallway in both directions. Lotus was beginning to walk towards the stairway when she felt Ren and Nora approaching the door across from her team's. She stopped in place and watched it open.

"There's one piece of good news. You guys got the dorm across from us?" Lotus tried to smile, but could only twinge her lower lip.

"Is everything okay, Olivia?" Ren asked quietly, eyeing the door she'd slammed shut only moments before. Lotus could tell that none of her teammates were running to come after her.

"Oh, just going to go get my head straight. Thought I'd hit up Junior's," Lotus admitted.

"You mean Melanie?" Nora smirked.

Lotus did crack a small smile, "Maybe I do. I won't be back until tomorrow morning, at the very least."

Nora frowned in concern, "Don't skip class… I'm sorry we didn't get on the same team, but we still _want_ you at Beacon!" Ren nodded agreement.

"Don't worry… I won't throw my new life away over a Schnee… That would be pretty self-defeating, if you ask me," Lotus shrugged, "Doesn't mean I have to be happy about it."

"Are you going to be able to even sleep in your room?" Ren asked, recalling the reason she hadn't slept in the ballroom the previous night.

Lotus gave a tired laugh, "I hadn't even thought of that yet. No, I don't think I will. I don't think I'd _want_ to."

"Well, you're always welcome to stay with us," Nora offered.

Ren once again nodded, "Yang already knows you as well, and I doubt Pyrrha would take much convincing if it meant keeping the peace with your teammates."

Part of that realization still hurt. Yang of all people had been the one to grab the piece Lotus needed, long before she'd even had a chance to get there. The faunus didn't fault Yang in the slightest. The blonde hadn't been aware of the plan, and Lotus had even egged her on, thinking the strategy was a done deal. If anything, it made Lotus feel even more regret for her own arrogance.

"That would be nice," Lotus shared a smile before taking a step back, "But for _now,_ I'm going to get _wasted_ and forget about my problems for a little while. See you tomorrow."

"Have fun, Olivia," the pair waved to her as she turned her back, returning to the comfort of their dorm room.

'Fun' wasn't exactly what Lotus would call it. 'Drowning out her sorrows' was much more accurate.

The trip down into Vale was a bit more of a hassle than she'd been expecting. The pilot of the bullhead appeared to recognize that she was a new first year, and was hesitant in taking her down. A handful of lien changed his mind, though, and soon enough she was walking down the quiet lamp lit streets towards Junior's.

Lotus skipped the line of those waiting outside, and was instantly recognized by the pair of bouncers at the door. They allowed her inside without question, even going so far as to throw menacing looks at those in line that started to complain. Lotus ignored them and stepped inside, taking in the atmosphere on a busy Sunday night.

The bar was packed, but that wasn't really a problem. Lotus walked around to the side of the counter and caught Junior's attention. He was quick to finish up another patron's drink, then hustled over to where Lotus stood waiting.

"Didn't think I'd see you again until at least next weekend! School's that bad, huh?"

"Like you wouldn't _believe_ ," Lotus replied evenly, then nodded up towards the top shelf, "Give me the hardest you've got. I don't want to remember the last six hours."

Junior shrugged and snagged a thick glass bottle from the top shelf, well above what Lotus could have ever reached unassisted, and poured out a shot. Lotus slammed it back and grimaced, but set the glass back down and gestured for him to keep it coming.

Junior complied until Lotus had already downed six in a row. He pulled the bottle away, recorking it and setting it back on top of the shelf, "Pace yourself, kid. Any more and you could end up getting hurt."

"Awww…" Lotus started to speak, feeling the world shift around her, "Are you concerned for little ol' _me_ , Junior?"

"I don't need a dead kid on my hands," Junior replied. He sent a glare at the person on the nearest bar stool, forcing them to scurry off, and helped Lotus to sit down on it, "I'll let Melanie know you're here. Last I heard some of those friends of yours showed up. Think they had a surprise for you."

' _... friends?_ ' Lotus certainly hoped none of the others from Beacon had beaten her here somehow. In her state, it took a moment to realize who Junior was talking about. The only other friends he'd ever seen her here with. Lotus's mood raised as she sat, waiting for Melanie to show up.

Soon enough, her favorite girl in white showed up. Melanie smirked and grabbed Lotus by the hand, "Good news! Your friends got you a little celebration gift for getting into Beacon!"

Lotus waved her hand, "They didn't have to do _that!_ "

"I think you'll like it," Melanie smirked and led her across the room, pushing past anyone dumb enough to stand in their way. She was taken upstairs to a back room, one that Lotus and she had fooled around in before. Emerald stood outside and opened it as they approached.

"Congrats on getting into Beacon!" she was far more welcoming than she'd ever been previously. Lotus couldn't help but feel like her plan from so long ago had been a success. It was the only reason she could think of that would have so easily changed her mood.

They walked in with the lights off. While Lotus's night vision was better than a normal humans, it wasn't on the same level as a cat faunus. Feeling out with her sixth sense, she could dimly feel Cinder, Mercury, someone knew, and…

Emerald popped the light on after she shut the door, revealing the scene in full. Cinder flashed a welcoming smile, as did Mercury. Both stood to either side of a boy being held captive between them. A new girl that Lotus didn't recognize smiled from behind with a slight tilt to her head, dressed in a nurse's outfit. Lotus had to blink as it shimmered in place, transforming to another set of clothing altogether, ' _Madam Myrtle would be jealous._ '

Sitting between all three, bound to a chair and with a gag over his mouth, sat the ginger boy that had ruined her plans.

Cinder waved her hand towards him, gesturing for Lotus to come forward, "We heard about what happened during Initiation and thought you could use a little pick-me-up. Neo managed to sneak him out of the hospital with a little help from Emerald."

"Nice to meet you, Neo," Lotus gave a small nod of her head, happy to see that at least _someone_ was shorter than her.

Neo flashed a smile and used her fingers to form a heart.

"She can't speak," Cinder explained, "But I think that means 'You're welcome'." Neo smiled and nodded agreement.

Lotus recalled that the walls were thick and soundproofed, one of the reasons she and Melanie had chosen it in times past. She leaned forward and pulled the gag out of the ginger's mouth, grinning at the profound amount of fear in his eyes.

"Please let me go! I'm sorry! I shouldn't have-"

Lotus shrouded her arm and decked him across the face. It seemed his aura had only barely recovered after whatever drugs they'd given him. It immediately shattered. The blow went through and struck him hard across the jaw. Lotus heard a few of his teeth crack.

"Do you really think I'd let you go with just an _apology!?_ " Lotus sneered, "You _ruined_ my plans over a petty vendetta. Now I have to spend the next four _years_ with a damn Schnee!" Her other fist connected with his chest, directly against the bandages beneath.

The ginger gasped in pain, incapable of screaming out with the air knocked from his lungs. He struggled to breath, chest contracting around beaten muscles. Lotus activated her semblance fully, allowing each appendage to fill the space around her. With each being around fifteen feet in length, there wasn't much room to spare. Emerald and Melanie were gently pushed to the side as they unfurled, made to make way while the invisible legs poised to strike.

"Who knows. Maybe after four years I'll have learned to accept the Schnee, _or_ found a way to get rid of her. Either way… you won't be around to see it." Lotus gestured for Neo to move aside.

"No! Please-!"

All four appendages struck at once, aimed at the same point in the center of his chest. Each speared through, sending a spray of blood and gore out of his back along with bones that had been instantly shattered into small fragments. His face slackened immediately, eyes stuck wide open in absolute terror. Lotus withdrew her appendages roughly and stared at the blood that came with them, staining each limb so that the last two feet were visible to all.

"Good riddance," Lotus sneered, allowing her appendages to vanish.

Mercury gave a low whistle of appreciation at the wide hole left in the ginger's chest, "Remind me not to get on your bad side." Neo stood off to the side, eyes wide, while Melanie and Emerald averted their gaze.

Cinder smiled in appreciation for the display, "Now _that's_ the Black Lotus I've heard so much about."

Lotus took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "That was more therapeutic than you can imagine."

Cinder laughed, "Oh, I've had my fair share of satisfying kills, one of which _was_ thanks to you."

"Glad I could be of service," Lotus smiled. Some of the weight had been lifted off her chest. She had no doubt that being on the same team as the Schnee was still going to be hell, but at least now she'd have _one_ fond memory to think back on whenever the princess got to be too unbearable.

Cinder nodded, "I wanted to do this for you as a sign of good faith. Emerald, Mercury, and Neo will be joining me as transfer students to Beacon starting tomorrow. Unfortunately, I don't believe we should be seen with each other. Why bring down the entire ship if only one gets caught?"

Lotus smiled, "That's at least one bit of good news. A few more friendly faces around campus, so to speak. Even if we are barred from interacting."

"Outside of Beacon is fair game. If you happen to get the itch and need to _relieve_ some pent up aggression, feel free to contact us through Melanie. I'll have plenty of 'activities' available throughout the year."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Lotus nodded, "I am trying to stop, though."

Mercury laughed, "Pretty hard to quit anything cold turkey. Especially when it's something you're so good at."

"Eh," Lotus shrugged, "I'm hoping the grimm can fill that roll. I might have to go on a few moonlit strolls through the Emerald Forest to clear my head," she flexed her back, "It feels _so_ much more satisfying cutting loose with my semblance."

"I don't know how you resist," Cinder remarked lightly, giving another appreciative glance to the hole in the ginger's chest. It was wide enough to easily see through to the other side.

"We'll take care of the body," Mercury promised, nodding his head towards Melanie, "Don't keep your lady waiting too long."

Melanie's hand slipped into Lotus's, who allowed herself to be pulled back towards the door, "You know, Miltia is around here somewhere. Bet you could get in a round two for yourself, champ."

Mercury laughed, "Maybe another time," he eyed the mess Lotus had made, "I've got my work cut out for me here."

Lotus gave him a small salute as she was dragged out the door and further up the hall, Melanie wasting no time in getting out of that room. While she was a bodyguard for Junior, who was by no means running a legitimate business, Lotus guessed she wasn't exactly the most _seasoned_ of killers, either.

After claiming one of the private rooms for themselves, Lotus lost herself in sex and alcohol. She made sure to get topped off more than once throughout the next few hours, and was joined in that endeavor by Melanie. They both passed out from a mixture of alcohol and exhaustion, wrapped in each other's embrace and surrounded by empty bottles littering the floor around their bed.

For those few hours, she managed to forget all about Weiss Schnee.

* * *

Ozpin rubbed a hand across his temple and stared at his screen, the various teams prominently displayed, ' _Could this have gone any worse?_ ' His hope for the Black Lotus was failing, already, ' _At the very least, she is on a team with Miss Rose. It was the correct move to make her the leader, I believe. Perhaps her good natured attitude and general naivety will rub off on the other three… Making Miss Schnee the leader would have been outright foolish, and Miss Belladonna would have been dubious at best._ '

No matter who Ozpin picked, _one_ of them would need to reign in the Black Lotus. He'd also set up her Mistralian friends, Ren and Nora, across the hall from team Rainbow as a safety net of sorts. She wouldn't need to go far to seek comfort, or at least that was what Ozpin _hoped_. The Black Lotus had left Beacon shortly after entering her room, and beyond the boundary of the academy grounds, Ozpin couldn't track her scroll.

' _Perhaps all is not lost. I originally hoped for Miss Belladonna and Miss Schnee to end up on a team together so that both might see the error in their ways. Though, Miss Belladonna is not nearly as volatile as Miss Mandevilla. I'll have to keep a very close eye on them for the time being… and make it clear that I'm doing so to avoid any unfortunate 'accidents' befalling Miss Schnee…_ '

The young Schnee heiress being murdered in her sleep by a faunus would hardly be beneficial to _either_ side, faunus or human. Jacques wouldn't hesitate to smear Ozpin's name _and_ the idea of faunus and human coexistence. Tensions would certainly rise beyond what they had for many years since the war with the faunus had ended, as would grimm activity in response.

' _A very close eye, indeed_ ,' Ozpin glanced over at his other screen as the light for the elevator blinked on, a small video appearing to display its sole occupant. Ozpin pressed the single key required to allow Qrow up to his office. The ancient wizard had some difficulty bringing his expression back to a controlled state before the doors dinged open.

"What's up, Oz?" Qrow announced his arrival with a small wave and stepped into the room, approaching the opposite side of Ozpin's desk.

"Have your nieces messaged you at all?" Ozpin asked simply, wanting to start their conversation there.

"Yang did say they'd all passed, but that was obvious. Ruby sent a few concerning messages about Olivia running off already... Any ideas why?"

Ozpin steepled his fingers, "It would appear that Miss Mandevilla is very… opposed… against one of her teammates. Due to the pieces they all grabbed, she was joined by Miss Rose and... Weiss _Schnee_."

Qrow frowned, "You thinking she might be ex-White Fang? The kid's good; better than any White Fang _I've_ ever fought."

"Whatever her past may be, the fact remains that she did indeed leave quite soon after the teams were announced. I'm afraid of what trouble she may get herself into in such a state."

"That can't be it, right?" Qrow gave Ozpin a troubled look, "There's gotta be more to it than that."

Ozpin sighed and lowered his hands, "Miss Mandevilla was planning on cheating to dictate for herself what team she would end up on," he raised a hand as Qrow began to protest, "It was _my_ plan as well. I saw the opportunity to guarantee what would have been a solid team, and took it."

"What did you do…?" Qrow's voice was low with concern.

"The cameras near the Eastern gate picked up on Miss Mandevilla heading out into the Emerald Forest, perhaps to get further training in before Initiation. I used the tracker as a guide to gain her attention and feigned obliviousness. She followed me out to the ruins and watched me place the 'relics', then when I left, took one for herself. Unfortunately, my hope that she would take _both_ pieces to a matching set was wrong. I believed you may have revealed more than you admitted, and so she only grabbed one."

"I _told_ you I didn't," Qrow grumbled, giving Ozpin a disapproving scowl, "Then what? No way would she not get there first if she knew where it was."

Ozpin held up his hands, "At times, I get ahead of myself. Though the plan _still_ would have gone over well enough if it were not for two of the other applicants. They sabotaged her launch pad and then confronted her in the forest, looking to knock her out of the race."

"How'd that go?"

"One is currently in the hospital with copious amounts of aura enhancers keeping him stable. The other was wounded by another student that came to her aid, but is otherwise alright."

Qrow grimaced, "I've seen for myself the kind of power she has behind those fists."

"Indeed. Mr. Winchester's aura hardly made a difference. His rib cage was broken in quite a few places and he had severe internal bleeding. Though I'm sure her emotions simply got the better of her. As far as I'm aware, he hasn't regained consciousness long enough to form a complete sentence, let alone press any charges."

Qrow swore loudly and sighed, "Any idea where she ran off to?"

"Out of Beacon, at the very least. That was a few hours ago. She hasn't returned since."

Qrow pulled out his scroll, already typing out a message into it, "Alright. I'll see what I can do. Let me know if… _when_ she shows back up."

"Will do," Ozpin nodded as the doors closed and Qrow was lost to sight. His scroll buzzed afterwards, a message appearing from the attendant at the hospital who he'd asked to keep him informed.

" _Cardin Winchester has passed away due to unforeseen complications. Internal damage was too severe for the aura enhancers. Time of death: 9:27._ "

Ozpin checked the clock. The boy had died only two minutes ago.

' _This is going to be difficult to cover up… I'll have to contact my sources in the news and have them run the story of Mr. Winchester's heroic death to injuries sustained from the grimm… I will need to speak with Mr. Bronzewing and convince him that it is for the best. Tampering with Beacon equipment to skew test results is a major offense, as well as assault. Attempting to bring the truth to light would not only stain Mr. Winchester's name, but bring himself into legal trouble that he couldn't hope to defend against._ '

Ozpin began messaging his contacts, and put in a request to the police department for the immediate retrieval of one 'Dove Bronzewing'.

' _This is going to be a long night…_ '

* * *

Lotus woke to a pounding headache, and the vibration of her scroll's alarm going off somewhere across the room. She shifted in bed, feeling herself still pressed up against Melanie and blinked her eyes open blearily.

"Hmm…" Melanie sighed, already awake, and ran a hand down Lotus's body, coming to a stop on her hip, "Good morning."

"Is it?" Lotus groaned, rolling on to her back so that Melanie's hand rested on her stomach, " _Last night_ was good. This _headache_ is awful."

"We could make it better~" Melanie leaned over to press her lips against Lotus's, hand moving to explore further down.

Lotus broke off the kiss after a few seconds, tempted by the offer, but knowing better than to be late on her first day of Beacon. She pulled Melanie's hand from between her legs then returned the kiss, willing to let that last a bit longer.

"I've gotta go," Lotus sighed. She climbed out of bed and stretched, then checked the time, ' _Eight o'clock. Don't classes start at nine?_ ' She glanced around the room and confirmed that it did indeed come with a bathroom, complete with a shower, "Perhaps a little pick me up before I do, though? I think we could both use a shower after last night~"

Melanie nodded with a smirk and followed her into the bathroom.

Half an hour later, Lotus was on her way to the airstrip, moving at a fast walk towards the bullheads stationed there. While there hadn't been much 'showering' going on, she had still managed to get off the smell of sex and alcohol from her body. It had done nothing to help her clothes, though, as she hadn't brought another pair with her to the club. The poignant aroma of whatever she'd drank clung to them, making her stomach churn with every step.

Lotus groaned as she spotted Qrow near the bullheads, standing with his arms crossed and eyebrow raised at her dishevelled appearance. She changed direction slightly, heading for him instead of the bullheads. A small delay wouldn't matter, there was still plenty of time to get back to the dorm and change into her school uniform.

"Did you sleep in a dumpster?" Qrow asked with a frown, then waved a hand in front of his face, wrinkling his nose, "Nevermind. I don't need you to answer that."

"I wouldn't expect you to be so judgemental, Mr. Carries a Flask Everywhere He Goes," Lotus snipped back, giving a few feet of space between the two of them so that she wouldn't be subjecting Qrow to her own pain.

Qrow raised his hands, "Hey, I've had _more_ than a few nights hitting the bottle. Difference is, I'm not a seventeen year old freshman on my first day of class at the most prestigious huntsman academy in the world."

"What, you didn't do a little celebrating back in the day?"

" _Celebrating?_ Yes. Trying to drink away all my problems? Not until much later," Qrow confided, moving to steer Lotus towards one of the bullheads, "Ruby told me about you running off. She was really worried about you, ya know."

"It's not like I left for _fun,_ " Lotus replied, long since reminded of the problems she still faced, "I literally wouldn't have been able to sleep in the same room as that Schnee. My sixth sense would have been warning me all night."

"That bad, huh?" Qrow spared her a sympathetic frown, "You sure you aren't over reacting? I don't think a girl the same age as you could be responsible for much of what happened because of the SDC."

' _You'd be surprised how much 'people my age' can accomplish,_ ' Lotus thought to herself, "That doesn't change who she _is_ , or who she'll _become_. That Schnee will end up just like her father; another Master to the masses, lacking any empathy for those they abuse for their own gain."

"Not to play the God of Destruction's advocate, but doesn't that mean you have an _opportunity_ to change things? You have four years to help her see reason and turn her into a _better_ person."

"Her family already had _seventeen_ to make it useless to even try," Lotus replied offhandedly, ' _Honestly, it's easier to murder someone than it is to change their mind._ '

"All I'm saying is that you should at least make an attempt," Qrow shrugged, "You're too fixated on what you _believe_ instead of taking the time to see for yourself if you're _right_."

"Is grass green? Is the sky blue? Does being on a boat make me sick? There's a lot of things you don't need to read too far into to know they're true, Qrow," Lotus retorted.

"And yet, dying grass can be brown, the sky is black at night, and you'd be fine on a boat that wasn't in the water," Qrow replied back evenly, "Hell, kid, Mistral airships pretty much _are_ boats. Did you ever get sick on one of those?"

Lotus placed her head in her hands and closed her eyes, breathing deeply, ' _He doesn't understand. I could never be friends with a Schnee... Can I... confide some of it to him?_ ' It would certainly feel nice having another person in her corner…

"I…" Lotus began, but stopped, words refusing to leave her throat. It was a risk. She didn't know Qrow that well, not really…

"You…?" Qrow paused, waiting for her to continue, then sighed, "You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to, kid."

Lotus made up her mind and gathered her thoughts, planning out exactly what she wanted to reveal ahead of time, "Do you remember that night with the deathstalker, when I told you that a lot of people close to me died?"

Lotus waited for Qrow to nod before continuing.

"They were... the White Fang group I was a part of a long time ago. I didn't find out until recently that the only other survivor was the one that set us up… Even so, it was the _SDC_ that paid for the attack. I _can't_ forgive that, Qrow. Terrorists or not, they were my _family_ , and in one night… They were taken from me."

Qrow took a few seconds to respond, his face somber, "Tell me about them, kid. What were they like?"

She didn't see the harm in it, and as the bullhead docked against the Beacon platform, she began to tell Qrow about each and every one. Her tale skipped over their dark deeds, and instead focused on the good things about them. How they'd all come together to teach her different life skills, the fun times they'd shared, the plans they had all had for the future...

"I received my acceptance letter to Sanctum right before it happened, and afterwards… I was too angry to even consider taking Jace's advice. I'm... sure he'd be disappointed in me," she could feel tears brimming at the corner of her eyes and quickly wiped them away.

"I'm a _failure..._ "

Qrow raised his arms to the side, waiting to see if she was willing to accept his hug. She stepped into it and reciprocated, wrapping her arms around his back. It was nice… comforting… She stayed there for what felt like an entire minute, out in the courtyard in front of the Bullhead docks.

"You _aren't_ a failure," Qrow replied quietly, speaking finally as she pulled away, "And from the sounds of it, I think Jace would keep wanting what's best for you, no matter _what_ you did. The world lost what should have been a great huntsman. Don't let it take _two_."

"But… the things I've done since then… I don't think I could _ever_ forgive myself, Qrow. How could he?"

"What's the harm in trying? Do you really want to spend your entire life looking back at the past? Or do you want to forge ahead into the future? Who do you _want_ to be? _That's_ the girl that will make it in the end."

Jace's words, long since gone, but never forgotten, came back unbidden, ' _Do you really think they wouldn't be happy for you? You're a person that deserves to get what's best for them, just like anyone else._ '

"You think there's still hope…?"

"There's _always_ hope. I'm proof of that, kid."

' _After all this time… Everything I've done… How do I even begin? Who do I want to be?_ ' Memories returned of a life long since abandoned. A small girl in an oversized hoodie, ready to grow up and face the world… ' _That's who I want to be…_ '

Lotus… no… ' _Olivia_ ', felt the tears threatening to return and hugged Qrow once more, "I think it's about time I embraced that, huh?"

"The sooner the better, kid," Qrow laughed lightly as he checked his scroll, "There's only five minutes left before your first class."

Olivia pulled back and checked her own scroll, eyes going wide, "I'm gonna be late!"

"Better get a move on, then," Qrow swept his arm wide and stepped to the side, making room for Olivia to break into a sprint back towards her dorm. He cupped his hands together, calling out after her, "Tell Ruby I said to pay attention!"

Olivia kept that in mind as she ran through the halls. Late… but finally ready to try and make a difference.


	32. A Word to the Wise

The hallways were silent and empty, devoid of anything other than Olivia's footsteps drumming against the floor as she sprinted past door after door on her way back to her team's dorm. She turned the final corner and spotted Ruby in the distance, nervously waiting outside the door to their room.

"I left your uniform on your bed," Ruby said quickly as Olivia passed. The young team leader had left the door open, saving Olivia from having to pull out her scroll, "Uncle Qrow messaged me that you were on your way."

Olivia paused for a moment, the room having transformed overnight to be nearly unrecognizable. She spotted her school outfit on the bottom bunk on the right side of the room, her belongings piled near the end of it.

"What did you guys _do?_ " Olivia asked in surprise. She moved to her bed and tore off the clothes she was wearing right there in the open. She could feel Ruby averting her eyes behind her.

"Ummm, I hope you don't mind. We decorated, but not everything was going to fit with the beds like they were, so we turned them into bunk beds!" Ruby was holding a hand up to her face to block Olivia from view, "You and Blake are on that side, and Weiss and I are on the other."

Olivia eyed the stacked books holding up the bunk on her side, and the ropes that had been tied to metal hooks in the ceiling on Ruby's, "Are you sure that's _safe?_ It would be a _pity_ for your bed to fall on top of Weiss in the middle of the night."

"Pfft," Ruby waved her free hand dismissively, though whether or not she knew Olivia knew she had done so was dubious at best, "Her aura would protect her if that happens, and I _barely_ weigh anything."

' _Not believable. Got it,_ ' Olivia grimaced at the skirt that was part of the school's attire, but slid it on regardless, "These skirts are hideous."

"I kinda like 'em!"

"Because they're red, Ruby," Olivia finished up and stopped to glance in the mirror, "It's safe to turn around, kid. How do I look?"

Ruby lowered her hand and edged her eyes over to make sure Olivia really was fully dressed, "You look good!" she frowned, "We're supposed to button our jackets, though."

"Are we? I didn't read that in the pamphlet."

"There was a pamphlet?"

"Exactly," Olivia smirked, "Now are we going to class, or what?"

"R-Right!" Ruby darted back into the hallway and waited for Olivia, hand on the door. She followed her out and shrouded her limbs.

"Full speed, kid. Leader's can't be late day one."

"Got it!" Ruby dropped into a sprinter's stance, then burst into motion, semblance carrying her through the halls at an incredible speed. Rose petals drifted slowly to the ground in her wake, starkly contrasting their source.

Olivia whistled in appreciation before kicking into gear and following after. She was far faster than most, especially with the strength of two appendages given to both legs, but still nowhere near _Ruby_ levels of fast, ' _I was kidding myself thinking I'd keep up with her in the Emerald Forest._ '

Olivia followed the petal trail after Ruby disappeared from sight, through the twists and turns of hallways and back down several flights of stairs. It all eventually led to a classroom door on the ground level, situated along the left-most side of the building.

"Welcome to Grimm Studies!" Olivia could hear a voice booming out as she approached. The door had been left slightly ajar, petals stopping right before it. Olivia crept up and peeked inside. She couldn't see much aside from a few students, but her sixth sense gave her a good grasp of how the room was laid out.

Blake sat between Weiss and a heavily breathing Ruby. The cat faunus spotted her looking through the door and held up her hand slightly, cautioning Olivia to wait. With her sense, she could feel that the rotund teacher was currently facing the class. Thankfully, it appeared that team Rainbow had chosen the seats closest to the door.

"My name is Professor Port, and today we will be learning about a few of the many types of grimm that are most commonly found around Vale…"

Olivia felt him turn around to face the board, and at the same time, Blake frantically waved for her to hurry inside. Olivia took the opportunity and pushed through the open door, hoping whatever sound it might make would be lost beneath the teacher's own voice. Olivia scurried over and sat next to Ruby, who gave her a tired thumbs up.

Professor Port finished with whatever he'd been writing on the chalkboard before turning back around. His eyes immediately fell on Olivia, "Ah," he checked a clipboard on his desk, "Miss Mandevilla, was it? So glad you could join us! Thank you for volunteering for the demonstration."

"But I didn't-"

"Now then!" Professor Port cut off her objections and faced the rest of the class, "Can anyone tell me the average size of a beowolf pack?"

Olivia sat back in her seat and crossed her arms, choosing to let it go and get a feel for the rest of the class as well. There were ten teams in all, matching the amount of 'relics' that had been available during initiation. Ren and the others sat a couple teams down, also along the bottom row of seats.

Aside from the students and the teacher, Olivia could feel the boarbatusk locked away in the cage at the edge of the room and figured that was going to be part of the 'demonstration' that she had 'volunteered' for by being late. ' _If all the punishment I get is having to fight a stupid grimm then I'll count myself lucky._ '

Olivia leaned over to Ruby as she noticed the girl beginning to draw in her notebook, "By the way, Qrow said to pay attention," she eyed the half finished drawing of Port with mild amusement, "But I won't tell if you don't."

Ruby giggled and continued to draw, finishing up the bottom half of the professor with cartoonish flare.

"Ehem," the sound of the Schnee clearing her throat drew Ruby's attention, while Olivia refused to even bother acknowledging it.

' _Does she really think we need to pay attention to this?_ '

"-and there I was. Alone in the wilderness with only my wits, and my blunder-axe. Fifty beowolves howled across the forest, warning me of my impending doom-"

Olivia rolled her eyes and paid the minimum amount of attention she could. His aura was substantial enough, and hands calloused, but she couldn't _stand_ false bravado.

' _Weren't you going to try and be better?_ ' a small voice whispered in the back of her head, ' _Is this your idea of how to start a new life? You're acting like Lotus…_ ' Olivia sighed and bumped Ruby, who had gone back to doodling, "At least be a little less obvious, kid. Otherwise the Schnee will throw a fit, and I do _not_ want to listen to her squeal about some nonsense like having better manners."

Ruby set the pencil down, accepting Olivia's words where the Schnee's attitude had failed. She spent the majority of the lesson attempting to focus, but on the Professor's fifth story about managing to survive against unbeatable odds, couldn't help but zone out.

Her attention was snapped back into focus many minutes later, when Ruby saw fit to give her a nudge. Olivia raised her eyebrows in a silent question, then followed Ruby's gaze back to the Professor. He stood, waiting expectantly for Olivia to do something.

"Sorry, Professor. What's up?"

Professor Port ruffled his thick mustache in annoyance, "We are ready for the demonstration. If you would like to grab your weapon and change into your combat outfit, please do so now."

Olivia stood up and walked out to the front of the classroom, "No point. Let's get this over with."

"Are you sure? A huntress's equipment is paramount to her survival!"

"In a situation that warrants it? Sure," Olivia shrugged, "Like I said. Bothering for just this would be a waste of time."

"If you're certain…" the Professor waited a few more moments, eyebrow raised to see if Olivia would change her mind. When she continued to stand there, resolute, he huffed, "Well then, have it your way!" He swung his large axe down on the lock, snapping it to pieces.

The boarbatusk crashed out of the metal crate, breathing heavily. It's beady red eyes darted around the classroom before focusing on Olivia who stood casually out in the open. It snarled and charged, beginning to cross the short distance on four stout legs. It leveled its curved tusks in her direction, head covered completely in bony plates.

Olivia shrouded her right arm with a pair of appendages and struck down, meeting the boarbatusk in the middle of its charge. The muscle-bound grimm shrieked in pain as its head plates shattered, giving way to Olivia's hand as it drove straight through into the grimm's skull. It's body dropped at her feet, twitching one final time before black ash began to rise from its corpse.

Olivia withdrew her hand and limply flicked her wrist in an attempt to get some of the blood off, then yawned, "Maybe a beowolf next time? I might have to actually move from where I'm standing to dodge its claws or something," she used her other hand to point at the blood, "Mind if I go clean this off?"

"Y-Yes, very well!" the Professor turned back to the rest of the class as Olivia stepped out, looking for a bathroom with a sink. She stopped in place as the door closed, feeling two souls off to her left.

"Well done, Miss Mandevilla," Ozpin praised her, eyeing the black blood that covered her hand, "I was tuned in over my scroll. Port always does try and challenge one of the new students to fight a grimm each year. I suppose he chose poorly if he wanted to make a point this time around."

"A mistake anyone could make," Olivia replied carefully, unwilling to offend the headmaster, "Choosing Nora would have ended much the same, though she would have used her hammer. The odds were against him with pretty much anyone in that front row, honestly."

"Indeed. All on your team and those on team Lion showed exceptional talent during initiation," Ozpin sipped from the coffee mug he held, "If you don't mind waiting a moment, I wished to have a word with you."

' _With me?_ ' panic flashed through Olivia's mind, but was quickly smothered, "Shoot."

"Thank you for your time. While it is _allowed_ for students to visit Vale during the weekdays, it is highly suggested that you return to Beacon before midnight. It is an unofficial curfew of sorts, but I believe you will find it easier to arrive at class on time if you follow it."

"I'll keep that in mind…" Olivia answered with a nod, "Was that all…?"

Ozpin smiled, "Your academy attire fits you well," he leaned forward, voice lowering conspiratorially, "Don't worry. There aren't any rules against leaving your jacket unbuttoned. It is nice to stand out, is it not?"

Olivia narrowed her eyes a fraction before reclaiming her composure, ' _Was he listening in on Ruby and me somehow?_ '

Her fears were all but confirmed with what he said next, "However, bunk beds are not, due to the danger they impose. I won't tell anyone if you don't, though. I don't think any of the teachers have read that far into the school's pamphlet," he got a far off look in his eyes, "Except perhaps Glynda…" Ozpin shook his head, "No, even _she_ is not that diligent. It's quite a boring read."

"A-are we done here?" Olivia held up her blood soaked hand and shook it lightly, "I'd like to take care of this now, if that's alright."

"Quite alright!" Ozpin answered jovially, then took another sip of his coffee, "You'll find the restrooms set into an alcove down the hall. Also, your dorm bathrooms have a special bleach beneath the sink that is _especially_ good at getting the blood out of clothing… in case any of it got on your sleeve, that is."

Olivia nodded numbly and turned to leave.

"I enjoyed our talk, Miss Mandevilla. I hope to do so again soon."

The alcove that Ozpin had mentioned was easy enough to find, a sign jutting out partially into the hallway displayed an arrow along with the word 'Restrooms' across it. Olivia bumped the knobless door open into the girls' side and moved to the sink. Her hands shook as panic set in.

' _Okay… okay… let me think about this…_ ' Olivia turned on one of the faucets and stood with the hot water running over her hand, ' _What could Ozpin know about me?_ ' Olivia didn't think Qrow would have had time to tell him about her involvement with the White Fang, not so soon after she'd revealed it. Only a minute or two had passed between then and when she'd returned to the room and spoken with Ruby.

' _Unless he was recording everything and played it all back afterwards? We have been in class for nearly an hour already…_ ' Olivia shivered, feeling suddenly very self-conscious about undressing in the middle of their room as she had, ' _Is it even legal to have cameras set up in our dorms like that?_ '

Olivia took a moment to think back on what Ozpin had said… ' _Ruby mentioned putting the bunk beds together, and we talked about me leaving my jacket unbuttoned… I was also the one to mention the pamphlet. So… there's a chance it's only audio…_ '

' _Is there a camera in the hallway_?' Olivia pictured it in her mind, but couldn't recall seeing one after only being there twice, ' _Ruby still had the door open. A camera could have easily picked up what we said from out in the hall. I'll have to check the next time we go back to the dorm..._ '

Olivia hoped that was all it had been. The implications otherwise were disturbing, and in the case of their rooms being bugged with cameras, outright disgusting. She dispensed a bit of soap into her hand and began to wash it more thoroughly, making sure to get beneath her nails as well. It wasn't as easy as making blood disappear when it coated her appendages, but grimm blood came out much easier than human's or faunus.

The door opened and Ruby peeked inside, stepping in further when she saw that Olivia was there at the sink, "Professor Port gave us all assignments to do for homework. I snagged an extra one for you, as _any_ good leader would."

"Thanks, Ruby. What class is next?"

Ruby opened up her binder to the front page, where their class schedule had been set into the laminated pocket, "Ten fifteen, History of Remnant with…" Ruby frowned, squinting at the page slightly, "Doctor Oobleck. It _says_ Professor, but somebody scratched it out and wrote Doctor instead."

Olivia dried her hands off after she was satisfied that the blood had been taken care of, "So we have about fifteen minutes to get there, right?"

Ruby frowned, "Yes… but Weiss was kind of mad that I was almost late to the last class… Did you have something in mind?"

"Oh _no_ ," Olivia mocked lightly, "The princess was _mad?_ What _ever_ shall you do!?" she shook her head, "You can go ahead to the next class if you want. I just needed to go check on something back at the dorm. I'll make it to History class on time."

"You sure? A leader shouldn't leave a girl behind!"

"I'm sure, kid. Go on, I'll see you in a few."

Ruby gave her one final look of consideration before nodding, "See ya there!" she left in a burst of rose petals, scattering them to drift down across the tiled floor. Olivia frowned down at them, and kept track of the time from sheer curiosity. After thirty seconds, the petals began to fade away as if they'd never existed in the first place.

' _I wonder if it has to do with time, or distance,_ ' Olivia shrugged and left the restroom, seeing the rose petals disappearing in a line ahead of her that quickly outpaced her leisurely walk. She felt Blake's presence around a corner ahead of her, and didn't bother to look her way as the cat faunus fell into step beside her.

"So… where'd you go last night?" Blake asked, lowering her voice slightly so as to not be overheard by the few other stragglers that remained in the hallway with them.

"It isn't really a secret or anything," Olivia replied truthfully, "I went to Junior's club and stayed with a friend overnight," she spared Blake an apologetic smile, "I didn't have time to do anything with the clothes I wore out. They kind of reek from the alcohol. I'd avoid going into the dorm if I were you, at least until lunch. I'll have time to take care of it then."

"Thanks for the warning…" Blake smiled, "I _can_ still kind of smell it on you, though… Among other things. You wouldn't happen to be a bit more than _friends_ with that person, would you?"

' _Impressive…_ ' Olivia made a mental note of Blake's keen sense of smell. While it was useful to have, it could prove detrimental if she started falling back into her old ways. Olivia was doubly glad once more that her semblance didn't remained stained, "We did have a bit of _fun_ while I was there."

"Thought so," Blake nodded, seemingly proud that her senses hadn't betrayed her, "I almost wish I had left as well, if only to avoid Weiss… You can't believe what she said after you left…"

Olivia groaned internally, bracing for the worst, "Did she curse my family name?"

"No…" Blake shook her head in disgust, "She tried to say that the SDC doesn't use slaves… the _nerve_ of that girl. I had a tough time keeping myself in check after hearing her out."

Olivia glared at the ground in front of herself, " _Technically_ , she's right, but only because of a loophole that the SDC abuses as much as possible. Everyone that works in the mines _was_ 'hired'. The problem is, many of them are forced to work there as part of their prison sentences… The prisons 'hire out' their faunus inmates, and pay them less than a few lien each day. In exchange, the prisons and police force get price cuts from the SDC on all their dust purchases. That lets them outfit their officers with better equipment, which they then use to catch poor faunus with no alternatives but crime… the cycle continues…"

"That's…" Blake shuddered, "I've never heard it explained that way. It makes so much more sense now how they've been able to get away with it for so long…"

Olivia nodded, "Any time there's an accident in the mines, or grimm get in past the defenses, all they have to do is point towards the faunus's criminal records. They aren't afraid to make up charges in order to sell their side of the story. The humans take it for granted, while the faunus wind up sharing their fate if they try to speak out."

"It's abhorrent," Blake practically growled the words out, eyes narrowed.

' _Qrow wanted me to make an effort at peace…_ ' Olivia placed a hand on Blake's shoulder, then hid her surprise well enough when the cat faunus flinched away at her touch, "Let's… at least give her the benefit of the doubt. Her tutors could have left all of that out of her lessons… maybe she just doesn't know the truth?"

"Maybe…" Blake tried to play off the way she'd flinched by holding her shoulder with the opposite hand, and rolling it as if sore, "Do you really think you can stomach trying to teach it to her?"

"If she'll take the time to listen…" Olivia gave an uneasy shrug, "If not, we ignore her and become a three girl team in everything but name."

"I don't think that'll hold up, Olivia."

"Never say never, right?" Olivia shook her head, "I wouldn't hold my breath, either."

Blake was quiet for a while, her eyes distant, until she finally turned back to Olivia. She could tell that Blake almost looked… pleading?

"I really want this team to work out… You aren't going to do anything drastic, are you? Like it or not, Weiss is a part of our lives. You can insult her, ignore her… but please don't hurt her…"

Olivia raised an eyebrow, "What makes you think I'd go that far?"

"I've…" Blake paused, thinking over what she was going to say, "You remind me of someone. Someone that wouldn't have hesitated if he saw a Schnee. I hope you aren't like him…"

"You don't have to worry about that," Olivia gave a small smile to Blake, "I want to _stay_ at Beacon. Doing anything too _extreme_ would be counter-intuitive to that, don't you think?"

Blake's eyes searched deeply into Olivia's own, trying to decipher if she was really telling the truth. Olivia hid nothing, and stared right back, hoping that Blake would come to understand her goal, "Maybe I _used_ to be like that person you know. I'm trying to better myself, though. That life is behind me. I want to be a huntress, not… what I used to be."

"I hope that's the truth, Olivia. I really do."

"Only time will tell," Olivia replied back with fake cheer. As they approached the intersection, Blake moved to take the other hallway while Olivia stepped towards the stairs.

"You aren't coming to class?" Blake frowned.

"I will. I need to check on something back at the dorm and then I'll head right over."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Blake asked uncertainly, but shifted her body as if to follow Olivia.

She held up her hand, "No need, really. I'm sure Ruby and the princess are already waiting. Ruby might need your help keeping her calm after I was late to the first class. I promise it'll just take a second."

"Okay…" Blake flashed a small smile, "See you at class," then began to walk away.

Olivia watched her go for a few seconds longer, considering her words, ' _That makes two members of team… Rainbow… that have some small idea to my past. Though, I think Blake's is bound to be more accurate. Ruby probably thinks I was just a thief or something._ ' She quickly made her way up the stairs, backtracking to the dorm where she found that there was indeed a camera at the end of the hall, mere feet away from both team's doors. It wasn't angled in a way that would allow it to see inside, thankfully.

' _Still, I'll need to be more careful about what I say around it. I'll move forward under the assumption that Ozpin knows I'm ex-White Fang. Whether Qrow told him or not doesn't matter. Ozpin is supposedly a big believer in second chances… He must have extended that to me like he did for Qrow._ '

Jokes about killing the Schnee would also have to be avoided. The idea of getting along with the princess left a bad taste in her mouth, like the dull acid you'd get moments before puking. ' _Or that could be the remnants of a night of drinking…_ ' Olivia had a few minutes to spare and decided to spend them properly brushing her teeth and gargling mouthwash.

Feeling a bit more refreshed, she once again left the dorm and set off for their next class. There were signs posted in the halls, giving directions along with the floorplan to the various classes that Beacon offered. With around five minutes to spare, Olivia stepped into History of Remnant and spotted her team, along with Yang's. A small spot had been left open between the two sisters, and Olivia took it graciously.

Yang leaned on her elbow, giving Olivia a coy grin, "So, Ruby tells me you ran off last night wearing the same clothes that you did to Junior's. What did the world do to deserve being so blessed?"

"I needed a little pick me up after losing to you in initiation. Figured Junior's was as good a place as any to take my mind off things."

"And you didn't invite _me_ ," Yang held a hand to her chest, feigning offense, "I would have bought you a few shots!"

"Then _literally_ set fire to the dance floor. It was a busy night, I'm sure Junior would have kicked you out the moment you walked in."

"Whaaat?" Yang smiled, "I can _behave_ when I want to."

"Now _that_ I would pay to see," Olivia smiled and shook her head, "A drunk Yang trying to not lose her temper every time a guy made a pass at her."

Yang scowled, "Let 'em try…"

"You'd be sending half the bar to the hospital before too long."

"Aww," Yang winked, "Was that a compliment?"

"More an observation on how bad a combination it is for men to be that drunk and horny at the same time," Olivia laughed, "But I won't lie, you aren't half bad, Xiao Long."

"Aren't half bad? _Please_ , Shortstack. I'm-"

Yang was cut off by Ruby smacking her head down against the desk and groaning, face beet red, " _Yaaaaaang_. Pleeeease, no flirting with my teaaaam. I'm _right_ here."

Yang laughed, "Sorry, Rubes. I'll leave her alone for you~"

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Ruby turned her head to look past Olivia to Yang, leaving it resting against the desk. Her hair covered half her face, cheeks still heated.

Yang held up her hands, "I'm just saying I won't get in my little sister's way~"

"Ew, _no_ ," Ruby hid her face once more in embarrassment.

"Gee, _thanks_ kid. Glad to know I'm that unappealing."

"That isn't what I _meant_ ," Ruby groaned into the table, "We're friends, that's all."

"Awww," Olivia ruffled Ruby's hair, drawing a glare from the young huntress, "You're my friend too, kid."

"How was your night, Olivia?" Nora leaned around Yang to get an eye on the faunus.

"It was good. They had a surprise waiting for me once they knew I was coming over, then Melanie and I enjoyed ourselves after a few drinks," Olivia confessed, sharing a smug grin with the other two so that they understood the implications.

"Oooh, what was the surprise?" Ruby perked up from the other side, "Was it a cake?"

Olivia laughed, "Sure thing, kid. Best damn cake they could have gotten."

"I hope you're feeling better," Ren interjected calmly, giving a meaningful glance over towards the Schnee. Olivia could feel her head turned slightly their way, listening in on the conversation but not offering any input.

' _Fine by me,_ ' Olivia didn't believe she was ready to try and talk to the heiress quite yet, ' _Turning over a new leaf is one thing, but being friendly with someone like her is practically a betrayal to my own race. She'll just have to deal with it..._ '

"I am," Olivia confirmed, "For now. I'd still like to stay over at your dorm tonight," as she said this, Pyrrha turned a questioning frown towards the rest of her team, where before she'd been sitting patiently for class to begin, " _If_ that's alright with you, Pyrrha. I wouldn't want to intrude, and I could always find an empty classroom again."

The rest of team Lion turned to Pyrrha, silently waiting for her decision.

"That… would be alright with me," Pyrrha replied after a few seconds.

Through her sixth sense, Olivia could feel the way Pyrrha shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she said it. The way her hands gripped her skirt, tensed, while she outwardly attempted to appear calm. All signs of a lie, though one made with good intentions.

"Nevermind," Olivia shook her head, "I wouldn't want to intrude if you aren't really onboard," she flashed a smile to show there were no hard feelings, "Maybe once we know each other a little better."

"But-" Pyrrha was cut off as the bell rang.

There was a blur, topped by a mop of green hair, as 'Doctor' Oobleck entered the room to stand in front of his desk. He paused for a moment, eyeing the students, then took a sip from his coffee mug.

"Welcome, welcome!" Oobleck jovially greeted all of them, sweeping his mug filled hand across those gathered, "Today marks your first day as new students of Beacon. For some of you, this class will seem pointless! Let me assure you, all of the information you learn here can be applied to your own lives. I will do my best to help you understand the lessons that history teaches us all!"

There was some small cheering from the back of the class, one overzealous student even going so far as to stand up and pump his fist into the air. Oobleck let the moment pass with another sip before zipping over to stand in front of the chalkboard and beginning a long, rambling rant about events that transpired during the Great War.

Olivia paid attention as well as she could. The subject was interesting enough, and completely devoid of the same ridiculous embellishment as Port's class previously. She took notes of what seemed like the most important bits and glossed over the rest, leaving page numbers with brief descriptions in her notes in case she needed to reference it for homework later.

They were each assigned an essay on their choice of influential figures during the Great War, due at the end of the week, and sent on their way when the class ended. Olivia chose someone that she'd never even heard of before, a Lieutenant that had laid down his life to turn the tide during a critical battle in the later years of the war. It sounded like a good enough read that she wouldn't be too bored reiterating the details in her own words.

"Lunch tiiiiime!" Ruby called out to the rest of her team, darting up to stand in front of them while they gathered their things, "Then we have combat class!"

"Who is that with?" Olivia asked with some disinterest. The only one there that she had any interest in fighting for real was Pyrrha, and she'd _just_ paved the groundwork for trying to get along with her. Something told Olivia that potentially embarrassing the Mistral champion in front of a class full of students that regarded her as a legend wouldn't be the most convincing of moves.

"Miss Goodwitch!"

"Oh, isn't she the one that took us to the police station?"

"What were you doing at the police station?" Blake asked with a suspicious frown, looking between Ruby and Olivia.

"They had to get a statement after Ruby stopped Roman Torchwick," Olivia answered easily, "That was part of the whole reason they let her in so early."

"You make it sound like I did it myself," Ruby waved her hand in the air, "Olivia did most of the work."

"Give yourself some credit, kid. They were so tired after fighting you that they didn't even want to _try_ against me," Olivia passed the praise right back with a smirk, "All I really did was stand there and look threatening. They ran off pretty quick."

"That was reckless to try and take on a known criminal when you weren't even old enough to attend Beacon yet," Weiss spoke to Ruby sternly, "You're lucky you weren't hurt."

Olivia's hackles raised before she could calm herself, bristling at the tone that the Schnee had used. She opened her mouth to argue with the heiress and was interrupted by Ruby.

"They were going to rob a dust shop! I _had_ to stop them."

"You could have called the police and not escalated the situation. Everyone might have gone unharmed if you allowed the thief to have what he wanted and waited for the proper authorities to arrive," the Schnee said it with a high and mighty attitude, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Olivia scoffed, "Criminals aren't satisfied with only getting what you're _willing_ to give them. Just ask your father."

"My father is _not_ a criminal," Weiss fumed, clutching her hands into fists, "I wanted to _talk_ to you about your misconceptions on how the SDC is ran last night, but you ran off instead!"

"Right. Blake was telling me about the _lies_ you were spewing. _My_ words, not hers. I don't know what kind of fancy education your father paid for while you were living in Atlas, but it was clearly lacking in _morals_. The faunus are mistreated _constantly_ in your family's disgusting mines."

"We _do not_ use slaves!"

"No, you just abuse the system to use faunus inmates as _fodder_ , then slander their names when they die," Olivia sneered.

The heiress gasped, offended, "What kind of baseless-"

Olivia cut her off, "Have you ever _been_ to one of the mines?"

Weiss's mouth moved for a second with no sound coming out before she planted her hands on her hips, "I-I've been to a mine!"

"Let me guess," Olivia shook her head in exasperation, "Everyone you met was nice, and maybe even took the time to thank your father for their jobs as if they were as happy as can be," when the Schnee refused to answer, Olivia laughed, "Honestly, you _have_ to be old enough now to understand that wasn't _real_. I'm sure they kept all of their atrocities swept under the _rubble_ whenever you were around."

"Why in the world would I believe _you_ instead of my own father!?" Weiss demanded loudly, directing a fierce glare at Olivia.

"Because _I_ don't make billions of lien every year by keeping a _lie_ intact. I have _nothing_ to gain from telling you this. I don't _need_ your money, I don't _need_ your prestige, hell… I don't even _need_ you on my team!"

"Well I didn't ask to be either!" Weiss exclaimed loudly, then stormed off ahead of them, leaving the rest of team Rainbow and Lion standing awkwardly amongst each other in the classroom.

Olivia rolled her eyes where only Blake would see and mouthed, 'It's hopeless' before turning back to Ruby, "So, now that the pest is gone, what did you want to get for lunch?"

Ruby nervously looked after where the Schnee had gone, "I… I'm going to check on Weiss!" She darted off in a burst of rose petals, unwilling to face Olivia's disapproval at showing any empathy for the Schnee.

Pyrrha frowned, "At least you were more civil this time around. You do know you'll be on the same team for four years, right?"

"How could I forget? I'd rather open her eyes to the truth now instead of dealing with a pretentious racist," Olivia answered back bluntly, "The sooner she admits to how poorly the SDC treats faunus, the sooner we can get past all this."

"Are you sure you aren't exaggerating the facts as well?"

Olivia laughed in one quick, short burst, "I'm sure, Pyrrha. I've seen for myself the kind of scars faunus come back with after surviving the mines. I wouldn't bother arguing about it if it wasn't the truth."

"Have you ever been to the mines?" Pyrrha asked Olivia's own question, this time directed at the faunus herself.

"Almost. I stole from a member of the Mistral council when I was twelve. They caught me the next day. He was _very_ delighted to let me know about his contacts in the SDC, and where _exactly_ I'd be headed," Olivia gave a small smile to Ren and Nora, "That was the day after I met you two."

Pyrrha appeared taken aback at the revelation, while Nora wasted no time wrapping Olivia in a hug, "Oh, I'm sorry that happened to you, Olivia! How did you get away?"

A flick of the eyes to Blake before she spoke, "The White Fang attacked the precinct the night I was there," Olivia shrugged as Nora pulled away, "They helped me escape once they were done with the police."

"By 'done', do you mean…?" Ren asked slowly.

Olivia nodded, "Every single one."

Ren shook his head gravely, "I wish we had invited you with us the day we left…"

"Believe me. I've regretted not asking more often than you'd think," Olivia agreed sadly, "Everything would have been different… better."

"Well, we're all here now!" Nora cheered. She stepped past towards the door and took the lead, heading to the dining hall for lunch. The rest followed as they continued to talk.

Pyrrha appeared to be contemplating something for a while before getting Olivia's attention, "You can stay at our dorm whenever you wish. I would hate to deny you at least that small comfort." Her demeanor was firm this time, resolute in her decision.

"As long as you're sure."

At a nod from the Pyrrha, Olivia smiled and threw an arm around her, "I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot. While I won't lie… I am jealous that you're on a team with Ren and Nora. At least I'll know they're in good hands. You're strong, right? You'd _have_ to be to win so many tournaments."

Pyrrha smiled back, "I don't like to boast, but yes, I will do my best to keep them safe."

"Good," Olivia disengaged and put her hands behind her head instead, "That means all _I_ need to worry about is Ruby. I'll be ready to step in if she can't make a tough decision. Kid's decent in a fight, and I wouldn't want anyone else on our team to be the leader, but… I don't see her doing well when someone's life is on the line."

' _Or someone's life needs to be taken._ '

"Hey! Ruby can handle herself!" Yang jumped in, overhearing their conversation.

Olivia shook her head, "She's _naive_ , Yang. Sorry to say it, but it's the truth. When she fought with Torchwick and his henchmen, she put her _own_ life on the line to spare theirs, and would have paid for it if I hadn't shown up. I didn't tell her… but Torchwick was ready to finish her off while she was unconscious. Not a single one of them had even been _cut_. If Ruby had used her weapon like it should be instead of making it more difficult for herself, she might have never ended up in the position in the first place."

Yang's eyes had slowly shifted from lilac to crimson red as Olivia gave her recounting of events. Her hands shook, clenched into fists, "If I ever get my hands on him…"

With her eyes as they were, Olivia couldn't help but be reminded of her mother, Raven. Yang was her spitting image, if not many years younger and with different colored hair.

"You'll what, Yang? Kick his ass? Hope he changes his ways and sees the light?"

"I'll catch him, at least!" Yang snapped, turning her fierce gaze on Olivia, "Why'd you just let him go!?"

"Ruby was still right there, and I could already tell she was alive. That might not have been true for much longer if we started fighting less than _five feet away_ from her when she didn't have any aura to protect her."

' _I could have killed Torchwick in less time than it would take him to try and retaliate like that, but it wouldn't have looked good right before starting Beacon. That visit to the police station would have involved an actual investigation, and then who knows what they might have dug up looking to closely?_ '

Yang calmed down a little, her fists no longer shaking. She breathed out a sigh as her eyes flickered back to lilac, "I'm sorry. I know you would have done all you could."

"Damn straight. I _like_ that kid. Random henchmen and 'master thieves' on the other hand?" Olivia made a face to show how little she thought of the latter, ' _They're as good as dead if they pull a stunt like that again._ '

"You should still do your best to not take someone's life," Ren stated calmly.

Olivia raised her hands defensively, "I'm not saying to go around killing every person that does wrong, but when it's between you and them, you should _always_ choose yourself. Live to fight another day. Your life is worth more than a criminal's."

"That is a very… callous way of looking at it," Pyrrha said slowly, "I believe if you become strong enough, then you won't _need_ to take another person's life."

" _If_ you're strong enough. Ruby wasn't."

" _You_ were. They didn't even fight you, right?"

Olivia laughed, "I can be intimidating when I want to be. Besides, there were only four left with Torchwick after their fight with Ruby. Seeing someone coming to her defense after they'd been trounced so hard was more than they were willing to risk."

"And if they hadn't backed down?" Pyrrha asked.

"Then I would have done my best to protect Ruby anyway," Olivia shrugged her shoulders, "They were too weak to be any real threat to me. I wouldn't have needed to kill them."

' _But I still would have on principle. You don't fuck with the Lotus._ '

' _No,_ ' Olivia chided herself silently, ' _I'm not like that anymore. I've changed. I'm Olivia now!_ '

' _Does that really make a difference?_ '

Olivia shook herself out of it as they arrived at the dining hall. While the room was packed with other students of all ages, the white dressed Schnee was easily spotted off at a corner table, sitting by herself. As they entered, she sent a look their way that cleary said she wanted to be alone. Olivia could see that her scroll was out, her other hand absent-mindedly pushing the food around on her plate without actually eating anything.

Ruby walked up to them as they entered, tray already in hand, "I tried talking to Weiss, but she said she was busy with something."

"Calling Daddy to get a ride home, hopefully," Olivia muttered, then gave Ruby an apologetic smile, "Leave the Schnee alone for now. If she wants to sit by herself then let her."

Ruby stared over at Weiss in concern, but otherwise took Olivia's advice. The rest of them loaded up their trays with an assortment of foods offered and headed over to a table nearer the middle of the hall. Olivia spared a friendly wave with Velvet and her team before sitting down next to Blake. Her partner had grabbed part of her sleeve to steer Olivia a small way further down the bench from the others.

Blake's eyes scanned over anyone nearby before leaning closer to Olivia and speaking in a hushed voice, "Did you… join the White Fang after they saved you?"

' _If Ozpin knows the truth then there isn't any harm in it,_ ' Olivia thought to herself before replying with a simple nod of her head.

Blake's eyes narrowed, staring intently into Olivia's, "Do you work for Adam?"

"Is that the guy I remind you of?" Olivia asked back with a frown, "I'm not working for anyone but _myself_ , Blake. Why do you ask?"

"I… deserted... in order to come to Beacon," Blake whispered her secret in an even quieter tone, bow twitching and eyes on alert for anyone else that could have possibly overheard.

"Oh," Olivia could feel her anger rising but forcibly calmed herself, ' _It isn't the same as deserting my faction. I don't know anything about this Adam guy or what happened between them. I can't judge her for it._ ' She placed a hand overtop Blake's, half expecting her to flinch away once more but glad when she didn't, "Your secret is safe with me. I… wouldn't mind talking about it later, if you'd like? We could head up to the roof and swap stories."

"I'd like that," Blake replied quietly, then slowly slipped her hand out from beneath Olivia's to pick up her utensil, "Your hand still smells like your girlfriend, by the way."

Olivia could feel her cheeks heating slightly and laughed, "Sorry! Wild night." Olivia dug in to her own meal, eager to let the moment pass.

' _Maybe I misread that flinch from earlier…?_ '

They enjoyed the rest of their lunch in peace. Once the half an hour allowed had gone by and the bells had rung, both teams set out for Miss Goodwitch's combat class. The Schnee heiress straggled behind, scroll in hand, becoming more and more frustrated by the moment.


	33. Baby Steps

The seating in the combat classroom was similar to that of the huntsmen school down in Vale. With a raised half circle of benches, arced around the edge of an arena, the entire class was able to find seating in order to have a perfect view of the stage. Ren and his team sat along the closest edge, while Olivia, Blake, and Ruby sat directly behind them. Olivia was annoyed to notice that Weiss sat behind her, but chose to ignore the heiress for the time being. Weiss still had her scroll out and was reading through a webpage.

With large stadium lights pointing down towards the arena floor, Professor Goodwitch was front and center, standing in their radiance. Her golden hair shone as she looked out over the gathering class, many filing in during the last minute before the bell would ring. Goodwitch's foot idly tapped against the floor, arms crossed with her riding crop in one hand and what looked like an oversized scroll in the other.

Olivia felt a brief tap on her shoulder before the heiress's scroll was shoved in front of her face. "Read it," Weiss demanded, shaking it slightly to get Olivia to grab it for herself.

Olivia had half a mind to crumple the damn thing and try to crush a few of the princess's fingers along with it, but instead snatched the small device and shot her a glare. The webpage was a news article, featuring a faunus reporter's headshot at the beginning. 'Truth and Lies: What _Really_ Happens in the Mines' was the title. Olivia took one look at the company responsible for publishing the article and laughed.

With a few quick searches of her own, Olivia offhandedly tossed the scroll back over her shoulder without bothering to give the princess a warning, "Take a look, little Schnee. If you think the Atlas News Network is a trustworthy source of information, you're more naive than I realized."

The website that Olivia had navigated to showed a parental tree of businesses that existed in Atlas and Mantle. The ANN was owned by a shell corporation, which in turn was owned by the SDC.

"Try again. This time double check your sources instead of blindly believing whatever you hear like you have been since the day you were born," Olivia's voice took on a threatening tone, "And if you _ever_ shove something in my face again…" Ruby's hand on hers signalled her to try and calm back down. Olivia sighed, "Just _don't_ do it again…"

Ruby gave a small, satisfied nod and turned back to the arena as Goodwitch began to speak, "Welcome to your first Combat Class. I am your instructor, Professor Goodwitch. We will start off the day with everyone being paired against another random student in the class. After today, you will have the opportunity to challenge another specific student if you wish, once per week. Aside from that, I will match you up against those that I believe will be beneficial to your progress."

Goodwitch raised a hand back towards a large display along the wall that lit up, showing the basic silhouettes of a huntsman and a huntress, "Your images and aura levels will be displayed here. You may refer to your aura level during the fight, but it is only to help you get a good grasp on how much damage you can take. Once a student's aura drops into the red, the fight is over. Any attacks made after this point in the spar will earn you a detention, and in severe cases, an expulsion."

' _Don't beat up the weaklings too much. Got it_ ,' Olivia leaned forward, placing an elbow against her knee to prop her head up on her palm. With a short scan across the students there, she could tell that only those within team Rainbow and Lion were even worth considering as a threat. Even then… ' _I think Pyrrha is my only real competition here. If she's as good as she's rumored to be, then I might have my work cut out for me to keep my real skills hidden._ '

Then again, Olivia didn't _have_ to win. She wasn't the ultra competitive type. A loss now could work towards an easier kill later on. People tended to drop their defenses when they thought victory would come easily. ' _I might die of embarrassment if I let any of the weaklings take me down, though._ '

Glynda called two students to the stage then sent them off to the locker rooms for them to gather their equipment. Olivia half paid attention to their fight, if only to confirm for herself that they were as weak as she thought. Each fought as if they'd only been training for a few months, at most. ' _Which might be the case for some that got in without going to school for training…_ '

After watching a few more fights, some of which involved students that Olivia didn't recognize from remedial classes, her fears were more than confirmed. Even students from the lower tier academies were struggling. Their footwork was basic, fighting styles nonexistent aside from 'hit them with the pointy end', and fought as if their auras were limitless.

' _I've killed people in bar fights that would be pissing themselves laughing at these fools…_ '

Checking on those around herself, Olivia wasn't surprised to find she wasn't the only one concerned with the ineptitude of the rest of their classmates. Pyrrha's foot drummed against the floor, and every time one of the students in the spar made an idiotic mistake, her hand would raise slightly as if to intervene and give advice.

Olivia was about saying something, then thought better of it, ' _If Pyrrha is willing to go out of her way and help any of these idiots then that's on her._ ' Olivia didn't want to damage whatever idea of her that Pyrrha had formed in order to let her stay in their dorm at night. It would certainly be more comfortable than a classroom, and more convenient than Melanie's.

During the next hour, many of the others in their group were selected to fight. The most noteworthy was Ren being paired against Blake. Olivia's loyalties were twisted into a knot, so she cheered for both equally. Blake took the victory in the end after an impressive display of semblance use. While Ren's senses seemed to be better than most humans, he couldn't quite keep up with the cat faunus's speedy vanishing act and reappearances.

Olivia gave her a high five when Blake returned, then gave Ren a friendly ribbing about needing eyes in the back of his head. She glanced over the students and frowned, noticing that all those in sight were dressed in their combat outfits. ' _That only leaves…_ '

Olivia sensed two familiar, entwined souls standing in the doorway to the classroom and glanced over her shoulder to see the Headmaster, right as Miss Goodwitch had finished clearing the stage. The Professor looked down at her overlarge scroll and peered back up to the stands, "Olivia Mandevilla and Weiss Schnee. Please change into your outfits and return to the stage for your spar."

' _What's your game, Headmaster?_ ' Olivia kept her expression neutral despite Ozpin's friendly smile. Weiss walked past Olivia down the stairs without a word and headed to the locker rooms, a determination in her step. Olivia's eyes remained on Ozpin for a moment more, ' _Thinking I'll work some frustration out of my system by beating on the princess? Or are you hoping it will be the other way around?_ '

If _that_ was the case, Olivia would be sure to disappoint him.

The rest of the group was giving her uncertain glances. Blake was the most palpable, though she tried to hide it. Olivia could feel the slight twinge in her cat ears, as if they were trying to lay flat against their bindings. Nora shared a hesitant thumbs up, while Pyrrha seemed to be flashing a warning glare, though it lacked any real malice.

Olivia held her hands up defensively, "Don't _worry_. I don't want any detentions." She left to follow Weiss to the womens' locker room. The heiress was already half dressed into her combat outfit, the dress above her head as she worked it down.

Olivia shook her head, getting a look at the princess's lightly muscle toned body before the dress was finally pulled down, ' _Such a nice figure, wasted on a petulant child. Pity._ ' Olivia set about changing into her own combat outfit, ignoring the glare that Weiss sent her way after noticing that the faunus had been staring. Olivia was more than glad to rid herself of the school uniform and return to her jeans. The feel of the material against her skin was far more comforting than the awkward, open breeziness of the skirt.

Weiss exited the locker room a minute earlier, rapier in hand. Olivia double checked her lightning dust cells and ammunition before clipping Oath to her lower back and following after. The stage was lit as usual, but from down below, it was much more difficult to see out into the crowd. Olivia stepped on to the stage. Aside from her sixth sense, it felt for all the world like she, Goodwitch, and the princess were the only three in existence.

Olivia pulled Oath from her back and extended it out fully, holding her arms wide, "You know, it's never too late to forfeit. You might save yourself some embarrassment that way."

"The match hasn't even _started_ yet," Weiss snipped back in annoyance.

"Never too _early,_ either," Olivia smirked, "Consider this your one and only warning. I'll go easy on Ruby, I'll go easy on Yang or Ren or Nora, even Blake. You, on the other hand?" She shrouded her limbs and held Oath behind herself, shifting it into the sickle form, "Let's just say there's a _lot_ of faunus that wished they could be in the position I am now."

"I am _not_ going to back down," Weiss replied proudly, changing into a fencer's stance, one hand behind her back, the other holding her rapier in front of herself, "Your empty threats won't work on me."

" _Empty?_ " Olivia laughed for a moment, dropping her stance altogether while her shoulders shook in amusement, "Oh, _Princess_. There's no way this ends in your favor."

"I am not a princess! My name is _Weiss_ , and you will call me as such!"

Olivia flashed a nasty grin, returning to her stance. The crowd was utterly silent as the screen behind them began to count down the seconds until their spar would officially begin. Olivia ignited the lightning dust along Oath's blade, speaking again in the final few moments before the buzzer rang.

" _Make me._ "

A glyph appeared in the air behind Weiss as the timer reached zero. It glowed white, spinning in the air before launching her directly towards Olivia. Arm already extended back to hold Oath for a throw, Olivia instead spun on her heel, swinging the outside edge directly into Weiss's path as it transformed into its full sword length in order to intercept her attack.

Weiss attempted to parry, but couldn't contend with the sheer strength behind Olivia's blow. Her sword was knocked to the side ineffectually as Oath slashed the aura on her chest, launching her back across the arena floor. Olivia didn't wait, and once again changed Oath into a sickle before hurling it after her.

Weiss recovered soon enough to see the electrified sickle streaking towards her, and used another glyph to dodge sideways, out of the weapon's path. Olivia activated the gravity dust in her glove as she closed the distance. Weiss attempted a horizontal slash to force Olivia to keep her distance, but was shocked as the faunus simply ducked beneath it, reading the attack with practiced ease.

Olivia's left arm shot up and grabbed a hold of the front of Weiss's dress. Her other arm reached out and took hold of her left wrist, stopping Weiss from retaliating with her weapon. Olivia effortlessly hefted the heiress off her feet and spun, launching her into the path of the returning sickle. Its electrified blade caught against her midriff, sending a shockwave of light blue aura coursing over her body.

Oath continued past and back into Olivia's hand so that she could fire the shotgun at Weiss. The rapier was incapable of stopping the spread, but after the first couple shots, Weiss created another glyph. This black version stopped the pellets in their tracks, causing them to fall to the ground instead of hitting their mark.

The heiress waved her rapier through the air, sending out four simultaneous bolts of ice dust that seemed to hone in on Olivia. She charged, unshrouding her limbs for a moment to block each dust projectile with her appendages. They exploded less than a foot away, causing minimal damage to her aura. Olivia reshrouded her limbs and used the ones on her legs to launch herself above the black shield, perfectly positioned between herself and the heiress.

Olivia came crashing back down from above with her heel, driving it into the two handed defense that Weiss raised. With her foot positioned above and still in free fall, Olivia brought her other foot beneath the rapier to grasp it tightly with her feet. Using her own momentum while landing, Olivia transitioned into a backflip and used the force to rip the rapier from Weiss's hands, sending it flying across the stage behind herself.

Weiss threw up another black glyph, only a foot now separating the two of them while she was defenseless. ' _Might as well test these out, eh?_ ' Olivia combined another appendage with her right arm and struck outward, aiming for Weiss through the glyph. It shattered like glass, though it was much tougher to break. Olivia's hand slammed through and grabbed Weiss by the throat, lifting her up off the ground. The heiress's hands flailed at Olivia's as her fingers clamped down, slowly closing off her windpipe.

"That's enough!"

Olivia dropped Weiss to the ground as Miss Goodwitch called for the spar to end. She pretended to dust herself off and returned Oath to her back, ignoring the heiress as she coughed to clear her throat, "I'm guessing your fancy tutors weren't very accomplished fighters, either?"

When Weiss couldn't breathe well enough to respond, Olivia nodded, "I'll take that as a yes. I'd heard the Schnee's of old were renowned for their fighting abilities. Shame that it wasn't passed down," Olivia shrugged, "That's what happens when you have a disgusting piece of filth for a father, though."

"Miss Mandevilla! That is quite enough!" Goodwitch shouted, crossing her arms and tapping her foot against the ground in apparent anger, "You will help your teammate off the floor, and thank her for the match!"

Olivia snorted in a quick laugh and held her hand out. Weiss batted it away and stood herself while Olivia gave Goodwitch a 'see what good that did me?' look.

Weiss glared, looking as if she still wished her rapier was in her hands, "My father is not filth!"

Olivia shrugged, "Ignore his flaws all you want, Princess. That doesn't change the truth. He's nothing more than a monster in human skin."

Weiss stormed off to grab her rapier and didn't look back, heading straight for the locker room instead of back up into the stands. Olivia didn't bother watching her go, and instead glanced up at the door that led out into the hall. Ozpin has vanished. Olivia returned to her seat next to Ruby, "Sorry, Ruby. Your partner is a dud as a person, _and_ a fighter."

"She's your teammate _too_ , Olivia," Ruby whispered, giving the faunus a pouting stare while her lip trembled, "As your team leader, I… I demand you treat her with a little more respect!"

"I treat people with the respect they _deserve_ ," Olivia shot back.

With time passing and no sign of Weiss returning, Miss Goodwitch raised her voice, calling out to Ruby, "Miss Rose, would you please go check on your teammate? Miss Belladonna can fill the both of you in on the closing statements once class has been dismissed."

"Yes, ma'am," Ruby replied with a squeak. She paused to give Olivia one last sad glance before zipping off to the locker room, petals swirling in her wake.

Olivia spared an eye to Blake and saw that she also appeared to disapprove of how the spar had ended. Olivia lowered her voice and raised an eyebrow questioningly, "What? Was anything I said _not_ the truth?"

"You aren't wrong, Olivia… Just…" Blake struggled to find the words she wanted to use and failed, shaking her head instead, "You humiliated her in front of the entire class, then insulted her when she was at your mercy… It won't look good for _you_ , either."

Olivia raised her hands, "It isn't my fault the princess doesn't know how to fight. Everything she tried was so _deliberate_. She doesn't think on her feet and it makes her slow."

Blake made a gesture as if to bring more attention to what Olivia had just said, "You could have told her _that_. Don't you want everyone on your team at their best so they can have your back?"

Olivia laughed mirthlessly, "I'd never trust a _Schnee_ to have my back. There'd be a _rapier_ stuck in it faster than you could blink."

"Maybe if you keep _antagonizing_ her like that," Blake whispered in frustration. Goodwitch had begun a closing statement for the class, but neither of them were listening, "Do you think making her hate you is going to _help_ the faunus?"

"So we're nice to her. Then what? In another thirty years when her father retires and she inherits the company, she might make things a _little_ easier on the faunus dying in the mines every day?" Olivia looked towards the floor as she shook her head in exasperation, "No matter what we do, it will barely have an effect. At least this way makes _me_ feel better."

"Does it really? Wouldn't you rather be able to _get along_ with your entire team? Wouldn't you rather sleep in your _own_ dorm room? You'll be happier if you _let go_ of your hate, Olivia…"

"The SDC paid huntsmen to _slaughter_ my entire faction," Olivia snarled low enough that only the cat faunus would be able to hear, "How in the world would I let _that_ go!?"

' _Did we not believe Nicholas? They only wanted to capture the White Fang members. Widow was the one that made it a bloodbath…_ '

' _Nicholas was trying to save himself and his son. He would have said anything._ '

' _Widow didn't deny it_...'

Olivia sighed, placing a hand to her face, "I get that Weiss wasn't directly responsible, or hell… even _involved_ in that. It would still be an insult to their memories for me to become _friends_ with her. Just being on the same team…" Olivia shivered, "It makes me think about them more than I have in a long time. _Seeing_ her makes me think about them…"

The gathered students all stood up in unison as Miss Goodwitch finished her speech and the bell rang, signalling the end of classes for the day. The teacher raised a hand and called out overtop the sound of the bustling students ready to leave, "Those of you that still require remedial work need to stay. I have the remainder of your packets in my office."

Olivia sighed, "My day just keeps getting better…" then gave Blake a shrug, "That would be me… Do you want to meet in the library to study? I'll bring Ren and Nora along as well."

"Do they know…?"

"No," Olivia whispered back firmly, "And they _aren't_ going to find out, okay? They're some of the only humans I've ever liked. I don't want to lose what I have with them."

Blake nodded affirmation and glanced to the door then back to Olivia, "See you in the library, then. I wanted to get a head start on Oobleck's assignment. I'll help with your remedial lessons too, if you want."

"That would be nice," Olivia stepped down the first few stairs and gave her a small smile, "See you there, Blake."

Blake paused as she was about to leave, "We'll talk about this more later…" With that, she disappeared into the crowd and out of the room.

Ren and Nora followed along with Olivia as they headed down onto the arena floor. Miss Goodwitch eyed each of them as they were joined by half a dozen other students, all of which Olivia did recognize in passing from the school in Vale.

"Follow me," Miss Goodwitch led them back off the arena floor through a door that connected to the back. It opened out into another hallway. A short walk later, and they were at her office. It was medium sized; fairly barebones aside from the large wooden desk that took up the opposite end of the room from the door. Papers were neatly stacked across the top of it, looking as if they might collapse on themselves at any moment.

Goodwitch grabbed up one of these stacks and turned back around, going down through the packets by name. Each was a different size, depending on how much the student still needed to complete. Olivia was glad to see that hers was only ten packets thick, compared to some that had been many times that.

' _Not everyone can be as diligent. Even if I did have Ren and Nora to keep me in line._ '

Ren's group of packets was even smaller than Olivia's, with only a few packets remaining, while Nora's was of a similar size. Goodwitch got down to the very final packets and, giving Olivia a disapproving frown, handed it to her as well. It was twice the size of her own. Scribbled in neat handwriting across the top, said 'Ruby Rose'.

"Just because the Headmaster let Miss Rose in two years early doesn't mean she can skip those two years altogether," Miss Goodwitch gazed back across the rest of the students, "Complete these as quickly as you can. I'll expect at least one packet per day, on my desk before four thirty. For those of you with more to do, that _includes_ the weekends." She gave them all a stern eye then nodded towards the door, "You're dismissed."

Olivia pulled out her scroll and sent a quick message to Ruby, letting her know she should meet with them at the library and to ditch the Schnee. Her reply came back a few minutes later, saying she'd be there as soon as she could.

Their small group stepped out into the evening sun, then began to follow the trail to the library. It was an entire building unto itself, something that Olivia was very unfamiliar with seeing. If you wanted a book in Mistral, you bought it from a shop. The library was massive, easily three stories tall with windows lining the exterior on each level. Ren led the way through the double doors into the fully carpeted interior.

Each way Olivia looked, books lined the walls, packed shelves, or sat open on top of round tables, in use by studying students. There was one desk near the front with an older woman behind it. She spared the group an uninterested frown, then returned to the crossword puzzle she was most of the way through.

Olivia spotted Blake waving them over from off to the left, and whispered for the others to follow. The cat faunus led them to a wall full of doors, each leading into their own separate rooms meant for groups to study in. Olivia shot Ruby another text, telling her to meet them in room 3B. There were no windows to look into the rooms, and the door locked from the inside.

A couch rested against one side of the room while a long table sat in the middle, surrounded by chairs on every side. Olivia plopped down on the couch and dug in, getting comfortable. Blake sat down near the end by her feet and Ren and Nora claimed the table.

"So, which packet are you on, Nora?" Olivia asked, comparing their similar stacks.

Nora read over the one on top, " _Advanced Dust Techniques_ ', you?"

"Same," Olivia flipped open that packet and pulled out her pen, "What about you, Ren?"

" _Vegetation of Vacuo: A Survival Guide to the Desert Tundra._ "

Olivia and Nora both confirmed that they had the same packet, only later on, "Why don't we skip ahead and work with Ren while he's still on his so that he doesn't have to come back to them later to help us?"

"Oh, good idea," Nora tossed aside the majority of her packets to get down to the one Ren had mentioned.

"What subject did you choose for Oobleck's assignment?" Olivia asked Blake next to her.

Blake's eyes flicked to Ren and Nora before shrugging, "Faunus Oppression during the war. Faunus were kept within their own regiments and barely used for any actual fighting, aside from a few niche circumstances. I'm going to write about the effect they had on the war."

"I'm glad you're taking an interest in the faunus for Olivia's sake," Ren complimented with a small smile, "That's very considerate of you."

Olivia held back her laugh and nodded, sharing a wide smile with Blake, "It is, isn't it? Thanks, Blake. Anything for your new partner, eh?"

Blake shared a secretive smile, "Anything for my partner."

Olivia opened up her history textbook and kept the packet on the side as well. They began to study for a few minutes before Ruby arrived outside their door. Olivia hopped up and opened it before the young reaper had a chance to knock, and frowned at how red-faced she was. Ruby brushed by roughly and Olivia closed the door behind her, locking it again for good measure.

"What's up, Ruby?" Nora asked, noticing the girl's appearance as well.

"Weiss-" Ruby began, fuming, then stopped with a look towards Olivia, "Just… let's study, okay?" She dropped on to the couch, arms crossed and leaned back into the cushions, "I don't wanna talk about it."

Olivia shared a look of concern with Blake before sitting down on Ruby's other side, sandwiching her between the two faunus, "You know we're here for you, Rubes."

"I don't want you here for _me!_ I want you to get along with Weiss!" Ruby exclaimed in annoyance, shifting slightly away from Olivia, "She left through the locker room and went straight back to the dorm. Weiss locked herself in the bathroom and wouldn't come out."

"So? The princess is having a tantrum. You shouldn't worry yourself over it, kid."

"But I am! Headmaster Ozpin made _me_ the team leader, but after the first day we're already falling apart!" Ruby held her face in her hands, a quiver in her shoulders, "I want to be a good leader. My mom was, so _I_ should be too, right? I don't even know how to make my own _partner_ feel better…"

"Ruby…" Blake leaned closer and placed a hand on her shoulder, " _No_ leader is great at it their first day. You have a couple teammates that are very… headstrong, to put it nicely. Olivia and Weiss not getting along isn't a reflection of your abilities as a leader. No one expects you to solve a hatred that deeply seated."

Olivia's heart went out to Ruby as her shoulders began to shake in earnest, silent sobs racking her chest while she continued to hide her face in her hands. Olivia wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a hug, "I'm sorry, Ruby. I didn't think about what my fight with Weiss might do to you. For your sake… I'll be nicer from now on. I can't promise to like the princess, but... I'll dial it back, alright?"

"Promise?" Ruby returned the hug in earnest.

"I promise I'll be nicer."

Ruby's shoulders shook less as she pulled back and wiped her sleeve across her face. Olivia scoffed at how poor of a job she'd done and accepted a handkerchief from Ren to help clear Ruby's face, then ruffled her hair, "Chin up, kid. It isn't the end of the world because two people don't get along," she reached out and grabbed the hefty stack of packets that the girl needed to complete, "I won't blame you for being upset about these, though. Presents from Goodwitch."

Ruby's body went slack as she took in the stack with her name on them. Olivia patted her hand, "We'll help. It won't be nearly as bad as you're thinking."

Ruby's gaze went across those in the room, each nodding in turn to offer their support, "Thanks, everybody."

"What else is a team for if not to help their leader?" Blake smiled and scooted closer to the younger huntress, then began thumbing through the stack before ending up at the one they'd been discussing before her arrival, "They're starting here to finish up Ren's, then working their way back. If anything seems confusing, just ask me, alright?"

Ruby nodded her thanks and they all picked up where they'd left off. Blake and Olivia offered up some extra assistance here and there when Ruby wasn't able to follow along any more, but aside from those few times, the kid managed to keep up in their discussions. It was a few hours later, with the rest of Ren's packets having been completed, by the time Olivia felt the first pangs of hunger.

"I think that's enough for one day. Do you guys want to go out to Vale for dinner? My treat."

"Should I invite Yang and Pyrrha as well?" Ren asked, already pulling out his scroll.

Olivia gave Ruby a glance and sighed, "Yeah. I'll go ask the princess if she wants to go, too," at Ruby's accusing stare, Olivia raised her hands, "I'll be… nice about it. If she still doesn't want to go, then that's on her. Deal?"

"Okay, but I'm coming with you to make sure you put your best foot forward!" Ruby half cheered, half warned.

Olivia gave Ren a nervous smile, "Meet you at the bullheads in twenty minutes?"

"Sounds like a plan!" Nora exclaimed, grabbing Ren by the hand, along with their papers, and leading him out.

Olivia helped Ruby gather up her things, then frowned as a thought came to her mind, "Sorry Blake. I forgot to take out those clothes… The dorm probably smells by now."

Blake wrinkled her nose, then gave a warning glance towards Ruby, "I think I can handle it. You should do that before we leave, though, so the room isn't as bad when we get back."

Olivia nodded, "No problem. Let's hurry up then, shall we?"

The three girls exited the library, surprised to find that they were some of the few left still using it. The sun had only just disappeared past the edge of the horizon, a pale red glow lighting the edge of the sky above the mountains in the distance. They made the long trek back to the dorms and up the stairs to the hallway that ended with both team Rainbow's and team Lion's rooms.

Olivia paused after swiping her scroll past the door to unlock it and knocked before she opened it, giving the princess ten seconds to make herself presentable if necessary. The first thing Olivia noticed when she opened the door was the clear lack of the stench of alcohol. In its place was the dull but pleasant scent of berries and vanilla.

The clothes that Olivia had left on her bed that morning were instead cleaned and neatly folded. Weiss looked up from her desk as they entered, pen hovering overtop her homework from Port's class, along with the extensive notes she had taken in her tidy handwriting.

Weiss turned her head back to her paper and spoke in a clipped tone, "Your clothes smelled awful so I had them cleaned. I know faunus have better senses, so I thought it would be… nice… to take care of it for you."

Olivia gave Ruby a suspicious glance, wondering if the young team leader had also pulled a similar scene with the princess. Ruby pretended not to notice and headed over to her dresser instead, pulling out some clothes that would be more fit for downtown Vale, and tried to look for all the world like she was ignoring the conversation completely.

Olivia sighed and rubbed the back of her neck, ' _Is that how little sisters get their way?_ ' then coughed once into her hand, "Eh, well… thank you, Prin-... _Weiss_. We're going down to Vale for dinner with team Lion. Did you want to join us? It probably won't be at some fancy restaurant…"

Weiss looked back up from her homework and gave Olivia a long, considering gaze, "I suppose I could finish this when I get back…"

"With notes like those you probably have the answers already written down," Olivia joked awkwardly, then shrugged, "Up to you."

Weiss pondered it for a few more moments, then nodded with a tiny smile tugging at the corners of her lips, "I'll get ready then." She stood from her desk and went over to her dresser next to Ruby's. After a few moments, another dress was pulled free, topped with a white coat. Weiss stepped into the bathroom to change and closed the door behind herself, leaving the other three girls alone together.

Ruby turned slowly to lean against her dresser, a smug look across her face, "I guess I'm a better leader than I give myself credit for."

Olivia laughed along with Blake and just took it as is. Even if the outcome had been so far in her favor, Ruby's tears _had_ been real. ' _I'll do this for you, Ruby. No one else._ '

Olivia tucked away her club outfit and pulled out something less risque to wear for the night. Once again, her veins were covered by a dark purple long sleeve sweater that clung tightly to her. Olivia stole a few glances at Blake's figure while she changed, and staunchly avoided looking at Ruby until the younger girl had given the all clear.

They relaxed and spoke for a while, waiting for Weiss to finish dressing. A few minutes later, the heiress exited the bathroom in her odd coat-dress. The white of the dress was capped along the skirt and cuffs with black, along with black buttons on the front and along the edge of its collar. Olivia forced a polite smile and stood, gesturing for the rest to follow along.

"Any recommendations, Ruby? You've lived in Vale the longest."

Ruby frowned, "It depends on what everyone can agree on… Let's see what Lion wants to do, too."

"Fair enough."

Rainbow continued down to the bullhead docks, where the other team could already be seen waiting for their arrival. Nora waved emphatically as they approached and shot Weiss a welcoming smile for good measure, "Where are we headed, Olivia?"

"What's everyone in the mood for?" Olivia glanced around at the assortment of students from various nationalities, "I don't mind as long as it's a place where we can relax," she shot Yang a warning glance at her raised hand, "That means not Junior's."

Yang's hand fell in clear disappointment as she kicked a pebble across the pavement, "Fine. I guess the Lounge would be our best bet with this many people."

"The Lounge?" Olivia repeated back with a frown.

Yang nodded, "It's a bar and buffet. They have tons of different stuff to choose from, along with alcohol if you have an ID."

"Ren and I don't have Vale ID's…" Nora muttered.

"Your Beacon ID is good enough. We can get Ruby in too with it. Just don't try and order any drinks," Yang shot her younger sister a warning glare.

Olivia laughed and nudged Ruby, "Don't worry, kid. I'll let you sip off mine a few times to see if you like it."

Ruby raised her hands in denial, "No, thanks. I tried some of Qrow's one time. Alcohol is _disgusting_."

"Yeah, but he's probably packing around the hard stuff, Rubes. Not _all_ of it is that bad. You've gotta work your way up to it."

"She isn't working her way up to _anything_ ," Yang planted her fists on her hips and stared down Olivia, "No buts!"

"Alright, alright," Olivia conceded, "Lead the way, Yang."

They all boarded the bullhead and were quickly transported down to Vale. Yang did indeed take the lead along with Ruby as the two guided them through the dwindling throngs in the Vale streets. Many people were headed home for dinner, leaving the majority of downtown Vale as free game for club goers. Olivia spotted a few other Beacon teams in casual wear around town. If not for their unlocked auras, she wouldn't have really noticed.

After another ten minutes, the group found themselves entering a decently sized establishment made of stone that had been painted a myriad of colors. A glowing sign out front announced its name, 'The Lounge', along with neon signs depicting food and drinks. Their party of eight entered into the front to be met with a din of noise from other patrons that had beat them there.

The hostess walked out from behind her podium to greet them, "Welcome to the Lounge. There are… eight of you, correct? We should have an opening in a few minutes if you'd like to wait on the bench. Another group is wrapping up their bill and should be headed out soon enough."

Yang flashed a smile, "Fine by me. Come on, guys."

Olivia ended up sitting between Ruby and Blake, with Weiss to Ruby's other side. The atmosphere of the place was nice enough, with the general age of those present being beyond their twenties. Several holographic monitors were placed against the walls, scattered around the interior. Two were situated within the waiting area, both displaying separate news channels.

Their small group talked amongst themselves while they waited, with Olivia being careful to try and avoid insulting Weiss. Some of her remarks were close, but each time Ruby would shoot her a glare, and Olivia would rephrase what she'd said to make it less offensive. It was difficult, but she was managing as best she could.

After a few minutes, Olivia felt a nudge on her leg from Blake's side. The faunus was discreetly getting her attention, eyes wide looking up at the news feed on the wall across from them. Olivia frowned and followed her gaze.

" _Beacon Applicant Dies Due to Wounds Sustained During Initiation,_ " the heading read. Lisa Lavender and her co-anchor sat solemnly next to each other, announcing the death of Cardin Winchester at the hands of the grimm, "The seventeen year old student was rushed to the hospital, and all attempts were made to stabilize him. Unfortunately, the aura enhancers were insufficient to the task. Cardin was pronounced dead later that same evening."

The pair launched into a segment looking at the past mortalities that had happened during Beacon's initiation, having to go back nearly a dozen years for the previous death. They promised an interview later as well, with a student that had witnessed Cardin's fight against the grimm in the Emerald Forest.

Olivia paused, uncertain of how exactly to react to the news. It made sense that they would have brought Cardin back to the hospital and covered it up that way. Between Neo and Emerald, Olivia doubted it would have been difficult at all to hide the true cause of death. ' _His disappearance would have drawn far more attention…_ '

Olivia glanced at Blake and sighed, "I… didn't think I hit him that hard in the forest…"

The faunus was staring intently into Olivia's eyes, trying to search out what truth could be found there. Her hand grabbed onto Olivia's own and dragged her up off the couch, glancing past instead to the rest of their teams, "We'll be right back. Save us a couple seats, alright?"

Yang's eyes twinkled as she grinned, "Yeah, yeah. Hurry it up, you two."

Blake looked ready to comment, but thought better of it and pulled Olivia along behind her, back out into the street and to the side of the building in the alleyway. She let go once they were tucked into the shadows of the two buildings and rounded on Olivia.

"Did you kill him on purpose?" her voice was accusatory, eyes narrowed.

"All I did was punch him once. You saw it. I even pulled off his chest piece so that he could breathe better," Olivia rubbed a hand against the back of her head, "Did you think he was going to die from that?"

Blake shifted, using her right hand to hold her opposite forearm. Olivia recognized it as a gesture of closing off. Blake's trust was quickly dwindling, what little of it there had been to begin with.

"He didn't _look_ that bad… What… What _is_ your semblance, exactly?"

Olivia shrouded one arm and held it out for Blake to feel. When her partner continued to stand there in confusion, Olivia grabbed her hand and set it down on top of the hard, invisible carapace that protected it. Blake's hand seemed to stop an inch from Olivia's actual arm. With Olivia letting go, Blake moved her hand up and down the invisible spider armor.

"I can shroud my limbs to protect them. When they're like that, it adds to my strength in that limb as well. Blocking with them doesn't hurt my aura, so I haven't really used a weapon up until now. Ruby and her uncle helped me make Oath a week or so ago."

"It feels…" Blakes brow lowered in confusion, feeling along the invisible ridges and joints.

"They're like spider legs. I've dipped them in paint before to see for myself," Olivia shrugged and dropped her semblance, allowing Blake's hand to fall past and rest on her real arm instead. Olivia grabbed it gently with both hands before she could pull away, "I know my strength, Blake. Maybe in the heat of the moment, I went a little overboard… but I wasn't trying to kill Cardin in the forest. Please, believe me when I say that."

"Would… would you have done it in the past? Before you wanted to be a better person, I mean…?"

Olivia thought about what to say for a few moments, then decided to mix some truth in with her lies, "Yes. If we were still in Mistral… I would have killed both of them without a second thought. Like I said, I'm _trying_ to be better. Will you… will you help me? I don't want to be that person anymore. I want to be a huntress."

"Why? Why do you want to change?"

Olivia smiled slightly, "I've wanted to for a long time. Stuck in Mistral like I was… I didn't think I'd _ever_ be able to leave. Then an old friend pulled through, and I was able to _escape_ that life. I'm here in Vale, now. I thought I could... start fresh… ya know? I guess some habits are hard to quit…"

"And you have no intentions of joining the White Fang again?"

Olivia shook her head firmly, "None."

"I'll…" Blake chewed on her lip, hesitating. She shifted in place, nervously glancing back out of the alleyway.

" _Please_ , Blake. I need your help…"

"... Okay," Blake brought her other hand up to hold it along with Olivia's other two, "I'll help keep you in line. Any time you're feeling angry, or… worse… come to _me_ first. I'll be there for you… You're my partner, after all..."

Olivia pulled her into a hug and smiled, feeling the tension slowly beginning to evaporate as Blake melted into the embrace, "I _knew_ I could count on you. I'm _lucky_ to have met you, Blake."

Blake was the first to pull away, though her hands continued to rest against Olivia's shoulders, "Let's go try and enjoy ourselves, alright? Step one to recovery, focusing on having fun instead of concentrating on whatever's got you down."

"Yes, ma'am," Olivia grinned and pulled Blake along, back towards the entrance, "Step one sounds good to me."

* * *

Blake kept an eye on Olivia throughout dinner. The spider faunus had sombered up since her earlier excitement before the news reel announcing what she assumed only the two of them knew; Olivia had killed Cardin Winchester. Blake had a lot of experience dealing with Adam and his lies. Olivia, on the other hand… ' _She seems genuine about wanting to change… I hope she can…_ '

No… ' _I'll make_ _ **sure**_ _she does. I failed with Adam because he didn't_ _ **want**_ _to change. I won't fail again._ "

Blake watched her laughing at one of Yang's jokes between drinks. She was even managing to lay off Weiss and keep it somewhat civil between the two of them.

Blake nodded silently to herself.

' _Olivia Mandevilla will be a model huntress by the time I'm done with her…_ '

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are currently 51 total chapters of Black Lotus, the rest of which are available on FF.net
> 
> More to come, and thanks for reading!


	34. A Deal with the Devil

After everyone had finished their dinner and the plates were cleared, Olivia paid for the meal, much to the heiress's surprise. Weiss tried to argue, but could only eventually convince Olivia to let her pay the tip. For eight people, even twenty percent would come out to a significant amount.

Olivia kept a close eye on Weiss's portion of the total, and was mildly shocked herself to see the heiress put down as much lien as she did. Olivia would have figured the rich Atlas girl as the low tipping type, not understanding the hard work that went into providing so many people a decent service. All things considered, the tip was closer to fifty percent.

Olivia spared Weiss one nod of approval. It was the most she could manage for the Schnee; a token of appreciation that still left a vile taste in her mouth. The rest filed out, with Ruby and Yang leading the way. The young reaper was forced to support her sister as they walked, Yang having gone a bit too far in trying to show up Olivia through drink.

The spider faunus couldn't help but giggle at the sight. Half way through the night, she'd begun ordering drinks with far less alcohol. One night of heavy drinking was enough for a week. Even still, she found her feet stumbling ever so slightly as she walked, the ground itself swimming in front of her eyes.

Blake had been keeping a close eye on her the entire night, and even more so now was walking within arms reach, appearing as if she was ready for Olivia to fall over any second. Olivia waved her off, only mildly slurring her words, "Ey, don't worry 'bout me. Yang's the tipsy one."

"Ruby looks like she has that covered," Blake replied lightly, ears twitching beneath her bow, "Take this as thanks for covering the bill. Where'd you get all that lien, anyway?"

Olivia grinned and bent closer, raising a hand to block her mouth from the rest of the group, "Crime _does_ pay…" She then paused with a frown, "But I don't want to anymore, like I said earlier."

Blake's eyebrows had climbed up her forehead at the admission. She stepped a little closer, keeping her voice quiet as well, "Really? Did you rob banks or something with the White Fang?"

Olivia shook her head, face furrowing in confusion as a part of her mind screamed at her to keep her mouth shut, "The White Fang?... they would give me money sometimes… to buy clothes and food, mostly…" Olivia wistfully looked up towards the sky, the moon shining brightly down upon the group of eight, "They were the best…"

"You mentioned before… that they all died. I'm sorry to hear that… How old were you?"

Olivia closed her eyes, pained by the influx of memories. She had only that morning received her acceptance into Sanctum. Her voice came out in a hoarse whisper, "Thirteen…"

"Do you want to tell me about them?"

Olivia gave Blake a long stare, trying to reason out the other girl's intentions. From the look on her face, she seemed to be genuinely curious, and sad for her loss. Olivia slowed her steps to hang back, leaving the rest of the group out of range while they all continued to the bullhead docks.

Olivia recounted some of her favorite times with them, trying to leave out some of the more brutal details as she had with Qrow. Over the course of her story, though, she got the impression that Blake was reading between the lines. Missions for the White Fang hadn't been pretty, nor life itself, outside of the warehouse. Olivia's hands hadn't been clean, even then. They certainly weren't now.

"But, after everything they did… we were still a family. They were happy for me, Blake. Nobody wanted me to keep living that life… except Widow…"

"Widow?" Blake's head tilted to the side, this being the first time Olivia had brought up the older spider faunus. They were boarding the bullheads by then, and with the quarters much more cramped as they were, Olivia held up a finger to signal that they should be silent for the time being.

The flight up to Beacon took nearly no time at all, and soon enough the group of eight had made their way back to the dorms. Olivia and Blake held back once more, this time choosing to continue climbing up the stairs instead of going down the hall with the rest of their team. Yang's shouts of 'Where'd those two sneak off to!?' reached their ears before they escaped to the safety of the roof.

Olivia stumbled to the railing and leaned against it, basking in the cold, light wind that rippled across the rooftop. From up top like this, she could still see over the edge of Beacon's cliff and down into Vale itself. Orange and white lights lit the darkness, like a second set of stars reflecting the sky above.

Blake leaned against the railing next to her, eyes only on the spider faunus, "So, you were saying?"

Olivia sighed, "Widow is… like a mother to me. I met her when she was another member of the White Fang. She… hates humans, even more than I do."

Blake nodded slowly, "I know someone like that… Where's Widow now?"

Olivia's hand stretched out, sweeping across the entirety of Vale, "Out there, somewhere. She didn't want me to come to Beacon, but eventually figured it was for the best… Widow thinks that I'll realize she was right, once I've spent enough time in this place."

"Right about what?"

"That we only need each other… and that no one else can be trusted."

Blake was silent for a while, the two quietly enjoying the breeze together. After a few minutes, the cat faunus put a hand up to her bow and pulled on the ribbon, releasing her second set of ears from the folds, "I'm sure Adam is out there somewhere, too. The White Fang in Vale tend to stick to their camps in Forever Fall."

"I take it he isn't the best person you've ever met?"

Blake shook her head sadly, "Adam would kill every human if he could. He thinks the faunus are superior… that it's our _right_ as the better species to rule over the humans."

"We _are_ the better species," Olivia started, then raised her hands when Blake's head whipped to look at her, an argument on her lips, "By that I mean we have better senses, more acute reflexes, natural advantages that humans _don't_ have... Are we _morally_ superior, though?" she scoffed, "Not in the slightest."

Blake grimaced, "Do you think a _faunus_ could run something as detestable as the Schnee Mines?"

"Wouldn't Adam?"

Blake paused, gathering her thoughts, "Adam was… abused by humans. His mind isn't in the right place. He didn't _start off_ evil."

Olivia shrugged, "Neither did I. That doesn't mean I can't hold myself accountable for the things I've done and try to be a better person, a better faunus."

Blake's eyes took on a soft tone, her ears drooping slightly against the top of her head, "You didn't _really_ answer me earlier… Why do you _want_ to change?"

Olivia turned away from the cityscape below to lean with her back against the railing and her elbows resting on it to her sides. She paused to think about it for a moment before answering, trying to collect her thoughts as well as she could.

"My brother Copper would be _ashamed_ of what I've become. So would my other brother… Jace. Letting myself fall so far… The least I could do is try and rise back up again, better than ever. I want them to be _proud_ of who I am."

Blake's eyes raised to the sky, seeming almost as if she was blinking back tears. Olivia heard her whisper sadly, "Was I not enough?"

Olivia extended out a hand to hold hers, "Hey, I've never met this Adam guy, but from the sounds of it… It didn't matter _what_ you did. I want to change because I cared about other people that thought I could be a better person. Maybe Adam just… wasn't capable of that."

"Maybe…"

Olivia squeezed more tightly, "I'm glad you're on my team, Blake. I know I gripe, and it's obvious I would have rather ended up with Ren and Nora… but you and Ruby are the two things keeping me here _at all_. Try and take your own advice and just… focus on the good."

Blake squeezed back before pulling her hand free and using it to check the time on her scroll, "It's nearly midnight. We should get some sleep. Are you still going to the other room?"

Olivia nodded, feeling for herself just how tired the day had managed to make her as well, "If Ren's awake, I'll have him give me a dose of his semblance. Nothing beats it when you want to sleep and forget all the terrible times in your life…"

Blake stood straight and began to tie the bow back on top of her head, "Well, I'll see you tomorrow morning, then. At least come back over to our room to get ready, okay? You can't avoid Weiss forever."

"Will do," Olivia smiled slightly, the alcohol making her that little bit more daring, "I wouldn't miss the chance to get a peek at you anyway."

Blake scoffed, a smile on her lips, "Don't you have a girlfriend already?"

Olivia waved a hand drunkenly, "She's a fling. A fun stress reliever."

"Well," Blake laughed, "I don't really plan on being the same. I think Yang might be more my type after all."

Olivia shared in the laugh, "Hey, Yang _would_ be a catch if you're into that sort of girl," she raised her hand to block her mouth conspiratorially, "and I'm on _pretty_ good terms with her. You say the word and we'll set up a blind date for the two of you. Bonus points, she doesn't have a problem with faunus, and I know a nice hotel you could stay at."

Blake's cheeks colored as she lightly pushed Olivia on the shoulder, "That's _way_ too fast. I think I'll take things at my _own_ speed, thank you very much."

Olivia smirked, "Alright, alright. Just keep in mind we only have four years for you to make a move. If I don't see any progress in at _least_ two then I'm stepping in for you."

Blake rolled her eyes, "Yeah sure, Miss Stress Reliever," she walked towards the stairs and pulled the door open. An uncertain smile tugged at her lips, growing larger by the second, "I'm glad we had this talk. I feel… a lot more hopeful for the future. For our team…"

Olivia waved her away with a shooing motion, "Me too. Let Ruby know I said goodnight… I'll see you in the morning."

Blake gave one last smile before disappearing, letting the door close behind her with a slow click. Olivia sighed and closed her eyes, tilting her head back to lean more against the railing behind herself. She stayed there for a while longer, feeling the light wind stirring her hair and cooling her off.

After a few minutes, Olivia was hardly surprised to feel Ozpin's presence on the other side of the door to the stairs. There was a slight knock, two quick raps of his knuckles against the steel surface that reverberated across the quiet rooftop.

"It's your school, isn't it?" Olivia shouted out, loud enough for a human to hear at that distance.

The door opened as Ozpin stepped through, holding two steaming cups in his hands, "Indeed. It is never a bad idea to be polite, though." He walked over to Olivia and held out of the cups, "Careful, it's hot."

Olivia raised her eyebrows at the steam slowly rising up from the cup, but accepted it from the headmaster, gingerly holding it by the handle. A small sip revealed it to be hot cocoa, instead of coffee, "So, do you give every student treats in the middle of the night when they're standing on your rooftop, or just ones that have been in the White Fang?"

Ozpin smiled, "If the latter were the case, I would have brought a third mug for Miss Belladonna," at Olivia's surprised stare, he chuckled, "Yes. Not much slips by me, Miss Mandevilla. I'm well aware that both of you were once members of the… esteemed organization."

"Esteemed?" Olivia scoffed, "You don't have to try and _flatter_ me, Headmaster. The White Fang is infamous, at best."

"Oh, they have done _some_ good in their time. I would not paint them all as murderers and thieves like many others would. As of late, however, they have tended to stray in that direction."

"Trouble in Vale?" Olivia shrugged, "Sorry, I can't help you there. Isn't my group. They're gone."

"The loss of life is always a terrible event," Ozpin sighed, "Qrow told me of your faction. They sounded like wonderful people."

"... They _were_ …" Olivia confirmed quietly, choosing to take another sip instead of continuing that particular conversation.

"You know, the path of the huntress will help alleviate some of the guilt you may be feeling. Saving others, killing grimm instead of people… I hope you believe me when I say I wish you all the best."

Olivia frowned, "And the cover up?"

Ozpin turned to his side to look at Olivia directly, "I'm not sure what you mean. Cardin Winchester was killed by something that has since disappeared from this world, and won't ever return. There is no reason for Olivia Mandevilla to pay the price for… someone else's mistake."

Olivia narrowed her eyes, catching the hint that perhaps the headmaster knew even more than he was letting on. ' _It's too dangerous to ask him about it if he's only guessing, though._ '

"That's… very kind of you."

"I exist solely to try and make the world a better place. If one measly cover up is all it takes to make my dreams a reality, then I will happily pay that price. It is the _last_ time, though. As I said, that other person is gone. It should _remain_ that way, don't you think?"

Olivia nodded, "It should."

"I'm glad we're in agreement," Ozpin checked his scroll and walked over to the door to hold it open for Olivia, "It's almost time for that curfew I mentioned. Enjoy your night with team Lion."

Olivia walked past and paused, attempting to hand Ozpin back the mug. He raised his hand to refuse and smiled, "Keep it as a reminder. My birthday gift for your fresh beginning."

"... Thank you, Headmaster…" Olivia gave a small bow of her head and left, hearing the door close behind her with no Ozpin in sight.

Olivia headed back down the stairs and knocked on Lion's door. It was immediately opened by Nora, who grabbed Olivia by the hand and pulled her inside. Unlike team Rainbow, they had left their beds in the proper configuration, laid out across the back wall with a few feet between each pair. The window still sat in the center, similar to her own dorm room.

Nora pulled Olivia over to the side, where they'd arranged a mattress on the floor, along with what suspiciously looked like her own blanket and pillow from across the hall. Nora confirmed as much as she began a quick tirade, laying out where everyone else was sleeping, and the 'ground rules', which included not inviting Melanie over.

Olivia rolled her eyes, "As if she'd even _want_ to come here," then stopped herself, thinking about it, "On second thought…"

"No." Nora put her hands on her hips, "This room is the sacred property of team Lion. No girlfriends allowed."

"But then how are _you_ here?" Olivia quirked an eyebrow at Nora and glanced to Ren, a smirk on her lips.

" _Ooooooh~_ " Yang cooed from where she was in bed, apparently not yet asleep, just drunk. She rolled over to level a mischievous grin towards Nora, "You guys didn't tell me _that_ yet."

Nora's head looked to the ceiling as she placed a hand across her forehead and slowly shook her head. Ren sighed, raising his hand to get the other's attention, "We _were_ going to on our own time. We didn't want the two of you worrying about us doing anything indecent in our dorm, and it would have been easier if you got to know us first."

"Oops," Olivia clapped a hand on Nora's shoulder and gave Pyrrha and Yang a reassuring smile, "They're responsible, though. Really."

"I trust them," Pyrrha replied easily from beneath her covers.

Olivia put a finger to her chin in thought, "You know… those rooms in the library wouldn't be half bad…"

"That…" Ren sighed once more and shook his head, "Would be very disrespectful."

Olivia smirked, "Just saying," then tentatively walked over to Ren's bedside. She put a hand against the back of her head, rubbing it in embarrassment, "So, it's been a long day… Um… If you wouldn't mind, Ren?"

A tiny smile tugged at the corner of Ren's lips as he held his hand out. Olivia reached out to touch it quickly. She took a deep breath as his semblance washed over her, draining her emotional fatigue of the last few days. Olivia felt it all escape at once as she exhaled, her worries seeming to vanish in an instance. She mumbled a quiet, 'thank you', and stumbled over to the mattress that had been laid out for her.

"Goodnight," Olivia called out before pulling the blanket tightly across her chest. She snuggled into it and sighed, relaxing for the first time since she'd arrived at Beacon.

A chorus of 'goodnights' were echoed back by the others in the room as they all bedded down for the night. From this distance, Olivia could barely feel the heiress at the edge of her sixth sense's range. With Ren's semblance however, she found herself able to ignore it and focus on the calm feeling that had overtaken her.

Sleep came quickly after.

* * *

The warehouse door opened silently, allowing both Emerald and Mercury to sneak in ahead of Cinder. A loud male voice in the distance drowned out the quiet patter of their footsteps on the hard pavement. Cinder stepped in confidently, not bothering to hide her presence, content that Emerald and Mercury could handle the woman that Neo had told them about.

"You come into _my_ hideout, make demands of me and _my_ men, then when the smallest part of the plan goes wrong, try to short us on payment!?"

A woman's voice laughed, calm and carefree, "What is this 'us' you're talking about? I paid _you_ the portion that you were due. The rest aren't accounted for, so _they_ aren't getting paid."

"The buyer doesn't split the spoils _before_ paying out, the ones that did the job do!"

Mercury crouched low up to the corner of a container and peeked around the side before turning back to Cinder and nodding, "It's Widow. I recognize her from the mission she took on with my dad. Roman is with her."

"Good. I can't wait to meet Lotus's _mother_ ," Cinder smirked and began to walk around the side of the container.

"What are you-!?" Roman's voice echoed loudly the instant before the lights shut off within the building. A single sparking fuse box the only sign of what had happened, providing the tiniest source of light in the distance.

Cinder narrowed her eyes, scanning the room. With her human eyes, it was impossible to see in the pitch black building. There were no windows above, no light being allowed to stream in from outside.

"Behind you!" Mercury's voice cried out, causing Cinder to spin around in the dark. The vaguest silhouette of a human shape appeared before her, and she raised a hand, letting loose a torrent of flame. For an instant, the light of the flames illuminated her target, revealing it to be Emerald.

The thief's aura crackled as she dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the brunt of the attack. Cinder whipped her eyes over to where Mercury had last been, intent on giving him the tongue lashing of a lifetime, only to find that he wasn't there.

Suddenly, the sound of fighting echoed on the opposite side of the building. Steel on booted steel as two fighters clashed over and over. Cinder could not see in the dark, but from the sounds of it, Mercury was giving as good as he got.

"Emerald, go back up Mercury, now!"

Emerald complied, taking only a moment to brush herself off as she drew her weapons and moved towards the sound of fighting in a crouch. With the light still reduced as it was, Cinder could no longer see her after she moved more than ten feet away.

The voice of the Widow whispered in her ear, "My oh my. _That_ was an interesting attack. Can you explain how you did that?"

Cinder turned once more, hand raised with fire coiling in her palm. Her eyes were met with empty space, the air itself seemingly blacker than pitch, "Where are you? We're friends of your daughter, Widow. We came to request your help."

"My help?" the voice changed directions, speaking now from Cinder's right side, "I don't believe my daughter has ever spoken of you. The grey haired one I recognized at least."

Mercury's unconscious body came hurtling out of the dark to roll across the ground at her feet. Part of his forehead was bleeding, but aside from that, he appeared to still be alive.

Cinder turned to face the direction that Emerald had gone off to, certain that it hadn't been the same way as where Mercury had come from. ' _What were we hearing, then?_ '

"So, what help would you ask from little old me?" Widow mocked from the darkness, sounding as if she was in all places at once.

"We know you and your daughter used to be in the White Fang. We need them now, to make diversions and help keep Ozpin's focus off his students. It'll help protect Lotus as well, if you agree to it."

"The White Fang were only ever a means to an end… I suppose I could use them again. Lotus can protect herself, though. What else are you willing to offer? I hope these _children_ weren't your best allies…"

Emerald was unceremoniously tossed from the darkness as well, her body colliding with Mercury's. Her forehead was similarly bleeding, though she looked to have a few small cuts on her arms that also bled.

Cinder scoffed, feigning nonchalance, "Henchmen, really. You know of one of my _true_ allies. Does the name 'Tyrian' ring a bell? He mentioned meeting you, once upon a time. Said you were the only other faunus to ever keep him on his guard," Cinder's eyes glanced down at Mercury and Emerald's unconscious forms, "I can see why."

Widow took a few more moments to reply, "Yes. I remember Tyrian. Do you work for him?"

" _Salem_ is my Mistress, and she is kind to those that serve her well," Cinder replied haughtily before stepping forward and raising her arms wide, "Join us, and the grimm can be at your beck and call. As they are for Tyrian, as they are for me."

Cinder ignited her hands, each with a large flame that engulfed the darkness around her. Widow was revealed, standing ten paces away with her hands on her hips, daggers sheathed. Roman was lying on the ground behind her, his white coat lying askew along with his body. A grin stretched across the spider faunus's lips.

"If I help you, then you need to do something for me."

Cinder inclined her head, "Most requests are at my Mistress's disposal. Speak, and it will be done."

Widow shook her head, "You will suffice. I want my _daughter_ back, and if I recall correctly... so does your Mistress. Assist me in freeing her from her childish dreams, and Salem may have us _both_."

Cinder dropped the flames from one of her hands and extended it out. Widow accepted it with a wide smile, firmly shaking her hand in agreement.

"Well, I'd better get started then," Widow turned her back on Cinder and walked forward a few paces before looking back over her shoulder, "Next time, try knocking."

With that, the spider faunus vanished past the fringes of the light, back into the shadows from whence she came. Cinder waited a few more seconds before sighing and kneeling down to check on Emerald and Mercury.

"I swear, I take my eyes off the two of you for _one_ second…"


	35. Confrontation

The sound of steel on steel echoed sharply through the crowd of students that sat watching the spar between Ruby and Blake. Olivia stood at the edge of the railing, staring intently at the battle currently taking place. Raw speed verses teleportation and clones.

With her sixth sense, Olivia could tell the difference between one of Blake's clones, and where she was about to appear. Unfortunately, Ruby didn't have that boon, and had chosen to dash in and out of combat, never staying in one place long enough for Blake to get the drop on her.

After the most recent dash across the center of the combat arena, Ruby stopped, knees trembling. She had been using her semblance nearly nonstop for the entire fight, and it had been going on for quite some time. Blake reappeared near her vanishing clone, one long cut through the center showing the path Crescent Rose had taken.

Blake eyed Ruby, taking in her faltering strength with a discerning eye, and began closing the distance slowly, Gambol Shroud held up in preparation to block. As she had previously, Ruby raised Crescent Rose, transforming it to fire round after round at Blake in the hope to delay her and give the reaper time to recover.

The rounds pinged off the black sword, or created holes through the clones left behind as Blake attacked in earnest. She sprinted across the intervening space, vanishing from the places that Ruby fired at and appearing closer and closer, until she'd finally crossed the gap. Ruby shifted back to the scythe and attempted to defend, slashing horizontally to force Blake to keep her distance.

The scythe passed through another clone, Blake reappearing above and behind Ruby to kick the younger girl in the back. Ruby stumbled forward, her exhaustion getting the better of her as her knees buckled and she fell to the ground. Blake landed gracefully and stopped as Miss Goodwitch raised a hand to call the match. While Ruby's aura level was still well within the green, it was clear who was the victor.

Olivia hopped over the edge of the railing and climbed up on to the arena to give Ruby a hand up. Blake stowed away her weapon and crossed her arms, smiling approvingly at Olivia's act of kindness.

"That was a good fight, kid. Don't beat yourself up about it," Olivia said cheerily, pulling the young reaper to her feet.

Ruby breathed heavily, muscles still shaking after exerting themselves for so long and turned to face Blake. She grinned despite the sweat that beaded on her forehead, "Good match, Blake! I thought I almost had you a few times there!"

Blake turned her smile to Ruby, "You almost _did_ a few times."

Olivia tapped Ruby on the nose, "Your problem is that you're too _predictable_ , kid. Denying Blake the opportunity to counterattack was a good idea, but when it became clear that you were going to lose the stalemate, you should have tried something else. You can't keep using the same move and hoping it will work the _next_ time."

Olivia began to lead the three back up into the stands, to where Weiss sat. The heiress looked as if she'd also wanted to head down to the arena, but thought better of it when Olivia beat her to it. Olivia grimaced, remembering their fight earlier in the week, ' _You're in no place to be giving Ruby advice, Schnee._ '

"What would you have done?" Ruby asked tiredly.

Olivia brought the hand up to her chin, "If I was you…?" her eyes looked over to Blake as well, sizing up her fellow faunus, "Use a few ice dust rounds to create terrain that favors you. She might not be able to dodge if you manage to box her in, and if all else fails, you could put your back to the ice so that she at least couldn't attack you from behind. Use shorter bursts to dodge away from where you _think_ she's going to reappear, then counterattack."

Blake nodded, "It would take more than a _few_ rounds, but it's a decent idea. I'd have less places to reappear in that situation so you could give yourself a better chance at predicting where I'd be… You'd also have to be careful not to cut off the routes for your own semblance, though."

"Hmmm," Ruby pondered what they'd said as they all sat back down and Miss Goodwitch called for the next two contestants. Olivia had already had her fight against another one of the random students in class. Going all out was ultimately unnecessary, so she'd focused on practicing with Oath instead of mixing in her fists. After an entire week spent in Beacon, she had become more and more adept with the new weapon.

"Do you want to visit The Daily Grind after this, Blake?" Olivia asked, relaxing in her seat as the next fight began.

"Sure, I haven't been there in a while. What about you, Ruby?"

Ruby snapped out of her daydream to give a sad shrug, "I still have packets left."

"You don't have that many left," Olivia chided lightly, "and you won't need to turn another in until Monday. You've got the entire weekend to finish them up."

"I just want to be done with them," Ruby confessed.

"Well… do you want me to stick around and help? I wouldn't mind, really."

Ruby waved off her suggestion, "Nah, you and Blake go enjoy yourselves. My next couple packets are about maintaining and upgrading your weapon. Should be cake."

"For you? No doubt," Olivia said with a grin, "You're coming with us next time, though."

Blake caught Olivia's attention and darted her eyes past her with a small nod of her head towards Weiss. Olivia's eyes widened in surprise that the faunus would want to invite the heiress. The two began a short back and forth, silently arguing with expressions alone on whether or not they should bring the Schnee along. Olivia eventually gave up with a downcast sigh, and tried to work a smile on to her face before turning to the heiress.

"Weiss…? Do you want to come with us?"

Weiss's demeanor brightened, her shoulders raising from their slump to share a timid smile with Olivia and Blake, "I… didn't have any other plans. I suppose I could go… What kind of place is it?"

"A cafe…" Olivia saw her chance to scare off the heiress and gave a shrug, "It has mostly faunus patrons, and all the staff are as well. I hope you're okay with that."

Weiss drew herself up, taking Olivia's comment as a challenge, "Why wouldn't I be?"

Olivia managed to keep the disappointment from reaching her face, "Well then, it's a date. You sure you don't want to go, Ruby?"

Ruby pulled her eyes away from the fight taking place down on the stage, "No, that's okay. I want to see if the packet has anything in it that I don't already know."

Olivia smiled, "Nerd."

Ruby crossed her arms, pouting, "I told you. _Nerds_ don't kick butt!"

Olivia laughed, "Fine, then. You're an 'aficionado'. Better?"

"Afici-... Is that another word for nerd?"

"If what you like is _nerdy_ , then yes."

"Weapons aren't nerdy…"

"Then I guess you're in the clear," Olivia smirked.

Ruby brightened, "Right! I'm an-!… aficiendo?"

"Aficionado."

"Aficionado!"

The cheering of a few students in the crowd announced the end of the last bout of the day. Ruby turned back to clap along with some of the others, sharing in the atmosphere. Olivia shook her head and stood, looking to Blake and, with some reluctance, Weiss.

"Ready to go? I haven't been there in a while."

"Me neither," Blake admitted softly, standing as well.

The three of them dropped their weapons off in the locker room and said their goodbyes to Ruby and team Lion before heading out to the bullheads, still in their combat outfits. The flight down to Vale was relatively quick, and soon enough the three had stepped out on to the platform below.

"So… where is this place we're going?" Weiss asked tentatively, looking to both Blake and Olivia for guidance.

"It's a little off mainstreet," Blake answered easily, beginning to lead the other two. Olivia fell into step next to her, while Weiss walked a few steps behind. It had been clear to the heiress after the last few days which side Blake had ultimately taken, though the cat faunus tried to remain neutral. When both Olivia and Weiss were present, Blake always kept to Olivia's side.

' _At least she has Ruby…_ ' Olivia thought with some mild annoyance. The small reaper had tried to balance out the team, and tended to stick around Weiss whenever the heiress was feeling left out. Olivia knew it was just Ruby's nature. The kid was kind-hearted, and wanted to make sure everyone around her was happy at all times. It still hurt a little, knowing that her aggression towards Weiss had driven a divide between herself and Ruby.

The crowds were out in full force, later in the afternoon on a Friday as it was. Blake and Olivia pressed onwards, refusing to budge from their route and making others step around them instead. They created a small path through the crowd, the gap closing behind Weiss while she stayed close behind the two faunus.

"What was that dessert called? I want to order it again," Olivia asked Blake next her, reverting to her usual stance of ignoring Weiss for the time being.

"Tiramisu Panna Cotta. Did you like it?" Blake replied with a small smile.

"It was delicious," Olivia confirmed. She paused in thought, reflecting back on the first day she'd spent in Vale, "Who would have guessed we'd end up on the same team?"

Blake shrugged lightly, "I thought you might be another new student since you were carrying your weapon around, and you dealt with…" Blake flicked her eyes back towards Weiss, changing what she'd been about to say, "that nuisance… so easily."

"I figured you would be as well. I kind of cheated since I could feel your aura, though" Olivia shrugged, letting the comment about Cardin pass.

"I'll admit… I had my eyes set on you from right then…" Blake's ears twitched beneath their bow, voice lowering so that Weiss wouldn't hear, "I was glad when you didn't try to leave me with Weiss in the Emerald Forest…"

"Little good _that_ did," Olivia rolled her eyes, "I'd say karma got the best of both of us, if I believed in that sort of thing."

Blake put a hand up to stifle a laugh, "Yeah, no way does karma exist. If it did, then the faunus should have cashed in _ages_ ago."

"Probably why it's more of a human thing," Olivia agreed with a smirk, "Wonder if the heiress believes in it."

Blake got a small glint in her eyes and turned to peek over her shoulder back towards their third wheel, "Hey, Weiss. Do you believe in karma?"

Olivia didn't turn around to acknowledge her, but could sense Weiss raising a hand to her chin in contemplation, "I suppose so. If you do good things, then good things should happen to you in return, right?"

"And what about bad things?"

"Of course. The pendulum swings both ways."

Olivia sighed and dropped her head a fraction, ' _I would be dead a few hundred times over if that were the case,_ ' and had to stop herself from asking how karma would factor into the SDC, ' _No arguments… just a nice day out between teammates._ '

Ozpin had been sure to pop in out of the blue a few more times over the last week, keeping himself as a constant reminder that Olivia should behave herself. She was beginning to think more and more that Ozpin knew more than he was letting on. As far as she knew, he wasn't doing the same with Blake, though the cat faunus had admittedly been much less vitriolic towards Weiss so far.

Olivia had also seen Cinder and the others around campus, including the mute, Neo. Olivia kept to herself, as Cinder desired. It was tough at times to not ask them to help with Weiss as they had with Cardin. Unfortunately, the heiress of the SDC would be a much more serious disappearance, and Ozpin would certainly blame Olivia no matter what alibi she had.

Blake closed her eyes as they walked, her head tilting up slightly as she smelled the air. Olivia looked around the street and realized that they were almost already at the cafe. The smallest hint of the cafe's usual aroma permeated the air, noticeable even among the throng of so many other smells.

They arrived at the alleyway and Olivia paused for a moment, drawing Blake's attention to the wall of the alley with a worried frown. Scratched into the side of the bricks were three long, white marks. If the specific markings used by the White Fang transferred across continents, the sign was a clear indication that only faunus were welcome within. The White Fang had claimed the space.

Blake's eyes widened and she backpedaled slightly, but Olivia frowned and grabbed her hand. She refused to let the White Fang dictate where she would spend _her_ afternoon. Olivia turned back to Weiss, calling over her shoulder at the heiress that was tentatively stepping into the alleyway behind them, "It's right this way. Can't miss it."

"A little... out of the way, isn't it?"

"You think faunus can afford to buy a shop right on mainstreet?" Olivia asked with a raised eyebrow, "I doubt the city would _let_ them, even in Vale."

Olivia began to walk forward but was stopped by Blake who was hesitant to continue, fearfully glancing between the symbol on the wall, the shop, and Weiss.

"Is something wrong?" Weiss asked, noticing Blake's reluctance.

"Yeah, Blake. Is everything okay?" Olivia grinned, "As long as you're with a faunus like me, two _humans_ like you don't have anything to fear."

Blake narrowed her eyes, suspicious of whatever game Olivia might be playing at, but finally relented. To argue further would bring her race into question, since not many outside of White Fang members would understand what the symbols meant, least of all humans.

"No, it's fine."

"Good!" Olivia replied ecstatically. She led the way into the small cafe, pausing at the doorway to enjoy the sudden influx of delicious scents.

The room was relatively empty, aside from a few faunus within. Olivia could tell easily enough that the White Fang warning out front had been taken seriously by other patrons that usually brought humans along with them. Those there gave the trio a casual glance at first, then froze, noticing exactly who it was that Olivia had brought into Fang territory.

"You guys go ahead and take a seat. I'm going to speak with the barista," Olivia said with a smile, pointing off towards the booth that Blake had frequented in her times here.

Weiss seemed to draw into herself when she noticed everyone in the establishment eyeing her. Olivia turned away from them to hide the laughter threatening to break free and walked over to the barista standing behind the counter. It was one that she recognized from the first day she'd been there. Olivia flashed her best smile as she approached.

The barista took her eyes off Weiss when Olivia got to the counter, giving the spider faunus a nervous smile in return. She kept her voice low, "Umm… You might not have seen the markings outside… the White Fang claimed this area for themselves a few days ago. It might not be the best idea to have a _Schnee_ in here..."

Olivia shrugged nonchalantly, "I saw it. If they want to cause a scene, that's their choice," she leaned forward to whisper, "I'm just trying to have a nice time out, okay? This is my favorite place in the city! So, if you could _refrain_ from, I don't know… spitting in her food or anything? I'd appreciate it."

The barista glanced over at Weiss before nodding to Olivia, "I'll make sure the cooks behave themselves."

"Thank you," Olivia smiled earnestly. She could feel Weiss flipping through the menu, choosing out what she wanted, "I'm sure we'll be ready to order soon."

The barista drew herself up, returning to an air of professionalism, "Of course. I'll be over in a few minutes."

Olivia left to sit at the booth, choosing the spot next to Blake with Weiss sitting across from them. The heiress glanced over her menu when the faunus sat down before going back to it, eyes slowly roaming the page. Blake waited for Weiss to be preoccupied before directing a glare at Olivia that would have sent shivers down the spine of a weaker person.

' _ **You**_ _were the one that wanted to invite the princess along. Maybe karma is more subtle than we think._ '

"So, what are you getting, Blake?" Olivia asked with a smirk, choosing to ignore her glare.

Blake returned to a neutral expression as Weiss's gaze returned, though her ears still twitched against their bonds, "Probably a salad."

"That sounds good," Weiss chipped in, flipping back a page to the salads, "Any in particular?"

Blake sighed quietly, picking up her own menu to flip through as well. She stopped, eyes looking over the page, "The crab salad is pretty good. What about _you_ , Olivia?"

Olivia didn't bother to pick up her menu, instead hiding her smile with a hand while she cleared her throat, "Hmmm… a Reuben sounds good right about now."

"I've never tried one of those before…" Weiss changed pages to the sandwiches and looked it over, "That sounds good."

Olivia frowned, ' _Is she trying to be nice? Sorry, princess. Choosing the same sandwich isn't exactly a good first step._ ' She shrugged, "Choose what you want."

Weiss mumbled something from behind her menu, and at a quirked eyebrow from Olivia, lowered it to speak more clearly, "I said… I- _I'm_ paying this time."

Olivia opened her mouth to argue, but at a nudge from Blake, thought better of what she'd been about to say. She shook her head instead, "If you want. I won't stop you."

Weiss seemed to cheer up slightly, sitting taller in her seat, and closed the menu to set it down in front of herself. Blake did the same, stacking both of theirs on top of Olivia's. The barista noticed and grabbed a small notepad, making her way across the small cafe to the trio with a smile that was at least partially forced.

"Looks like you're all ready! What can we get started for you?"

Weiss raised her hand slightly, drawing the barista's attention, "We'll take two Reubens, and a crab salad for Blake."

"And what to drink?"

"An iced coffee for me," Weiss replied easily, then left it open for Blake and Olivia to answer.

"I'll take a latte," Blake added.

Olivia shot Weiss a frown before turning back to the barista, "Just an espresso, thanks."

The barista finished up writing down their orders before flashing a smile, "I'll have those drinks right out for you. The food should take around ten minutes."

"Thank you," Weiss returned the smile and held out the menus for her. The barista's smile changed, almost appearing genuine, before accepting the menus and heading off back behind the counter to get started on their orders.

Olivia waited for her to leave before speaking, "You know, Weiss. We aren't children. I'm fully capable of ordering for myself."

Weiss's smile faltered slightly, "Oh… I'm sorry. It's uh… Atlas etiquette. I know I'm not exactly _hosting_ the outing, but since I was paying… It's common courtesy in Atlas to order for your guests… Is it not the same in Vale?"

"No clue, I'm from Mistral," Olivia calmed somewhat. Cultural differences were to be expected across continents. She'd already ran into a few herself since arriving in Vale, and from the sounds of it, Weiss hadn't meant to offend them, "How are you supposed to remember all the orders if there's more people?"

Weiss's posture changed, rising back up, "It's expected of the host. It shows that you're paying attention to your guests and their needs and treating them equally."

"Sounds like a waste of time to me," Olivia shrugged, sitting back in her booth. Her curiosity was mildly piqued, at least, "What if you want to insult one of your guests? Do you forget their order?"

"More or less... It's a larger grievance if you tell the waiter the wrong order… Then your guest is forced to either deal with what you gave them, or make a scene by speaking up. The host is usually one of higher social standing, so it's seen as rude to have your order changed afterwards."

"I'm guessing the Schnee's were always the hosts, huh? How many orders have you 'messed up' in the past?"

Weiss frowned, "I never have… at least not intentionally."

Olivia shook her head in confusion, sharing a glance with Blake, "You elites are so sensitive. If you had a problem with someone in Mistral then you took it outside."

"You would argue outside?"

Olivia laughed, "No, Princess. You would _fight_ outside."

"That's barbaric."

"It's _efficient_ ," Olivia smirked, "Don't like someone? Make it known. If you're strong enough then you don't have to deal with them anymore," she shrugged, "Or you bond over the bloodshed and have a few drinks together."

"Neither is true for Vale…" Blake replied lightly, looking between the two, "It more just depends on the situation."

Olivia raised her hands defensively, "All I'm saying is the Mistral way works. Yang and I are friends now, right?"

"Wait…" Weiss balked, "Are you saying you met Yang in a _bar_ fight?"

"Yup. Now look at us. Best of chums."

"I feel like Ruby had more of a hand in that than you're admitting…" Blake kept her eye on Olivia, trying to look for any sign that the other faunus was pulling their legs.

Olivia laughed, "A little, maybe. Qrow did too."

Weiss placed her elbow on the table, holding her hand to her chin, "I think Ruby's mentioned him to me before… that's her uncle, isn't it?"

"Yup. He's an old drunk, but… probably one of the _strongest_ drunks you'll ever meet. He's an 'S' rated huntsman."

"So is my sister!" Weiss said excitedly, then coughed into her hand awkwardly, "N-not that it's a _competition_ or anything…"

"Good for her. If it was, I doubt a pampered Schnee could keep up with Qrow," Olivia scoffed, then sighed when she felt an angry nudge from Blake next to her, "I mean… I'm sure your sister is strong, too. Are you aspiring to be like her?"

Weiss crossed her arms, slightly miffed by Olivia's comment, "My sister _is_ strong, and yes, I'm hoping I can follow in her footsteps."

"Did she go to Beacon?" Blake interjected, trying to help diffuse some of the aggression between the two.

"N-No. Winter joined Atlas Academy… She works with General Ironwood now."

"Then why are _you_ in Vale?" Olivia frowned, "Atlas a little too _cold_ this time of year?"

Weiss deflated, her posture shrinking into her chair, "I… just didn't want to be in Atlas anymore, okay?" her defiance returned by the end of the sentence, shooting Olivia a glare that dared her to comment further.

' _Odd… She's obviously hiding something, but I have no clue what…_ ' As far as Olivia could remember, this was by far the longest conversation she'd been able to keep going with the heiress. Her eyes glanced around the interior and she inhaled deeply, quickly realizing why, ' _Hard to be mad in a place like this…_ '

The barista returned with their drinks, handing them out from atop the small platter she held. Olivia took a sip and grinned, flashing the barista a smile, "Thanks."

"My pleasure," she shifted the platter to hold it against her chest, "Your food will be a little longer. Anything else I can get you in the meantime?"

Olivia raised an eyebrow to the other two, but both shook their heads, "No, I think we're alright for now."

"Don't hesitate to call me over if you think of anything," with that she left once more, leaving the trio to enjoy their beverages.

Olivia eyed Weiss's drink closely while the heiress was sipping from the straw that had been provided, but couldn't see anything out of place, ' _Not that I would be too upset... but she is still_ _ **my**_ _teammate. It would be an insult to me as well, especially after asking them not to._ '

Weiss finished her initial sip and closed her eyes, sighing contentedly, "Perfect…"

"This place is excellent," Blake chimed in, swirling her own drink with a spoon while she watched Weiss, likely checking for the same things Olivia was, "The food is even better."

"And the desserts better still," Olivia agreed, returning to her own drink. She waited for the heiress's mood to once again lighten before returning to their previous subject, "So, why go to Beacon, Weiss?"

Weiss lowered her drink, "Why does it matter? I'm here, and that's all there is to it."

"I'm just curious. I would have thought daddy Schnee would keep a tighter leash on his children. No guards here to keep you safe."

"I can handle myself," Weiss argued, though the way her hand trembled beneath the table clued Olivia in that something had hit close to home.

She decided to take a shot in the dark, "How _did_ Jacques feel about his little girl running off to another kingdom?"

Immediately, Olivia knew she'd struck gold. Weiss's mouth pursed into a thin line, and her hand clenched tightly to keep herself from shaking further, "It doesn't matter _what_ he thinks."

"Oh? Trouble in the family?" Olivia ignored the threatening glare that Blake sent her way, ' _She has to be as curious about this as I am, right?_ '

Weiss's face shifted through an assortment of emotions, eventually hidden behind her drink as she raised it. Even still, Olivia could tell that the thought of her father seemed to be negative overall, ' _The little Schnee has daddy issues? That's too bad~_ ' She raised her own drink to hide the smirk that quirked the corners of her mouth.

Weiss lowered her cup with a grimace, "It's nothing, really… My father didn't want me to become a huntress."

"Why not?"

The heiress looked at Olivia, sizing her up as if she was trying to work out the faunus's angle. Weiss sighed, lowering her cup completely to set it on the table, "An heir and a spare…"

"What does that mean?" Blake asked, giving Weiss a quizzical stare.

"After Winter joined the military and broke ties with him, that only left myself and my brother, Whitley. My father tried to groom me to become the next owner of the SDC, but… I don't want to run it the same way he does."

"What, not enough deaths in the mines for you?"

"No!" Weiss raised her voice with a glare, then paled when all eyes in the cafe turned towards them. She waited for them all to look away before lowering her voice, "My father… he ruined the family name. He _isn't_ a Schnee, he only _married_ one. We used to be respected, back in my grandfather's time. I… want to bring us back to how it used to be."

"And how would you do that?" Blake shared a curious frown with Olivia.

Weiss used her straw to stir the ice in her cup, giving herself a few moments before answering. When she did, her eyes flickered briefly to Olivia's before going back down to her cup, "I… did some more research, over the last week. You weren't lying about how the SDC uses faunus inmates in the mines… I didn't know that. It made me wonder what else I was never told, so I kept looking…" Weiss blinked back tears, "My grandfather's legacy has been dragged through the mud with my father at the head of the company. I can't let what he's done stand…"

Olivia's and Blake's eyes both widened, struggling to understand the sudden break through. Olivia spoke up, if only to set things straight, "Are you saying you _agree_ with the White Fang?"

"What? Of course not!" Weiss replied vehemently, "They resorted to _killing_ people to get their way. I'll never agree with someone that thinks _murder_ is the best course of action."

"You know, the White Fang _was_ peaceful once upon a time," Blake interjected, "Humans _ignored_ them."

"There are better ways of going about getting your ideas across than what the White Fang do," Weiss argued, "They could have voted another faunus into office."

Olivia laughed, "There are more humans than there are faunus. You think they'd _let_ a faunus get elected in the polls?"

"If they proposed changes that would benefit humans _and_ faunus, then yes. Every faunus candidate I've ever seen has run on the promise of offering hope to _only_ the faunus. If you want to _win_ , you need to bring more to the table. Humans won't vote for someone that doesn't have their interests at heart."

"What _else_ do humans want?" Olivia scoffed, " _More_ segregation?"

"They don't want to be treated like second class citizens!"

Olivia laughed in bewilderment, "You mean like faunus _already_ are?"

Weiss broke eye contact, looking away from Olivia towards the wall, "I'm not saying what happens to the faunus is right, but killing people _isn't_ the answer. So many of the people I knew growing up are dead because of the White Fang. Board members, house guards and staff… all to try and weaken the SDC. What they're doing isn't right!"

' _Of course it isn't right. Obviously they aren't aiming high enough on the food chain,_ ' Olivia scoffed silently with a shake of her head. She couldn't blame the White Fang, though. It wasn't as if they hadn't _tried_. Widow had even warned Olivia not to go after Jacques. He was defended at all times, even when it didn't appear like he was. The SDC Ceo had the best money could buy, and unfortunately, that meant a lot in Atlas.

Silence prevailed over the cafe, as all conversations had died out completely. While many didn't look directly at the group of three students, it was clear that all focus was on them. Olivia let her body untense and sat back, realizing her hands had been gripping the table tightly. She relaxed and raised a hand when it appeared like Weiss might continue.

"Let's drop it for now. This is hardly the place, don't you think?"

Weiss took a look around the diner and nodded back to Olivia in silent agreement. Blake had shrunk into her seat, trying to avoid any of the attention being directed at their table. Olivia felt a pang of guilt, remembering that the faunus was technically in hiding. She didn't know how severe the White Fang in Vale would take desertion, but it would obviously be worse than a slap on the wrist.

The barista headed towards their table, hefting the tray once more. It now held the food that they'd ordered, along with some drinks to replace the ones they had mostly finished. Olivia's face twisted into a smile, forced, but friendly, "Sorry about that. We'll try to keep it down from now on."

The barista gave a hesitant smile, eyes glancing off to her side as her voice lowered so that only Olivia would hear, "I hope so. You're drawing the wrong sort of attention…"

' _The wrong sort…?_ ' Olivia peeked past the barista's shoulder, towards where her eyes had been flicking to. A man sat at one of the tables further down, casually stirring his drink with one hand while he spoke into his scroll with the other. Every now and then, his eyes would glance in their direction, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. If Olivia had been alone, she would have figured he was checking her out. With Weiss here…?

' _If he wants to start something, then he'll find out pretty quick who the real 'wrong sort' is around here,_ ' Olivia gave a small 'hmph' and a reassuring smile to the barista, "Not a problem. I'll show him a bit of _Mistralian_ etiquette if he wants to cause any issues."

She nodded nervously and finished up handing out their food and drinks, "Just be careful. I heard he has connections in the White Fang."

Olivia left it at that as the barista left. She turned back to Blake while Weiss was busy unwrapping her sandwich and gave a minute head nod towards the man, mouthing 'Do you recognize him?'

Blake's eyes stared intently at the man for a moment before she shook her head.

' _So, he's either a newer recruit that feels like he can take on the world now that he's part of the White Fang, or the faction here is so big that not everyone knows each other,_ ' Olivia thought idly, beginning to unwrap her own sandwich. She wasn't sure exactly which she'd prefer to be the case. Olivia didn't plan on _rejoining_ the White Fang, but she could still cheer them on from the _sidelines_ , right?

Blake shrunk into her seat and began to pick at her food, ears and body on full alert for any signs of danger. Olivia gave her a small nudge and pointed towards her own black veins, whispering, "I've got us covered. Don't worry."

Blake nodded, but only slightly relaxed. Her ears still twitched at every sound that disturbed the silence in the small cafe. The three ate in mostly peace for a while, content with leaving their earlier conversation by the wayside, at least for the time being. Olivia still had some points that she wanted to bring up in the White Fang's defense.

After a few minutes, the man hung up his scroll and stood, making his way out of the cafe. Olivia excused herself, telling the other two she'd just remembered a call she needed to make, and headed out after him. She could feel the four others that had shown up at the same time, all of them now gathering outside the cafe.

Olivia stepped out of the cafe and stretched nonchalantly, turning to look further down the alley. Sure enough, the man had been joined by others, all of them carrying bags that they were currently pulling weapons and masks out of. The man noticed Olivia and froze, drawing the rest of their attention to the younger faunus.

Olivia looked their masks over as she approached, "Wow, now _those_ are nostalgic. Does the forehead piece still get sweaty after a bit of exercise? I always thought we should have added a bit of cloth inside to help with that."

The man narrowed his eyes uncertainly, looking Olivia over and not seeing any weapons on her, "You make it sound as if you were in the White Fang. I doubt that's the truth, since you're a race traitor having a nice day out with a _Schnee._ "

"Oh, I was. How is the ol' Fang these days? Burning down shops like always, I presume?"

The man in front was the oldest, though each of the others appeared to be older than Olivia. The youngest may have been only by a few years, but that still made them all adults. They clutched their weapons tightly, staring the young faunus up and down. Many of them sneered outright, unimpressed by her words.

The leader smirked, looking at something behind Olivia.

' _Is he trying to fake me out? I don't feel anything…_ '

"Is _this_ what Beacon students do in their free time? I would have thought you'd be doing homework by now, Lotus."

Olivia froze, feeling Widow with her sixth sense as the older spider faunus allowed her semblance to drop momentarily. She spun on her heel, staring wide-eyed at the White Fang mask on her mother's face.

"Or did you want to join us for a little hunt?" Widow smirked, eyeing Olivia up and down, "I wouldn't mind sharing a Schnee."

Olivia narrowed her eyes, regaining her composure, "You can't."

"Excuse me?" Widow frowned, eyebrows raising.

"You can't kill the Schnee."

Widow placed a hand on her hip and pulled one of her daggers free, flipping it idly in her hand, "And _why_ is that, Little Spider?"

Olivia grimaced, knowing what would come next, "Because… she's my teammate."

It was Widow's turn to freeze, the dagger falling from her hand to clatter soundlessly against the ground below. Her chest shook, shoulders quavering as she broke out into laughter, "Y-You!? A-and a Schnee!? O-on the s-same team!?" Widow devolved into more laughter, incapable of containing her mirth.

"Um, boss?" the man behind Olivia mumbled quietly.

Widow raised a hand, continuing to laugh for several seconds before finally managing to get a hold of herself. She wiped a tear from her eye, looking back to Olivia with a wide grin spreading across her face, "Oh, Lotus. That is the funniest thing I've heard in a _long_ time. I told you what would happen if you went to Beacon, but even _I_ didn't think fate could be so cruel!"

Olivia crossed her arms and glared, "Yeah, well… I'm trying to deal with it, okay? I can't have you murdering my teammate in broad daylight while I just stand around and watch. The headmaster at Beacon already knows I've got it out for her. He'll surely pin the blame on _me_ if anything happens."

Widow bent down to pick up her dagger and resheathed it before raising her hands, "Say no more. We'll leave your _dear_ teammate alone. I'll make sure _everyone_ in the White Fang knows that the little Schnee is off limits. I wouldn't want you being cheated out of your lesson, now would I?"

Olivia let her arms drop, knowing that for this at least, Widow would keep her word.

"Wait, what!?" the man behind her shouted in confusion, raising his weapon up to point it at Olivia's back, "We're going to let this race traitor and a Schnee go, just like _that!?_ "

Widow's eyes narrowed as she stepped past Olivia, walking up to the man. Her eyes scoured across those present as her voice dropped into a threatening tone, "That 'race traitor' is my _daughter_ , and if you have a problem with my decision, then perhaps she wouldn't mind putting you in your place?" Widow glanced over her shoulder to see Olivia shake her head before turning back. "A pity," Widow's eyes bore into the man's, "Unfortunately, she's trying to keep a low profile, but make _no_ mistake. My daughter could kill all five of you in an _instant_."

Those gathered look at Olivia in disbelief, ' _If I want them to follow orders and leave Weiss alone, then I'll need to do something._ ' Her appendages unfurled, rising up and around Widow's shoulders to hover in the air in front of the rest. Olivia raised an eyebrow at Widow, who had turned to face her, "May I?"

Widow smirked, "By all means."

In quick succession, each of Olivia's appendages struck out, strength finely honed to match the aura level of each of the five members. In but a moment, all were flung backwards by the force put into the blows and sent crashing into the wall at the end of the alleyway. Olivia hadn't even needed to put much strength into the attacks, all things considered.

The five struggled to their feet, weapons wildly raised in every direction as they searched for the source of the attack. Olivia stepped up next to Widow, allowing her semblance to dissipate, and cocked her head to the side. She allowed her expression to change back to one she would have worn in Mistral. A killer at the _end_ of her patience.

"Satisfied? If I _ever_ see _any_ of you around myself or the Schnee again, I _won't_ hold back. The Daily Grind belongs to the Black Lotus, _not_ the White Fang. Stay off my turf, and we won't have any problems."

They nodded in fear, taking a moment to pull off their masks and stash their weapons before high-tailing it out of the alleyway.

A few seconds passed in silence before Olivia shared a grin with Widow, and both burst out laughing. For a moment it felt just like old times. That was before the reality of Widow's past transgressions came rushing back, and Olivia's laughter faltered. She eyed the older faunus warily, remembering what had happened to the _last_ faction she was a part of.

"So, how are you planning on betraying _these_ ones?"

Widow continued to smile, shaking her head, "I'm not. Your 'friends' wanted to pay me to be a distraction, so I'm whipping the White Fang into shape. I figured I may as well do _something_ to pass the time while I'm stuck here."

"Cinder hired you? How did she even get into contact with you?"

Widow shrugged, "Must have heard I was in town. I haven't exactly been sitting around this whole time, Little Spider. I've kept myself busy," she raised a hand at Olivia's glare, "to a _reasonable_ extent. I'm not looking to take any council member's _heads_ , if that's what you're thinking. I've been cleaning up the streets, taking care of any riffraff that catches my attention."

Olivia kept up her glare for a moment longer before sighing, ' _Widow will be Widow. There's no way to stop her_ ,' before thinking of something. She raised her eyes back to the older faunus, "Well, if you come across Roman Torchwick, you have my blessing to kill him. I couldn't at the time, but there's no reason you can't."

Widow tapped her chin, a grin spreading, "Unfortunately, there _is_ a reason. You'll have to kill him yourself if you want him six feet under. I'm not letting you cheat at being 'good' by having me do your dirty work _for you_."

' _She has a point…_ ' Olivia began to walk back to the cafe, stopping to use an appendage to scratch out the White Fang symbol and speak over her shoulder, "Well, best of luck with the Fang," then paused to look back, "Oh, if you could also leave Madam Myrtle's and Junior's alone, that would be great," Olivia glanced down at her combat outfit, "Where else am I going to go for something so stylish?"

"And who else are you going to enjoy taking it off with?" Widow finished for her with a smirk, "Don't worry. Your girlfriend won't be seeing me any time soon."

"Good," Olivia said with a slight tremble to her voice and turned back around, "Goodbye, Widow."

"See you around, Little Spider."

Olivia shivered as she stepped back into the cafe, unable to enjoy the atmosphere as she usually did, ' _It'll be better next time..._ '

Both Weiss and Blake had finished with their food, while Olivia's sat on the table, half remaining. She caught the barista's attention and motioned for her to come to their table.

"We can stick around while you finish if you want, Olivia," Blake offered, looking to Weiss who nodded in agreement.

"No, that's okay," Olivia downed the last of her coffee, grimacing as she realized it had gotten cold, "I _do_ want to go help Ruby if she needs it."

Weiss and Blake exchanged a glance, both knowing by now that if there was anything Ruby needed help with, it certainly didn't involve weapons. They allowed the excuse, though, and began gathering their things while the barista brought over their check and a small box for Olivia's food.

"I'll pay for the tip," Olivia said, noticing Weiss's pen hovering over the amounts on the check. Before she could argue, Olivia dug a fistful of lien out of her pocket and set it on the table, not bothering to count.

Weiss's eyes widened, "That's… more than the actual _bill,_ Olivia."

Olivia shrugged, "I have to apologize _somehow_."

"For what?" Weiss asked, flustered.

Olivia smirked, not wanting to reveal the truth but instead settling for a minor insult, "For bringing a _Schnee_ in here."

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Oh ha ha. Very witty," the heiress set down the pen and dug out her own lien, adding the correct amount for the bill on top of Olivia's, "Shall we go, then? I wouldn't want to sully the cafe any further with my presence."

Olivia laughed, setting her food in her box and popping it closed, " _Now_ you're learning. Think you could do the same for the dorm room?"

Weiss huffed and crossed her arms, "If you want to sleep in _our_ dorm then you're going to have to learn to live with me. _I'm_ not moving out."

Olivia shook her head, mumbling, " _This_ is all the thanks I get?"

Blake seemed to have heard, and frowned quizzically, while Weiss stomped over to the door and yanked it open. She stopped to wait for them, foot tapping against the tiled floor.

Olivia and Blake followed, the former refusing to answer the look Blake had given her. As they exited the cafe, Blake was quick to notice anyway. Her eyes caught on to where the White Fang symbol had been before, now carved off the wall in long furrows.

With Weiss taking the lead this time, around a dozen feet ahead of them, Olivia shared a grin with Blake, leaning in to whisper, "I can be pretty _convincing_ when I want to be, ya know? The White Fang won't be back any time soon. I made it very clear that this cafe was off limits."

Blake's face contorted between being both happy, and disapproving of whatever methods Olivia had likely used. She finally settled on a sigh, "You didn't hurt them, did you?"

Olivia laughed, "Only showed them how Mistralians do things," when that didn't seem to have eased Blake's fears, she continued with a grin, "I didn't do much more than break their auras, if that's what you mean. You didn't smell any blood back there, did you?"

Blake frowned, "I would have noticed if there was…"

"See? As peaceful as could be. I thought you'd be happy. I did it to protect Weiss."

"You did it so you could keep going to the _cafe_ ," Blake argued, crossing her arms, "But… I guess a side effect of that _was_ saving Weiss, so… well done. I'm uh… proud of you, Olivia."

"Awww," Olivia threw an arm around Blake's shoulders, "Me too. You don't know how hard it was to tell them no."

Blake glowered and shrugged Olivia's arm off herself, "Now that _is_ a problem."

Olivia smirked, "I was only _joking_ , Blake. How could I even think that when _you're_ the angel on my shoulder?"

Blake's eyes narrowed, "Stop it. Flattery will get you nowhere with me. I'm in this to help you get better, not become another 'stress reliever'."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Olivia replied honestly, "At this point I've pretty much taught Melanie everything I like, anyway. It would be a shame to ditch that for someone as _inexperienced_ as you."

Blake glared but didn't bother arguing, "Good," her eyes softened though, glancing at Weiss and back to Olivia, "Did helping Weiss make you feel anything? Are _you_ glad you did it?"

Olivia considered lying, but thought better of it. Blake seemed to appreciate honesty, even if it was a harsh truth, "No, not really. If it had been Ruby or anyone else, then it would have."

Blake sighed, but nodded her acceptance, "Maybe we'll get there eventually, huh? It's too soon to expect that much progress. We'll take your recovery one step at a time. As long as we get there in the end, that's what matters."

Olivia nodded, "That's what matters."

"Are you two going to leave me to walk all alone again!?" Weiss shouted back to them from nearly twenty feet away. Olivia hadn't even noticed how much the pair of faunus had slowed down during their conversation.

"Comiiiing Princessss~"

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this, Rubes?" Yang asked as the elevator began it's slow rise towards the top of the CCT.

Ruby nodded, mind set, and looked to Pyrrha, the same question passing wordlessly to her. Ruby felt bad about lying to Olivia earlier, but it had been necessary to fly under her radar, so to speak.

"I'm sure," Pyrrha replied easily, giving the younger girl a tentative smile, "It's what's best for both teams."

"I just hope Ozpin agrees…" Ruby mumbled quietly, flinching as the elevator chimed and the doors opened.

Headmaster Ozpin sat behind his desk with a smile on his face, fingers laced together in front of himself and a steaming mug sitting on his desk, "Welcome, Ruby, Yang, Pyrrha," he nodded to each in turn, "I was surprised to hear from Miss Goodwitch that you had requested a meeting with me. How may I be of service?"

The three of them stepped into the headmaster's office, eyeing the room around them. Most of it consisted of the large glass panes that overlooked Vale below, while the area above them was made up of more gears than actual ceiling. Ruby stepped in first, followed by Yang and Pyrrha. They all nervously took a seat at the three chairs that had been set out for them.

Ruby cleared her throat, hesitating for a moment longer before looking Ozpin in the eye, "We wanted to ask you… if it was possible to trade team members."

"Oh?" the headmaster's eyes widened for a moment, a small smile fluttering across his lips, "And who would you wish to trade?"

Ruby looked to the others, getting confident nods from each, before turning back to the headmaster, "We were thinking… of trading Olivia and Yang… Olivia doesn't get along with Weiss at all. They're almost _always_ at each other's throats, and I know I can get along with Yang… and with Olivia staying over at Lion's dorm for the last week, Pyrrha has gotten to know her…"

Headmaster Ozpin sat back in his chair and raised an eyebrow, "And have you spoken with Olivia about this 'trade'? What was her opinion on the matter?"

"We wanted to see if it was possible first," Yang interjected when Ruby's confidence began to falter. She'd been hoping for a simple yes and to be done with it, "We wouldn't want to get her hopes up if you were going to deny us."

Ozpin nodded, "A smart move, for my answer _is_ 'no'. Your teams were decided at initiation, and that is how they must stay."

"But why?" Pyrrha spoke up, "Wouldn't it be better for the team's cohesion if everyone was happy with who they were with?"

Ozpin sighed, picking up his mug to take a sip before setting it back down, "It _is_ important. The reason it is important, though, is that you must learn to deal with anyone you might come across while on missions as a huntress. Make no mistake, not everyone will be agreeable. There will be those that frustrate you, that somehow manage to press your buttons even though you may be in the midst of saving their lives. Miss Mandevilla has a particularly bad attitude towards Miss Schnee. That is to be expected. As a faunus that grew up in Mistral, Olivia has known next to nothing but racism from humans, and the Schnees stand atop that mountain of hatred."

Ruby frowned, "If it's so bad, then shouldn't you let her switch?"

"You are missing my point, Miss Rose," Ozpin shook his head, "If Miss Mandevilla can learn to deal with Miss Schnee, then she may be able to hold her temper for anyone in the future. I _am_ sorry, but my answer is still 'no'. Was there anything else you wished to ask while you were here?"

The three girls looked amongst each other in disappointment. Ruby shrugged dejectedly, "No, nothing else… Thanks for hearing us out, Headmaster."

"Thank you for being as concerned as you are about your teammate, Miss Rose. You two as well, Yang, Pyrrha. If you continue to direct that sympathy to Miss Mandevilla, I'm sure it will help to give her a speedy recovery."

"We'll try," Pyrrha nodded affirmation. The three turned to leave, heading back towards the elevator.

"Good luck with your classes!"

Ruby and the others gave a small wave goodbye as the elevator doors closed, blocking off the headmaster, and the hopes for their request along with it.

"Well… that was a bust…"

* * *

Ozpin sighed as the doors closed, slowly taking another sip of his coffee and reopening the camera footage he had been looking at before the students' arrival. He had instructed Qrow to place it on the ledge across the street, facing into the open alleyway that harbored The Daily Grind.

The footage slowly played, showing the White Fang members gathering outside the shop, and the Black Lotus stepping outside to confront them while Miss Schnee and Miss Belladonna remained inside, apparently none the wiser. From that distance, Ozpin couldn't hear anything that was said, but the context was clear.

' _The Black Lotus protected Weiss Schnee from the White Fang._ '

Her apparent familiarity with what seemed to be the leader was disconcerting, as was the hint towards her true semblance. Ozpin rerolled that moment in particular, paying close attention to how each of the five Fang members were thrown backwards, auras instantly depleted.. Their auras shattered outwards from only one point each, displaying that all of them were only hit once.

Ozpin slowed it down, paying closer attention to the footage. The first four were hit simultaneously, while the fifth was hit an instant after, ' _Four invisible attacks, and one that was forced to attack twice perhaps...?_ '

' _It certainly makes sense for how a child could have become so renowned. How do you deal with an attack that you cannot see? She must have used that to great effect during her earlier years_.'

Ozpin frowned, puzzled by the displays the Black Lotus had shown during her fights in Goodwitch's class. Her strength was far too high for invisible attacks to be the only answer. Ozpin paused, thinking back on a specific moment during the fight that he had witnessed firsthand, and brought up the clip from that spar.

Miss Schnee, firing off four simultaneous bolts that honed in. Ozpin zoomed in to look more closely, noticing for the first time that each had exploded before actually reaching the Black Lotus.

' _So she has some physical semblance that is merely unseen, and can add to her strength in some way…?_ ' A dangerous combination, to be sure. One that would have been better off in the hands of most anyone _other_ than the assassin.

' _A pity that I cannot call on Leonardo for resources…_ ' Ozpin's reach did not span as far as Mistral, not anymore. Ever since the headmaster's death, the city had fallen into near chaos. Cinder's information about hunters being killed off had been more than correct. The standing force of the city had been reduced to a small percentage of what it once was, and any contacts that Ozpin had were long since rooted out.

Ozpin changed the video once more, now to one of the many street cameras lining the city of Vale. Weiss Schnee walked alone ahead of Miss Belladonna and the Black Lotus. She turned to yell something to them, and the Black Lotus replied. Ozpin paused it, zooming in on the genuine smile on her face.

' _There is hope for you yet, Olivia, even if you don't realize it. Please don't disappoint me._ '

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More chapters available on FFN.


	36. Intervention

Ruby followed Pyrrha and Yang into Lion's dorm room, where both Ren and Nora were waiting to hear the news. Ren sat on his bed, leaning against the wall with his knees pulled up and a book in his lap. Nora had been pacing across the floor, leaving a streak of indents in the carpet that showed the route she'd repeatedly taken.

Nora spun to face the door as they entered, eyes widening as she looked at them, hoping for good news. When the three other girls weren't able to meet her eyes though, her hands dropped to her sides and her shoulders slumped, "The Headmaster didn't accept, did he…"

Yang huffed and folded her arms, crossing the room to fall heavily onto her bed, staring at the ceiling, " _No._ He didn't even consider it."

Ruby sat down at one of the desk chairs while Pyrrha leaned back against the door, closing it behind herself with a small click. Ruby placed an elbow on her knee and rested her chin on the back of her hand, thoroughly discouraged, "I was really hoping Ozpin would go along with it…" her eyes looked up to the others, searching for an answer, "What am I supposed to do? Olivia is my friend! I want her to be happy…"

"I suppose our only choice is to try and help her get along with Weiss…" Pyrrha replied softly, glancing over to Ren and Nora, "You two have known her the longest. Do you have any insight?"

Ren and Nora shared a look between themselves. Ren opened his mouth, speaking slowly while Nora nodded agreement, "Olivia doesn't always show it, but she has a good heart. She went above and beyond to help Nora and I the first time we met. I think that extends to anyone she feels close to," Ren's eyes strayed to Ruby for a moment, "Olivia seems to care for you quite a bit, Ruby."

Nora spoke up, glancing to both Ruby and Yang, "I don't know how much she's told either of you… but, Olivia has lost a lot of people in her life. She lost her family when she was really young, and..." Nora's eyes searched Ren's, looking for approval. With his hesitant nod, Nora continued, "She also used to work with a group of hunters. They all died, and she's been alone since then."

' _Oh, Olivia…_ ' Ruby's eyes widened in dismay. Olivia had only ever mentioned her family to her, and that she'd had more than one brother that had passed away, ' _but an entire group? Were they all her teammates?_ '

"I can _feel_ the emotions that I suppress whenever I use my semblance," Ren added, eyeing the others in the room with an air of severity, "Olivia is desperate to keep her past a secret… We're really going out on a limb to tell you this."

"Wow…" Ruby slumped, her heart pained by the truths of Olivia's dismal past, "She told me about her family, but not the rest…" she glanced to Ren, "How much _does_ she care about me?"

Ren spared Yang a meaningful look, "She definitely wasn't being totally honest when we spoke of Torchwick. Olivia would have done _much_ worse than she let on."

Yang's eyebrows raised, asking a silent question, and Ren nodded in response.

"What would she have done?" Ruby asked with a frown, totally lost in the conversation, ' _All she did was scare them away, right?_ '

Yang shrugged uneasily, choosing to answer Ruby's question for the group, "Let's just say that Olivia's very protective and leave it at that, Rubes. I don't think I'll ever need to worry too much about you going on missions in the future. She'll be sure to keep you safe."

"Okaaaay…" Ruby couldn't help but notice the way they were avoiding answering her question, "So… where does that leave us?"

There was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes while everyone thought of what they might be able to do. Eventually, Yang rolled over to lie with her head propped up by her hand, "What if we locked her and Weiss in the Rainbow dorm and told them they had to talk it out before we'd let them leave?"

Ren and Nora shared an uneasy glance, "I don't think Olivia would take very kindly to being trapped… She can be… _fierce_ , when she feels threatened."

Ruby's eyes glimmered, taken by the idea, "You saw their fight on the first day. Neither of them will have their _weapons_. What would Olivia have to worry about? She's better with her fists than she is with Oath!"

"And we could have someone waiting near the door to listen in. If they started fighting then we could all rush in and put a stop to it," Yang added, growing more and more fond of the idea by the second.

"I could make sure they'd stay stuck in the room," Pyrrha offered timidly, "We wouldn't have to damage anything to lock them inside."

"It's… worth a shot, I guess," Nora shrugged in defeat.

"Come on, Ren. We have to try _something!_ " Ruby pleaded, hoping for Ren to give his approval, "Rainbow can't keep going like this forever."

Ren sat calmly, thinking it over before raising his eyes back to the rest, "Well, if you're going to try it then we may as well give it the best chance of success."

Ruby nodded once, determined, "Alright! What's the plan?"

* * *

Olivia was growing suspicious.

All during the rest of the evening, Ruby and team Lion had been especially nice to her. Not that she minded the treatment, but even still, the _lengths_ they had been going to try and keep her at ease had set off warning bells in her head. People just weren't that _nice_ normally, not even in Vale.

' _Something is up…_ ' Olivia kept her sixth sense heightened to the extreme as she stood in the bathroom of the Rainbow dorm, brushing her teeth in the mirror. It was earlier in the morning, still almost seven, and the only one left sleeping was Weiss. Ruby, Blake, and all of team Lion had gotten up much earlier than they should have on a weekend, furthering Olivia's suspicion. With them up and about, she hadn't been able to sleep in herself.

Olivia finished freshening up, feeling Ruby returning as she carried something large in her hands. A peek out through the door showed it to be a platter of food, stacked high with an assortment of breakfast items.

Ruby's eyes caught the bathroom door opening and she set down the tray, turning to Olivia with a wide smile, "I thought it would be nice to bring breakfast upstairs for everyone! The lines in the dining hall weren't very long since I got there so early!"

Olivia fought back the temptation to narrow her eyes, "...Thanks, kid," and stepped fully out into the room.

Blake hopped down from the top bunk and walked to the door, sparing an eye over her shoulder, "I'm going to head down into Vale and go buy a few more books," she shared a look with Ruby that Olivia couldn't decypher, though it put her on edge.

"Did you want me to come with?" Olivia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, that's fine. I'm going to browse for a while so you'd probably get bored," Blake replied evenly. She stepped through the door and walked down the hall, eventually disappearing from the range of Olivia's sixth sense.

The smell of breakfast seemed to have finally wafted its way over to Weiss, who had been laying down in her bed, body turned to face the wall. She rolled over with a soft groan, eyes blearily opening to take in both Ruby and Olivia standing near the middle of the room. She frowned and looked to the clock on her bedside table.

"Isn't it a bit early to be up on a Saturday?"

"Some people lead busier lives," Olivia answered offhandedly, picking up a sausage from the platter that Ruby had provided, "I suppose a princess just has less things to worry about."

Weiss sighed, sitting up in her bed to stretch. Her arms straightened out over her head, her back popping a few times for her efforts as she chose to ignore Olivia's backhanded insult, "Really? What are _you_ awake so early for, then?"

' _Tch_ ' Olivia took a bite of the sausage, giving herself a moment to think. With no actual answer to fall back on though, she instead reverted to her usual attitude with the heiress, "I'd heard the White Fang were getting more active in Vale and thought it would be fun to go find them. I'm running low on funds and figured you wouldn't mind if I sold them some info on you."

Weiss scoffed, "The White Fang isn't an organization that you can find the hideout to by walking down any old _street_ , and what in the world do _you_ know about _me_ that would be worth a single lien to them?"

Olivia shrugged, "You're left-handed."

Weiss placed a hand to her chest, feigning breathlessness, "Oh, Olivia~ You _do_ pay attention to me~" then rolled her eyes as she got out of bed and moved over to her dresser, rooting around for a casual outfit to wear, "If that's all you have to offer then you won't be getting very much out of them."

' _I could tell them what kind of weapon you wield, how your semblance functions, and give them access to where you sleep,_ ' Olivia thought idly, finishing off the sausage. Ruby glanced nervously between the two of them and then over her shoulder as if looking to Lion's dorm room.

Weiss withdrew an outfit finally and carried it into the bathroom to change, sparring herself the embarrassment of Olivia's gaze. The spider faunus had realized fairly quickly how prudish the heiress could be, and had set out to make her as uncomfortable as possible whenever the chance arose. It was more acceptable than outright insulting her, and Olivia could still get a kick out of it.

" _Ruby_ ," Olivia said simply, stopping the younger girl in her tracks as she began to sneak out into the hall. Ruby froze in place and turned around slowly, giving Olivia a nervous smile.

"Eh… yes, Olivia?"

Olivia tilted her head slightly, eyes narrowing, "What are you planning?"

"P-planning?" Ruby replied breathlessly, raising a hand to rub the back of her head, "I don't know what you mean!"

"Aren't you going to eat?" Olivia eyed the platter of food, noticing now that it lacked any of the younger girl's favorite foods, "Breakfast _is_ the most important meal of the day."

"Oh, uh, I already ate!"

"Is that so?" Olivia picked up a piece of toast and bit into it, folding her arms across her chest, "Well, Weiss and I are going to have trouble finishing all this by ourselves. Are you sure you didn't grab too much?"

"Nope! There should be just enough there!"

Olivia frowned, glancing back to the mountain of food, "Just enough for what? _Four_ of me?"

"Just enough for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!" Ruby bolted out of the door and slammed it shut, using her semblance in a quick burst to get out quickly. Olivia heard her call a muffled, "Pyrrha, now!" before the Mistralian champion stepped out of Lion's dorm and into the hall. There was the barely audible 'click' coming from the door's lock, and Olivia's heart dropped as she realized what exactly their plan was.

' _Alone, with the Schnee, all day… No. No way,_ ' Olivia tossed the toast back onto the platter and strode to the door, raising a fist to pound against it, "Ruby! You open this door right now! I am _not_ playing this game!"

"This isn't a game, Olivia! It's an intervention! You and Weiss need to start getting along before we can let you out!" Ruby's voice faltered for a moment, then picked back up as she regained her determination, "T-Team leader's orders!"

"What are you both yelling about!?" Weiss slammed the bathroom door open in irritation, glaring at Olivia.

Olivia sneered, "Our fearless leader has seen fit to lock us in here until we can 'get along'," she used her hands to make quotations in the air.

" _What!?_ " Weiss's eyes darted to the door as she crossed the room to it as well. Olivia stepped aside as Weiss began to pound against it in earnest, using her dainty fists to great effect, "Ruby Rose! You let us out this instant! This is _not_ how I wanted to spend my Saturday!"

"For _once_ , we agree," Olivia shook her head in annoyance at their leader's ploy, "Don't think you're getting out of this without any blame either, _Pyrrha!_ What did Ruby do to talk you into it?"

Pyrrha's voice came through, similarly muffled as she spoke in a collected manner, albeit with some nervousness to her tone, "We talked about it yesterday while you were out. You and Weiss need to work out your differences so that team Rainbow can flourish. We all want what's best for your team, and this is our best chance at getting you two to talk it out. Don't waste it."

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," Weiss interjected, throwing her hands up, "I've already _tried_ having a conversation with her! It never ends well. How will this time be any different!?"

Yang's voice cut in as she stepped out of Lion's dorm, "Because this time you'll have _mood_ music~"

A speaker outside the door began playing a song that Olivia guessed was meant to be soothing, but only served to further her anger. She glared at the blond through the door, hoping that the expression would translate through her voice, " _Yang. Xiao. Long_. You had better turn that off or I _swear_ I will break this door down. You _know_ I can!"

"Hey! This is a classic!"

Olivia let her semblance shroud her arm and raised it in a fist, pulling back as she prepared to blow the door off its hinges, " _One!... Two!..._ "

Weiss backpedaled with a horrified expression, "Sh-she's really gonna do it, Yang!"

"Oh, _fine_ ," Yang replied with some exasperation. The song cut out soon after, ending on one last haunting note, "But we still aren't letting you out!"

Olivia glared at the door but allowed her fist to drop back to her side, "Ren? Nora? Are you two in on this little plan as well?"

"Sorry Olivia~" Nora called out from the dorm across the hall, "For the record, _we_ weren't sure this was the best idea, _but!_..."

"You and Weiss need to start getting along," Ren finished for her.

"Oh, _Weiss!_ You and me are such good friends! How did we not realize before that we have _so much_ in common!?" Olivia didn't even bother actually looking at Weiss, but crossed her arms as she finished, "Now let us out."

"It has to be _genuine_ , Olivia!" Ruby chastised loudly, "We aren't going to fall for something like that!"

"Ruby! I don't have anything against Olivia!" Weiss paused, eyeing the faunus while her mouth twisted in a grimace, "Aside from the way she's always insulting me, anyway."

"Well then, figure out why she hates you and talk it out!"

"There _is_ no reason other than me being a Schnee!" Weiss grumbled, "She hates me for the exact thing she accuses _me_ of!"

"And what's that, Princess?"

Weiss rounded on her, "You think _I_ hate the faunus because of who _I_ am, while hating me because of _my_ last name. You don't know _me_ , Olivia. You never took the time to even _try_ before passing judgement!"

Olivia adopted a sarcastic tone, "Yes, I'm sure you really _could_ be my best friend~" she rolled her eyes, "Don't make me laugh."

Weiss stomped her foot, "There you go again, being difficult! Who said anything about being best friends? We could at least be teammates!"

Olivia ignored her and look back towards the door, "Ruby? You're really not going to let us out?"

"N-Not until you get along!"

"Fine," Olivia walked past Weiss to her own bunk bed and reached underneath to pull out the box of comic books Ruby had given her, "Sorry Princess, but I _will_ be enjoying my Saturday," she pulled out her scroll and fished around in the drawer on her side table for a pair of earbuds, "You're welcome to talk _at_ me, but…" Olivia put the earbuds in, "I won't be listening."

"Are you kidding me?" Weiss fumed, glaring at Olivia as the faunus began to get herself situated on the bed.

Olivia frowned back and pointed to her ear, then gave a small shrug and mouthed, " _Can't hear you,_ " before opening up the comic she'd left off on.

She still _could_ , of course. Olivia had pretended to do this in the past while trying to collect information. Targets tended to have much looser lips in public if the person sitting nearest them appeared oblivious to their conversation. With this, Olivia was hoping to listen to what Weiss had to say while she thought the faunus wouldn't be able to hear it.

"Oh, for Oum's sake!" Weiss turned back to the door, "She's listening to music and reading comic books, Ruby! What am I supposed to do now?"

"Um… she can't read _all_ day, right?" there was a note of hesitation in the younger girl's voice, followed by a much more muffled, "I should have thought of that…"

' _Oh, on the contrary. I could definitely read all day._ ' Weiss being denied her day off was only a bonus as far as Olivia was concerned. Her eyes remained glued to the page, relying on her sixth sense and hearing to track every little movement the Schnee made. There was a lot you could learn about someone through subconscious body language, _especially_ when they were on edge.

Weiss raised her hands and exhaled slowly, trying to calm herself before looking back at Olivia. When the faunus showed no response, she let out a small 'hmph' and walked to her desk. Weiss sat down and pulled out her own scroll to browse the CCT network. Every now and then she glanced to Olivia when she would react to something in the comics, hoping the faunus would be ready to talk. Each time she was met with disappointment as Olivia went right back to reading.

A couple of hours passed, and Olivia was now thoroughly engrossed in the new story arc. Ozborne had made his way to Mistral and was investigating a string of brutal murders that had occurred there within the last month. He was closing in on his quarry, following the bloody clues he'd deduced to the killer's hideout.

Olivia eagerly flipped the page, impatient to see the big reveal, and froze, staring at the caption atop the page, ' _I've finally found you, Black Lotus!_ ' Olivia's hand trembled, the comic shaking slightly in her hands and drawing Weiss's attention. She forcibly stilled herself, looking at the page in dismay.

'The Black Lotus' stood in her hideout, hand wrapped around a child that she was using as a human shield. She looked like Olivia, if Olivia made a habit out of dressing in sexy, revealing clothing, was much taller, and was an _adult_. A dagger was held to the throat of the child, 'The Black Lotus' threatening to use it if Ozborne didn't allow her to escape.

' _I… would never hurt a_ _ **child**_ …'

Olivia continued to read, growing more and more nauseous by the second. The version of her in the comic was sick and twisted, a bastardization of the _real_ Black Lotus. Apparently, the author had heard about her and used her likeness as inspiration for the new villain. Everything the comic version did, everything she said, left a vile taste in Olivia's mouth.

The comic left off on a cliffhanger, and Olivia set it aside to look at the front page of the next issue. She looked at the next, and the next, on and on for the next thirty issues, heart slowly sinking in her chest. 'The Black Lotus' was a recurring villain, one that managed to escape time and time again by using underhanded tactics. She killed innocents and mocked the hero for 'being too weak to stop her'.

Olivia set the entire stack of comics back in the box and lowered it to the floor before rolling on her side to face the wall.

"Are you finally done reading?" Weiss asked aloud, turning an eye over to Olivia.

The faunus ignored her, a crisis of identity tearing through her mind.

' _Is that really how I came across?_ ' The Black Lotus in the comics didn't work as an assassin for hire, but as a vigilante for her so called 'justice'. She murdered for fun, for sport… for any reason she could justify to herself and still pretend like she was in the right.

" _I never killed at random…_ ' Anyone that the assassin had been _hired_ to kill would have been killed off anyway, just by someone else's hand instead of her own. There was no shortage of killers in Mistral. You could hire them by the dozen, ' _If you wanted your target to escape, anyway._ ' Olivia hadn't been a senseless _murderer_ , but a refined instrument of death. If you wanted a _guarantee_ on your purchase, you went to the Black Lotus.

Olivia sighed in frustration and rolled over to stare at the bottom of Blake's bunk above, glaring at nothing in particular. As much as she enjoyed reading the series, they had essentially been ruined for her now, ' _I'll never be able to look at them the same again._ ' Olivia considered skipping over the entire Black Lotus arc, but thought better of it. Knowing that one way or another, Ozborne had eventually killed 'her' would still leave a bad taste in her mouth.

' _Speaking of which…_ ' Olivia sat up out of her bed and walked over to the platter of food that had been left relatively untouched since Ruby brought it earlier that morning. After a couple hours, it was certainly cold. However, Olivia spotted some mixed fruits in a small bowl and returned to her bed with those.

Weiss sent her a few furtive glances while she was doing so. After a few seconds, her stomach grumbled, and she shot Olivia a glare to see if she'd heard. The faunus made no reaction, biting into one of the strawberries instead and continuing to ignore the heiress.

Weiss sighed and stood as well, walking over to the platter of food. Her mouth quirked to the side and brow furrowed in disappointment, seeing that everything left would have been prepared hot.

' _Ruby really didn't think this whole 'breakfast, lunch, and dinner' thing through._ _Our room didn't exactly come with a microwave,_ ' Olivia tilted her head, watching the heiress's shoulders go slack, clearly disappointed. She returned to her desk and sat in a slump, chin resting against her forearm on the tabletop.

' _Serves you right. You should have eaten when you had the chance…_ ' Olivia thought the words, but their usual acidity had vanished. Each bite of the food in her own hands brought her a small pang of guilt. She couldn't help but continue to compare herself to the _other_ Black Lotus, ' _Is that something she would be happy about?_ ' Olivia shuddered, ' _I am_ _ **not**_ _the same…_ '

With a grumbled sigh of her own, Olivia stood once more and walked to Weiss's desk, setting the bowl down next to her head. The heiress swiveled to look at it, eyes going wide in confusion.

"What are you…?" Weiss began.

"You can have them. I don't really like fruit that much," Olivia turned on her heel and returned to her bed to lie down. She pretended to mess with her scroll as if she was changing the song so that Weiss wouldn't try and start up a conversation, then rolled her head back towards the wall for good measure.

"Thank you…" Weiss mumbled quietly. A small smile crept on to the heiress's lips as she turned away, beginning to help herself to some of the fruit.

It was a few minutes later before Olivia began to hear the heiress humming quietly. The tune sounded familiar, a song that she'd heard in the past but too indistinct to remember fully. After a minute, her curiosity got the better of her.

"What song is that?"

Wiess stopped immediately, raising an eyebrow over to Olivia that turned into an accusing glare, "Have you just been _pretending_ this whole time?"

Olivia waved her off, "Not the point. What was that?"

Weiss shifted uncomfortably. She turned her head away, but Olivia could still sense the nervous frown on her face. She raised her voice slightly instead of turning, "It's, uh…" she mumbled something unintelligible.

"What?"

"P-Path to Isolation…" her voice raised slightly higher in pitch, a tinge of embarrassment mixed in with her attempted dismissal, "It's just a song…"

"I've heard it before…" Olivia replied slowly, trying to remember _where_ she'd heard it. The exact source of the memory eluded her. Olivia began to search the CCT network in earnest for the song, ' _It was one that I really liked… right?_ '

Olivia found the song after typing in its title and hit play, noting that the song's creator had been left blank in the search. She thought little of it and began to listen. As the familiar, beautiful piano keys were played, and the singer's sweet voice began telling of her struggles, Olivia's memories were reinvigorated.

" _Oh!_ " Olivia smiled, an old sense of nostalgia taking over, "I love this song."

"D-do you?" Weiss's face was a twisted mixture of emotions, which finally settled into a tiny smile as she turned away, "I… do as well."

Olivia raised an eyebrow, "Really? For the piano…? Or…?"

Weiss turned sharply with a frown, "For the _lyrics_ , you dolt."

Weiss's frown turned to confusion as Olivia began to laugh, " _What?_ You're telling me you can sympathize? They're about loss, loneliness, and falling into despair while you struggle to free yourself from the pit you've found yourself in. How in the world could _you_ understand that, Princess?"

Olivia hopped up from her bed, still chuckling and walked to the window, "Seeing as _RUBY,"_ she shouted Ruby's name in the middle of the sentence, knowing the younger girl was still outside the door but wouldn't hear the rest of what was said, "didn't provide any actual food, I'm going to go get…" she checked the clock, "brunch. Feel free to keep wasting your Saturday."

"You can't jump out the window," Weiss argued disapprovingly, standing up as well, "We're five stories up!"

Olivia scoffed, "And Initiation was closer to ten. What's your point?" She opened the window, allowing a light breeze to roll into the room and ruffle some of the various papers on the desks. Olivia climbed onto the window sill and looked back, giving the heiress a two finger salute, "Have fun."

"Wait, you can't just-!" Weiss's voice cut off as Olivia plummeted, aiming for the base of the nearby tree that rose all the way to the cusp of their window. With a quick flash of her semblance, she used the appendages to spiral around the base of the tree, leaving slight furrows along its length before hitting the ground in a roll.

Olivia was in the middle of dusting herself off when a deep voice spoke up behind her.

"Nice of you to drop in."

Olivia's heart skipped a beat as she spun around, semblance flaring back to life while she stared into the eyes of Yatsuhashi. The older boy was sitting against the base of the tree, opposite the building so that she couldn't have seen him until it was too late.

Olivia narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "Are you working with my team?"

Yatsuhashi continued to sit there calmly, cross-legged with his fists pressed together in his lap. He wore his combat outfit, yet appeared to be lacking his sword currently, "I know not of what you speak. I am merely resting in the shade while I meditate."

Olivia considered leaving the conversation at that, but thought better of it. He was teammates with Velvet and Coco. Despite being a Mistralian, he seemed to get along well enough with his faunus teammate. She paused, her heart racing for a moment as a concern came to mind, ' _Could he recognize me if I spend too much time with him?_ '

"You appear distressed, Olivia. Would you like to meditate with me?" Yatsuhashi offered, patting the grass next to himself, "It can do wonders for the soul."

"...Tempting... but I was going to go get food. I've been locked in my room with Weiss all morning."

Yatsuhashi frowned, the first expression aside from tranquility that he'd yet shown, "You make it sound so terrible, yet is she not your teammate? You should be bonding so that your chances of success are higher."

"Success at what? Selling myself out to a _Schnee?_ " Olivia rolled her eyes, "Good joke, Yatsu. Velvet forgot to tell me you were a comedian."

"Hmmm…" Yatsuhashi tilted his head slightly, staring at Olivia as if she was a puzzle to be solved, "Did Velvet ever tell you that when she and I first met in the Emerald Forest, she tried to leave me?"

Olivia shrugged, "You're a Mistralian. That's clear enough just looking at you," she grimaced, "And Velvet is sweet. I can see her finding you rather… imposing, to be honest."

"I have heard that about myself on more than one occassion," Yatsuhashi agreed, "But back to the point… Despite her misgivings, we are still together years later. I may accidentally say something offensive at times, but Velvet is always there to correct my way of thinking. I am _glad_ that she is the one I found that day."

"A Mistralian doesn't really compare to a Schnee. You may have been able to change, but there's very little chance Weiss and I will ever see eye to eye. We're complete opposites."

"Perhaps then, you would want to try meditation? It is a fantastic way to put yourself into a state of internal peace."

Olivia raised a hand, "I have Ren for that. His semblance removes those emotions… those memories."

"And yet, you must continue to visit him each night?" Yatsuhashi nodded at Olivia's surprised expression, "Velvet does enjoy talking to me. I am a fantastic listener."

Olivia looked around, noticing for the first time that several students had already walked past the two of them, and her sixth sense hadn't warned her. She had been too wrapped up in her conversation to notice… "I suppose you are… Alright then." She sat down in the grass next to Yatsuhashi and crossed her legs as he did, "I'm not meditating, though," she warned.

"Then, let us converse," Yatsuhashi closed his eyes, returning to his pose from before, "Begin with whatever you wish to speak of, no matter how mundane."

"Okay…" Olivia looked Yatsuhashi up and down, taking in his Mistralian armor, "It's tough, growing up in Mistral. What's your story? I don't remember many people being too big on meditation."

"I do this to remain at peace. I learned it at the behest of my parents, once my semblance began going out of control along with my emotions. It is for everyone's safety, as well as my own."

"Wow, sounds like a dangerous one. What is it?"

"...I can remove memories of people's past. If I become too emotional in battle, I run the risk of losing control and taking more than I mean to."

" _Any_ memory?" Olivia's mind flashed to those she had lost, and those she had killed. All of the emotional baggage she had carried, every step of the way during her turbulent life.

Yatsuhashi peeked an eye open, "It is not as exact as you may be thinking. The time that is taken starts from the current time, and erases everything up until a certain point."

"That's…" ' _Dangerous…_ ' "Powerful, to say the least." ' _And definitely not something I ever want to tangle myself up in._ '

"It is my _responsibility_ to not abuse such power. With it, I could do all manner of underhanded things. It is my choice to refrain from doing so."

Olivia chuckled, "Well, you're a better person than I am."

"You do not seem so bad yourself, Olivia. Maybe there are things in your past that I do not know about, things that I wouldn't _want_ to know about. On the other hand, Velvet likes you, and I trust her judge of character more than I do anyone else's. If you two are friends, then there is definitely something about you worth considering."

"Umm, thanks? What's your point, Yatsu?"

Yatsuhashi opened his eyes fully to look at Olivia, "Do you trust Ruby?"

Olivia frowned, "Of course. She's naive, and needs to work on her fighting style a bit, but she's a good egg."

"Is she not friends with Weiss? Do you believe Ruby would go behind your back to connect with someone that had _no_ redeeming qualities?"

Olivia paused, a retort dying on her lips. She stopped to truly consider his words, a hand raising to stroke her chin, "Weiss just… got the better of her."

Yatsuhashi raised an eyebrow, "Is it Weiss that always pulls Ruby away, or Ruby that always follows?"

Olivia frowned. She didn't like where this conversation was headed… "The second one…"

"Have you asked yourself why? Have you asked _Ruby_ why?"

"I mean… No. What could Weiss possibly be hiding that would make me like her?"

"Have you ever considered she isn't _trying_ to hide anything, and you simply haven't taken the time to see her positive qualities?"

Olivia thought back on the last week, mind wandering to the moments involving Weiss that she hadn't really paid attention to before. Catching Weiss helping Ruby with her homework, having her clothes washed, keeping her distance because she knew her mere existence bothered the faunus, wanting to jump down into the arena to congratulate Ruby, offering to pay and using her odd Atlesian etiquette at the cafe, holding doors open for them, and appearing perfectly comfortable in the establishment for the most part.

"Has she ever insulted you because of your heritage?"

"No… No, she hasn't," Olivia confirmed with a sigh, eyes glancing back up to the dorm window far above, "Other than our arguments over the SDC, she hasn't really been much of a real burden."

"Then I am sorry to say it, Olivia. Please do not take offense.. but perhaps _you_ are the problem."

Olivia's hackles raised, body tensing for a moment, before she deflated into a slump and began picking at the grass, ripping up small clumps, "Perhaps I am."

"The key to healing your mind is understanding where your heart is at in the first place," Yatsuhashi placed a hand over Olivia's, stilling it so that she was no longer ripping up the grass, "Now, don't you have a dorm room to get back to?"

Olivia fell onto her back and glared up the length of the tree. A light wind shifted the leaves, allowing the sun to glisten past and brighten the side of the building in brief flashes that caught the eye. Olivia sighed and stood, patting the older student on the back, "Thanks, Yatsu… I can see why Velvet likes you."

"You are welcome, Olivia. Never hesitate to stop by team Coffee's room if you wish to speak of anything in the future."

"I… just might do that," Olivia shared a small smile with him before shrouding her limbs to prepare for the climb back up, ' _You'd better be worth it, Weiss Schnee…_ '

* * *

Velvet's ears had been standing at attention for the entire conversation, only now falling back to their usual floppy stance as Olivia finished her climb back up into Rainbow's dorm room. She peeked her head out from around the side of the distant tree she'd hid behind, flashing Yatsu a thumbs up and a wide grin.

' _Best of luck, Olivia!_ '

* * *

"Ruby! I am _not_ lying! Olivia really did jump out the window!" Weiss stamped her foot on the ground and shook the handle, impatiently trying to convince the rest in the hall to let her out.

"We _just_ heard her, Weiss! You can't fool me that easily."

"Well then, let's hear her speak _now_ ," Weiss turned back to the room to sweep her hand in a gesture that encompassed what she _expected_ to be empty air.

"I'm still here, Ruby," Olivia smirked, busy pulling herself up through the window and speaking loud enough to be heard by the humans through the door. She finished pulling herself through and changed her expression to a disapproving frown, directed at the heiress, "I don't know _why_ Weiss was trying to _trick_ you like that~"

Weiss's eyes widened in astonishment before narrowing in frustration, "I wasn't lying! You climbed back up, _didn't you!?_ "

"That sounds like an awful waste of time~" Olivia gloated, crossing her arms and jutting a hip out while she teased the heiress, "I've been listening to music and enjoying your _excellent_ breakfast, Ruby. Thanks for thinking ahead for us."

"It's cold!"

Olivia strutted over and picked a sausage up off the platter, biting into it and making a very suggestive moan, " _What?_ I don't know what you're talking about. This food is _fantastic_. I'd expect nothing less from the leader of team Rainbow~"

"Well, I didn't really make it myself or anything, Olivia…" Ruby's voice piped up from the other side of the door, "But you're welcome!" Her cheeriness brought a smile to Olivia's face, one that she didn't bother hiding from the heiress.

Weiss narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "What are you doing?"

"Me?" Olivia continued to smile as she walked up to the heiress and patted her on the shoulder with a bit too much force. Weiss stumbled to the side slightly, forced to catch her footing, "You wanted me to treat you like a teammate, right?"

"Does that include being even _more_ insulting!?"

"Ruby?"

Their leader mumbled through the door, "She does like to tease people, Weiss… That… That means she's warming up to you!" Ruby cheered, and Olivia could sense her giving Nora a high five.

"Well, I'd appreciate it if you dialed the heat back a little," Weiss grimaced and brushed a hand across her shoulder, noticing that Olivia had used the same hand as the one she'd picked the sausage up with.

Olivia raised her hands, "As you request, Princess~" her eyes scanned the room and nodded over towards her own bed, "Do you want to actually talk now, or are you going to keep being difficult?"

Weiss strode past Olivia with a huff and folded her arms, sitting heavily on top of the bed. Olivia grinned and followed after, planting herself next to the heiress with only a half dozen inches to spare. She brought a foot up to place on the edge of the mattress and entwined her hands around her knee, looking to Weiss with mildly forced curiosity.

"Where do we begin…?" Weiss's standoffish demeanor faded, shifting to one of discomfort as she waited for Olivia to take charge of the conversation. Her arms unfolded so that she could subconsciously stroke her forearm with her opposite hand, a gesture of uncertainty that Olivia easily picked up on.

"Well, I've been given some advice that suggested you may, in fact, have a _few_ redeeming qualities," Olivia put it bluntly, "What are they?"

"She's really forgiving!" Ruby shouted through the door, cupping her hands to the wood as she yelled to make sure she was heard.

"Ruby! I want _Weiss_ to answer, not you."

"I was _just_ saying…"

Olivia sighed and turned a serious eye to Weiss, "Out with it. Best qualities. Now."

"I mean… where do I begin?" Weiss frowned in thought.

"Narcissistic…" Olivia pretended to check off a box, "Thinks so much of herself that she has trouble _picking_ anything. One point to team R-B-O," her eyes trailed back up to Weiss's, "Anything else?"

The heiress pouted, "That isn't fair. That isn't what I meant at all!"

Olivia shrugged, "Sorry, Princess. Once the box has been checked, there's no undoing it."

Weiss rolled her eyes in exasperation, "Okay, you want qualities, huh?" she raised a hand, beginning to tick off her fingers one by one as she spoke, "I _am_ very forgiving, thank you Ruby. I won't hesitate to sacrifice my personal time for my team. I'm at the top of the class in academics, and don't mind sharing that knowledge to anyone that needs help. I always want what's best for the people around me. I'm kind and generous… Should I continue?"

"Hmmm…" Olivia made a few check marks and stroked her chin, "A few of those were pretty much the same thing, but we'll ignore that for now…" her eyes pierced into the heiress's, locking her gaze in place with their intensity, "How many faunus have you harmed?"

" _None,_ " Weiss stared back, her gaze fierce.

"How many have you wished would die?"

" _None,_ Olivia."

"Even the White Fang?" Olivia quirked an eyebrow.

"...Even them. I want the White Fang to be captured and punished for their wrongdoings… not get strung up in the streets."

"How 'generous'."

"Well, what would _you_ say about a group of miscreants that actively set out to murder the people you know? I think paying for their crimes is the _least_ that could be expected!"

Olivia tried thinking it over from Weiss's point of view, ' _Her life would have been easy compared to the slums, aside from when she was exposed to things like death that were more commonplace for people like me… I suppose it would seem like an extreme form of punishment in that case._ '

"Fair enough…" Olivia pretended to count the tallied marks, "That puts you at five points for, and two against."

"Two? Where did the second point come from?"

"I put that one in ahead of time since you're kind of weak."

"What!? I've won every other sparring match I've had!"

Olivia scoffed, "Yeah, against _fodder_. Everyone in the first year is pretty pathetic aside from our team and Lion. You beating up on weaklings that can barely take on a single beowolf isn't very impressive," she shrugged, "At best you're midtier."

Weiss returned to crossing her arms with a glare, "Well, maybe if _someone_ acted like a proper teammate, they could _help_ me with that," her attitude changed slightly, shifting from a glare at Olivia to a look of frustration, "As much as I hate to admit it… You _are_ strong, Olivia. No one can say otherwise."

Olivia shrugged, "While you were being pampered in the clouds, I was struggling to survive in the Mistralian slums. Doesn't take a genius to figure out why there's such a large gap between us."

"What… were the slums like?" Weiss asked with a note of hesitation.

"Well, where should _I_ start? Do I bring up how the police would beat faunus? How businesses would deny us service and jobs because of something we couldn't change? The terrible living conditions we were forced into because we couldn't afford anything better? Not having lightning dust to power our houses? The cold, rainy nights spent shivering beneath tattered blankets? Seeing bodies being carted out of their leaky homes after they died from sickness? A sickness that was completely curable, if the medicine had been affordable enough? The constant threat of mugging, or worse, as people became more and more desperate? Should I go on?"

Weiss paled further and further as Olivia continued her ramble, finally raising her hands to shake them 'no' when she asked if she should go on, "That's _terrible._ I had no idea it was that bad in Mistral."

"As bad as the Mistral council is, the Schnee's are _worse_ ," Olivia said with a tinge of aggravation. When Weiss opened her mouth to retort, she held up a hand, " _But_ … I guess I could have lucked out and found one worth _tolerating_ , at least. So, what do you say, Princess? If you're willing to try… then I can learn to live with having a Schnee on my team. I'll trust Ruby's judge of character... For now."

Weiss smiled and gave a small nod of agreement, "I look forward to working together with you, Olivia," her eyes darted to the door and back to her, "You wanna get out of here? I really _did_ have other stuff I was planning on doing."

Olivia hopped up with a grin and walked to the door with Weiss in tow, "Alright, Ruby! We talked it out! You can let us out now!"

"How do I know you're telling the truth!?" Ruby called back through the door.

"Because if you _don't_ open this door, I'm going to open it myself _anyway_. Also I did jump out the window earlier, so the lock isn't exactly stopping me."

"You really talked it out?"

"Yes, Ruby," Weiss interjected, raising her voice as well, "Everything is fine, now."

Olivia could feel Ruby turning to the others in the hall as they talked it out, with it finally ending on Pyrrha using her power once more. An internal mechanism of the lock itself clicked back into its proper place, allowing Olivia to turn the handle and open the door.

Ruby breathed out a sigh of relief when both Olivia and Weiss were in view, along with the room appearing totally unblemished. Her face shifted into a wide grin, "Is it official? Are we actually team Rainbow now?"

Olivia grumbled, "As _stupid_ as that name is… yes, we are."

Ruby cheered and pumped her fist into the air, "So what should we do to celebrate!?"

Olivia glanced back at Weiss, who shook her head in exasperation, "I'm going shopping, Ruby. If you want to do something, let's schedule it for tomorrow, okay? You've already used up a few hours of my day with this little intervention…" her eyes sombered, mouth shifting into a smile, "Thank you, though. I'm glad we might be able to finally see eye to eye."

Ruby pouted, crossing her arms and making a face that Olivia was sure had let her get her way many times before, "You already have _enough_ clothes, Weiss."

Olivia's mind drifted back to the comic book version of herself while looking at Ruby, and realized right then that if the young reaper ever found out her connection, that would be the first version she thought of… "I'm going to have to agree with the Princess on this one, kid. You can plan whatever you want for tomorrow. I'm going to take a day off for myself."

" _Fine_ ," Ruby's sour mood shifted, eyes brightening as an idea came to mind, "We can do _anything_ I want?"

' _How bad could it be? I'm sure it'll be fine…_ ' "Yeah, kid. Whatever you want. Cross my heart."

"Okay!" Ruby grinned and walked past them into the room, leaving Olivia out in the hall with Weiss, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora.

Ren and Nora both looked mildly ashamed of themselves, incapable of meeting the faunus's eyes. Olivia stepped up to clap them both on the shoulder, "Hey, no hard feelings. You did what you thought was right."

Ren gave her a grateful smile, while Nora crashed into her with a hug. Olivia smiled and returned the hug briefly, shifting to a whisper now that Ruby was gone, "Next time though, one of you take care of the food. All of the stuff Ruby brought wasn't meant to last, if you catch my drift."

Nora giggled and gave a brief nod. Olivia turned to Pyrrha, giving her a considering glance, "Since I'll be moving out of the Lion dorms, I guess that means I won't feel bad about challenging you now. What do you say, Pyrrha? Me, you, combat class on Monday?"

Pyrrha grinned, "I look forward to it. You do appear to be quite the accomplished fighter."

Olivia shrugged, "The slums do that to you," her smile faded slightly, thinking back on the spars that Pyrrha had won during the week. It was clear that she was the regional champion for a reason. Pyrrha's technique was flawless, quick, and powerful, "I don't plan on taking it quite so easy as I do for most everyone else. A champion like yourself deserves me at my best, right?"

"I wouldn't accept anything less," Pyrrha confirmed.

"Good," Olivia smirked, "Now, if you'll excuse me… I need to blow off a little steam."

Pyrrha and Weiss's cheeks reddened, while Nora returned her smirk with a knowing smile, "Have fun~"

"Is there any alternative?" Olivia waved goodbye and left. In reality, she still wanted to get some food, and then take a trip into the Emerald Forest to get rid of some of her current frustration, ' _But hooking up with Melanie later isn't such a bad idea. It has been nearly a week,_ ' Olivia frowned, ' _Maybe that's why teasing Weiss has been so fun…_ ' They did both wear almost exclusively white, after all.

Olivia shook her head, ' _Now that really would be a betrayal._ '


	37. Exposure

Olivia sat up off the bed and stretched, feeling her aura slowly beginning to heal the bruises running down the length of her chest. Melanie always insisted there was no aura allowed in the bedroom. It made it that much easier for her little 'dominance' games to have at least a somewhat lasting effect.

Melanie pouted from her place on the bed, half wrapped in the blanket so that the most tempting parts of her body were covered from Olivia's view, "Leaving so soon? I thought you might want to spend the night again~"

Olivia had to search for a moment to find her clothes among the rest of the items that lay strewn around the room. She gave Melanie a small wink and bent over as she made a show of slipping her panties back on, "Unfortunately, the headmaster has given me a curfew. Seems he doesn't want the big bad ex-White Fang member roaming the streets at night, gobbling up any humans that cross her path."

Melanie gave a mocking gasp, "You aren't full after spending so long with me~? That's quite the appetite~"

Olivia giggled, picking out the rest of her clothes and putting them on one by one, like a reverse strip tease meant to leave the other girl wanting for more, "As if you were any better~ A week away left you chomping at the bit. I'm surprised you didn't tear my clothes off as soon as I walked in."

Melanie brushed her hair to the side dramatically, "Patience is a virtue. Besides, I'd hardly want to ruin the good mood you were in. What's got you on cloud nine?"

Olivia paused in the middle of pulling her pants up with a frown, "I suppose some good happened today. The Princess and I have come to an agreement, of sorts. One that I think might actually work out in the long run."

"The Schnee?" Melanie rolled on to her side and propped her head up with an elbow, finger slowly trailing a circle on her hip, "Turning enemies into friends?"

"'Friends' is a strong word," Olivia scoffed lightly, but paused for a moment in consideration before continuing, "I guess we moved to acquaintances, at least. I'm going to try and sleep in my dorm tonight."

"Wow, progress," Melanie replied with a hint of genuine surprise, "Keep it up and you might even shake hands one day."

"Sacrilege," Olivia smirked, finished getting dressed. She walked to Melanie's side of the bed and leaned down for a kiss. What she didn't expect was for the girl to grab a fistful of her shirt and pull her back down on top of her. Olivia enjoyed her embrace for a minute longer, running a hand along her body in all the right places, before pulling away with a breathless sigh.

Melanie gave her a wink, "A reminder not to forget me~"

"How could I?" Olivia laughed and turned to leave, stopping to swipe her scroll off the counter.

"Be careful out there~ Now that you mentioned them, I did hear that the White Fang has been a lot more active lately," Melanie shrugged, "Not that they're anything that _you_ would need to worry about, Miss Lotus. Buuuuut, I thought I'd tell you all the same."

Olivia paused at the door, "They haven't been causing any trouble around here, I hope?"

Melanie shook her head, "No. Been killing folks and robbing dust shops, though. Cops have been getting really antsy, doing stakeouts all over the place. Just don't act too shifty and they shouldn't give you any problems."

Olivia put a hand to her chest as if offended, "Me? Shifty? Why, I'm as innocent as they come, swear to Oum!" With that, she flashed a final grin and disappeared through the door, closing it lightly behind herself.

Being only half past ten on a Saturday, the club below was still thick with patrons when Olivia made her way back downstairs. Even in her combat outfit, many others nearby gave her a leering glance, one that she was all too familiar with after so many visits to Junior's. Olivia ignored them, found an empty stool to sit down in, and waved the man himself over.

"Hey, Lotus," Junior slid a glass over to her and reached up to the top shelf behind himself, knowing what drinks she preferred. He turned back around and uncorked the bottle, filling that glass to the brim.

"Business is looking good, like usual," Olivia replied kindly, taking a glance around the packed room for good measure.

"Eh, the club is doin' alright," Junior recorked the bottle and returned it to the shelf before leaning on the counter so that he was closer to Olivia. His voice dropped lower, "I've been meaning to ask you for a favor, if you don't mind…"

Olivia shrugged, "No promises I can accept, but you've been good to me. What's the problem?"

Junior sighed, "With all these dust shops that have been gettin' robbed, the cops have started cracking down on my usual dealers. I don't pay for my men's dust ammunition legitimately, too much of a paper trail. I was wondering if you could run protection for some of my guys. They're gonna hit up a shop in a little while, not too much, and we won't be killing the owner. We aren't idiots. Still need 'em to get more product, otherwise it all dries up in the end. Whaddya say?"

"Hmmm…" Olivia sat back on her stool and gave it some consideration, "Just running protection? In case of what? I'm trying to keep a low profile here."

"I know, I know. They're going to a shadier part of town. No cameras, usually not any cops either. Should be a cinch, but if somethin' does go down, I'd certainly feel good about you being there to have their backs."

' _Well, refusing a request for help is definitely something a huntress should never do,_ ' Olivia smirked quietly, "You've got my number. Send me the address and I'll be there," she stared closely into Junior's eyes, locking him in place with the fierceness of her gaze, "If one of your men gets trigger happy, then I'm out."

Junior nodded his assent, "You got it, swords only. Thanks for this, Lotus. I owe you one."

Olivia smirked, "Yeah, well. You keep letting Melanie take time off whenever I want it and you can consider that debt paid."

"Done," Junior chuckled and pulled out his scroll, sending Olivia the directions. With one final chug, she slapped the glass back down on the counter and nodded as she left, letting her scroll's navigation lead her out of the building and along Vale's darkened streets towards her destination.

Olivia could definitely see what Junior had meant about it being a 'shadier' part of town. The streetlights were blown out and left in disrepair more often than not, ' _On second thought, maybe I've been around Yang too long. Other people don't tend to make puns that often..._ ' As she went deeper, the trash lining the streets grew more frequent as well.

' _Spilled trash cans, newspaper being blown in the wind, carts filled with cardboard boxes and mismatched junk, overflowing dumpsters…_ ' Olivia took a deep breath and let it out in one elongated sigh, ' _Almost feels like home._ '

The dust shop that Junior's men were going to hit came into view further down the street. Olivia masked her presence among the shadows and continued on, keeping herself far from the few lights that remained functioning in the dimly lit street. Here and there, a neon sign announced one business or another. Many of those even flickered erratically, as if their power would go out any minute and never come on again.

Olivia leaned back against the wall of an alleyway across the street from their mark and waited, keeping both an eye and an ear out for Junior's men. Before long, her patience paid off as a group of men in black suits with red glasses and swords strapped to their hips came waltzing down the sidewalk in her direction.

Olivia waited until they were a handful of feet away before stepping out in front of them, arms crossed with a no-nonsense expression, "Alright, listen up. I'm sure Junior has already given you the rundown, but I want to be very clear about how this is going to go. Are you all listening?"

A few of them gave nervous nods of their heads, while others stood rooted in fear. ' _Once again, my infamy proceeds me_.'

"Good. There is one rule when you go in there. I don't care how much dust you take. I don't care if you take the cash from his registers. But if _you_ kill _him_ …" Olivia gave it a moment for her words to sink in, and then leveled them all with her fiercest glare, "Then _I_. Kill. _You_ … Sounds fair, right?"

The entire group nodded their heads vigorously, a few resheathing the swords that they had already drawn in preparation. Olivia stepped back into the alley and waved them past as she did so, watching the group dart nervous glances back at her as they crossed the street to the awaiting dust shop.

The group of thugs barged through the front door, raising their voices threateningly and being very careful not to swing their weapons too close to the clerk. They pulled out dust containers from their bags and grabbed some from the shop itself before beginning to fill them up with what was on display.

After a few minutes, the group dispersed back into the street, making a run for it into the various shadowed alleys of the night. With a glance inside, Olivia could see the shop owner holding his head in his hands, clearly devastated, yet unharmed.

' _Should have learned to defend yourself if you're going to sell dust,_ ' Olivia scoffed quietly to herself, ' _Shops in Mistral bar their doors by the time night rolls around, and have four or more guards on duty at a time,_ ' her eyes roamed over the glass front, the wooden door, and the weak, singular person working the register, ' _You were just asking to get robbed._ '

With a small shrug, Olivia began to whistle as she walked back the way she'd came. Red and blue lights flashed behind, signalling the arrival of the police. A second car appeared, and a third. The last one approached from the opposite direction, it's flashing lights catching on to Olivia as she walked along the sidewalk.

The car grounded to a halt, it's sirens blaring once to announce the officers' presence before two policemen hopped out of the car.

"Excuse me? Awfully convenient for a faunus like you to be around the scene of a crime," the driver held his badge up, as if Olivia didn't _just_ watch him step out of a police car, "May I ask what you were doing in this area?"

' _Typical…_ '

"Look, I've got places to be, alright? I don't have time to play cops and robbers, so how about you hop back in your little vehicle and leave me in peace?"

"You'd better watch your sass, kid."

"And you'd better watch your backs," Olivia snapped, her temper getting the better of her.

Both of the officers drew their weapons and leveled them at Olivia, their faces hardening at the threat she'd made. It was pretty tame, as far as threats go, ' _At least in Mistral it would be… These guys don't seem quite as seasoned._ '

"Do you even know how to use that thing?" Olivia raised an eyebrow, staring down the guns they had raised, "I bet you've shot that one time all year, and that was on accident."

"That's enough lip out of you, faunus!" the second officer shouted, planting his elbows against the hood of the car to steady his aim on Olivia's chest with his own pistol, "Now cooperate, or we'll have no other option but to use force."

Olivia snorted before she could stop herself, and brought a hand up to hold in front of her mouth as her shoulders were racked with barely suppressed laughter, "Oh, I _dare_ you. No, please. Pull the trigger. _See what happens_."

The driver glared, clicking the safety off on his weapon, "Are you _threatening_ a police officer?"

Olivia sneered, "Are you trying to detain me for no reason?"

"There was a robbery only a block away, and the White Fang could have been involved!"

Olivia spun a circle, arms wide, "Do I _look_ like I have a mask on me? I really hope you're not gunning for a detective position. I don't think a dumbass like you has got what it takes."

"That's enough!" the officer fumed, beginning to slowly approach Olivia while his partner flanked off to her other side, "You're coming in for questioning, for suspicion of theft."

"Oh, a classic," Olivia rolled her eyes, "Because I'm a faunus, obviously I must be a thief as well. Real _progressive_ of you, pigs."

As they approached, Olivia felt a presence drop down from the roof above, back turned to her with his hand on the long bladed weapon at his side. The policemen staggered back in surprise, raising their guns to fire.

The figure became a momentary blur of black clothes, with both red hair, and a red-bladed katana. In but a few seconds, both officers fell to the ground clutching at their throats while blood poured free, the last vestiges of consciousness allowing their bodies to twitch within their own crimson pools.

The red-headed faunus wiped his sword on one of their coats and sheathed it before turning to Olivia. She could now properly see the horns sticking up out of his head, and the unique White Fang mask that decorated his face.

Olivia patted him on the shoulder nonchalantly, "Thanks, stranger. Glad I didn't need to get my own hands a little dirty."

"Don't mention it…" he looked Olivia up and down, eyes finally seeming to settle on the black veins running up her forearm. He nodded in understanding, "You must be Lotus. Widow told me about you."

"Did she? I never really took her for the 'doting mother that shares stories about her daughter' type," Olivia shrugged, "I bet she'd make a great soccer mom, though. Really help me kill the competition."

"Widow has been a great asset this past week. I'm glad I allowed her to join and stand by my side."

"And you are…?" Olivia thought she already had some idea, but it seemed like confirming it would be the best first step.

"Adam. Adam Taurus," he held his hand out, and Olivia shook it. As much as Blake despised him, killing humans wasn't exactly a negative in Olivia's book. Adam's grip was firm, and confident. It spoke of a man that knew what he wanted, and was willing to stain his soul in order to accomplish it.

"Well, Adam. As thankful as I am for the save, I do need to get back to Beacon before my 'curfew' comes up. It was nice meeting you," Olivia broke free from the handshake and gave a polite wave, beginning to continue past and leave the White Fang leader behind.

"You know, I was surprised when she told me you were harboring a Schnee," Adam called out to her from behind in icy tones. His hand returned to gripping his sword, muscles tensing, "Do you want to give me one good reason not to kill you for that?"

Olivia's appendages came out fully, hovering in the air between herself and Adam, poised to strike if he had any foolish ideas. She turned back around with a confident smile, one born of countless fights where _she_ had come out on top.

The Black Lotus _always_ did.

Olivia shrugged, "Because you'll die trying, Adam. I have no excuses to give, none that I would want to waste my breath on. As far as I'm concerned, you're as unthreatening as those policemen were. If you value your _life_ …" she smiled darkly, "You'll do as Widow suggested. I am not some _thug_ to be trifled with. I've killed more humans _and_ faunus than the paltry sum of your entire faction _combined_. Test me… and you'll only be adding yourself to the list of fools that should have known better."

The tension built higher, with Adam's muscles bulging, his hand clutching the sword's hilt in a white knuckled grip. After a few seconds, though… he relaxed. Adam's hand fell free of the sword once more, and he instead brought it up to hold his mask while he devolved into a mad cackle.

"Oh, that was good. You gave me _chills_ ," Adam's laughter died off slowly, finally shaking his head with a wide smile still on his face, "Widow told me you wouldn't back down, but I had to see it for myself. I'll grant the heiress your 'off limits' rule for now."

"Glad I could offer you some entertainment for your troubles," Olivia smirked, then turned once more to leave, "See you around, Adam. I hope to hear about the great things being done by the White Fang here in Vale. Make the faunus proud."

"I plan on it, Sister," Adam bowed his head slightly, then proceeded to vanish into the adjacent alleyway.

Olivia sighed and continued on her way, back into the busier portions of the city, and eventually back to the bullheads to Beacon. With a short flight up to the cliff, Olivia returned to the Rainbow dorm room. Even as she unlocked the door, she could already tell that Blake was the sole person still awake within.

Olivia gave a polite wave as she entered. Blake's ears were fully perked beneath their bow, bound and hidden for as long as the heiress or Ruby would be in the room. The cat faunus returned the wave, taking her eyes off the book in her lap to look closely at Olivia.

"You were out late," Blake whispered simply, though a tiny smile raised the corner of her lips. That smile grew hesitant for a moment, "Anything I should be worried about?"

Olivia considered revealing her short conversation with Adam, but thought better of it. That would only serve to make Blake more fearful of her own situation. Olivia nodded over to Ruby, a soft smile coming to her lips as she noticed the sleepy smile on the younger girl's face, "I promised Ruby we'd do whatever she wanted tomorrow. Sorry, but I'm volunteering you for that as well. I don't know what she wants to do, but if it's something boring…" Olivia shrugged, "I could use you around."

Blake grumbled quietly and looked over at their team leader. Her expression lightened somewhat, seeing the way Ruby had chosen to use her blanket more as a full body pillow to snuggle against. Blake glanced back down to Olivia and nodded, "I guess I'll tag along."

"Great!" Olivia whispered in thanks. She began to undress and change into her sleepwear, a simple black tank top and purple low rise shorts. Olivia could feel Blake averting her gaze the entire time to give her some semblance of privacy, and couldn't help but chuckle quietly.

With a yawn, Olivia crawled into bed and pulled the blankets loosely overtop herself, burying her body into the mattress as snugly as she could. Even with her eyes closed, her sixth sense was acutely focused on the three other girls in the room. Ruby was as close to unthreatening as her sixth sense could perceive someone, barely registering the minute vibrations coming off her body. By comparison, Weiss was an aggressive pulse beating at the back of Olivia's mind, a constant warning, a Schnee flagged as an enemy.

"Are you okay?" Blake whispered from above, leaning partially off the side to get a look down on Olivia below her, "You're shuffling around a lot."

Olivia sighed in frustration, staring over at the heiress, "It's Weiss… maybe this wasn't a good idea after all. It's like trying to sleep with a _car alarm_ going off right next to me."

Blake winced, looking over to Weiss as well, "Is there anything you could do to make it easier?"

Olivia frowned, "Aside from visiting Ren…?" she shook her head, "There is one thing that might work, but it would be creepy to do while she's asleep."

"What's that? You should give it a shot."

Olivia shrugged uncomfortably, "Spider faunus usually feel each other most aggressively. We use exposure to lessen the signal… Something as simple as a long handshake would be enough. I've never tried it with a human before, though…" she sighed, "I'm not about to go feel the Princess up while she's sleeping."

"Well… maybe if you wake her up, she'll be okay with it?" there wasn't much hope in Blake's suggestion.

Olivia scoffed, "As if. She'll probably think I'm messing with her or trying to cop a feel, then say something racist about faunus falling back on basic instincts…"

Blake winced, "You… never know until you try, though. I think she wants our team to work out as much as we do. I'd at least shake your hand if it meant letting you get a comfortable night's rest."

"Yeah, but you're reasonable."

"Weiss hasn't been that bad so far, Olivia. Give her a chance to prove you wrong."

Olivia stared at the white-haired heiress for a few minutes longer, trying to reign in her sixth sense on her own, but to no avail. No matter how she tried to change her own perception of the heiress, the steady thrum of a warning remained.

"You're sure I should do this?"

"If Weiss gets angry, I'll tell her I put you up to it. At least then you can avoid some of the fallout."

"...Okay," Olivia slipped out from beneath her blankets, feet lightly treading across the cold wooden floor. She crossed the ten foot gap to the other set of beds and bent down next to Weiss. Her hand paused in midair, indecision eating away at her resolve now that she was only inches away from the cause of her distress.

Trying to release her anxiety with a slow exhale, Olivia placed her hand on Weiss's shoulder and shook her lightly, whispering the heiress's name quietly so that she could avoid waking Ruby as well.

Weiss stirred awake, her eyes dimly blinking open to stare into Olivia's face. The faunus retracted her hand immediately, wanting to avoid crossing any boundaries with the heiress so soon. Weiss yawned and sat up, stretching her arms out above her head, a small squeak escaping her lips that Olivia pretended not to hear.

Weiss breathed out a long sigh at the end of her stretch, "What do you want, Olivia? It's almost midnight…"

Olivia rubbed the back of her head nervously, glancing between the heiress and the floor, "I've been trying to sleep, but… with you around, I just... can't."

"Is this another ploy to get me to leave…?"

Olivia waved a hand dismissively, "No, nothing like that. It's just… spider faunus have a sixth sense, and with you showing up as basically alarm bells in my ears, it's a little tough to fall asleep. There's something I wanted to try, if you wouldn't mind… It's what spider faunus do with each other to relax…"

Weiss recoiled slightly, pulling her blankets higher up her chest, "A-and that would be…?"

Olivia went slightly red in the face, illuminated enough by the moonlight streaming in through the shades that she was sure even the heiress would be able to see with her human eyes, "We need to... touch each other… Nothing extreme… but I'm hoping it'll work the same way…"

Weiss's hands dropped slightly as she bit her lip. Her eyes roamed over Olivia, seeing that the faunus was clearly as uncomfortable asking as Weiss would be if she accepted.

"Well… I did promise to be a good teammate…" Weiss looked Olivia over, "W-would a hug be enough, or…?"

Olivia had a momentary desire to tease the heiress, but squashed it viciously. Weiss was going out of her way to be considerate, and Olivia couldn't help but be appreciative. She nodded firmly, "Yeah, that should be enough. I just… I'll let go when my senses calm down, if that's alright with you?"

Weiss returned her nod with some hesitation, then forced Olivia to back away from her bed as she stood. The heiress's cheeks burned red, but she held her arms wide and closed her eyes, "Wh-whenever you're ready…"

Olivia slowly pulled Weiss against her chest and wrapped her arms around her back, fighting against the warning signals in her mind that told her to flee, to attack, to rid herself of this creature that threatened her very existence. Weiss's body was rigid at first, arms still tightly held out to the side. After a few seconds, though, her body softened, and her arms wrapped around Olivia's back in return with a surprising firmness, pulling her against the heiress.

Olivia melted into the embrace. Something about the way Weiss held her showed the heiress's own need for affection. Like a man in the desert, desperate for a sip of water… Weiss held her as if this was the first time she'd even touched another person in years. In that instant, Olivia understood why Weiss enjoyed the song she had been humming. Even with all the money in the world at her disposal… she was lonely.

The spider faunus closed her eyes and breathed out a contented sigh. The pulse from her sixth sense began to lessen, bit by bit, second by second, until finally, she may as well have been hugging Blake. Olivia kept up the contact for a while longer. Not for her own benefit, but for the heiress's.

Finally, after a few minutes had passed, Olivia pulled away reluctantly, "You know… you're really good at hugs."

"Thank you," Weiss remarked lightly, a tiny smile tugging at her lips, "I suppose we'll have to do this every night until you've fully acclimated to me?" there was a tinge of hope in Weiss's voice, along with a blush on her cheeks, though she tried to hide it.

"Not-" Olivia cut herself off, thinking about the feeling she had received through Weiss's touch, and shared a small smile with the heiress, "Yeah. It might take a while, so I hope you're alright with that."

"Of course," Weiss replied easily, "Anything for my team. I'm happy to help."

Olivia placed a tentative hand on Weiss's shoulder, surprised only slightly when the heiress didn't protest. She smiled, "Thank you, Weiss."

Weiss nodded before retreating back beneath her blankets and rolling over to face the wall. She let out a barely audible, "Goodnight, Olivia," before Olivia felt her close her eyes. Within moments, her breathing had returned to a calm, slow pattern that suggested she was already asleep once more.

Olivia turned back around to shoot Blake a warning glance, then returned to her bed and slipped back beneath the covers. If Weiss found out the other girl had been awake, she might not be as comfortable with what they had done. Olivia closed her eyes and felt outwards once more, then jolted them back open in surprise, staring at the heiress's back. Not only had Weiss been reduced to the same level as Blake, but perhaps because of the feeling Olivia had received through the contact… She was now nearly as low of a threat as Ruby herself.

With a smile quirking her lips, Olivia shut her eyes once more and got comfortable. Though she might never tell the others, right then, in that bed, surrounded by the three other girls… she _finally_ felt like a member of team Rainbow.

' _We still need to work on that name, though…_ '


	38. Pride

Weiss's scroll buzzed near her head, the mostly silent alarm signalling that it was about time for her to get up. She yawned, hand uncoordinated enough in the early morning for it to take a few tries before she'd finally grabbed it beneath the covers. She turned off the alarm and rolled over, peeking her eyes open in the daylight streaming through the windows.

Blake sat atop her bed, reading. She always tended to do that in her free time, and Weiss had no qualms about it. It left their dorm in a quiet enough state that she could usually study in it instead of having to seek refuge at the library. Ruby sat at her desk, rocking back and forth with a headset around her head, listening to some type of rock music. Weiss could barely make out the heavy guitar tones seeping through the headphones, audible enough to be heard across the ten foot gap separating them.

Olivia remained in bed, body turned towards the wall on her side with a pillow crammed overtop her head. As Weiss began to move around on her own, Olivia's hand came up to give her a nonchalant wave. A small smile curled up the side of Weiss's lips, followed by a small reddening of her cheeks when she remembered what they'd done the night before.

' _I'll need to make sure she stays quiet about that… I have my reputation to maintain, after all,_ ' never mind the fact that it had been Weiss herself who suggested… further 'treatment'. Olivia, who at all times appeared to be a strong individual, someone who could deal with anything thrown at her, had felt… vulnerable, in that hug. Weiss hadn't been able to put it into words at the time, but surely that's what it was? Needing something from other people wasn't her usual MO, so when it came to needing _Weiss_...

' _How could I have refused?_ ' Weiss patted her cheeks to rid herself of the blush and got up, moving to her dresser to grab a change of clothes and greet Ruby and Blake, ' _I only did it for the sake of the team,_ ' she nodded to herself, ' _It was necessary to keep our cohesion. I can't risk letting it fall apart so soon after finally getting her to agree to be nice…_ '

With a quick trip to the bathroom, Weiss changed into a long white skirt, and a white long sleeve shirt beneath a white cardigan sweater that faded to a very light blue near the bottom edge. She spun once in the mirror, smiling at how well the outfit had come together. The action drew her eyes to her scar, the smile growing more melancholy. She raised a finger to it and traced the line across her eye, feeling the slight difference between the scar tissue and unblemished skin next to it.

' _Just a millimeter or two to the left…_ ' It was all it would have taken for her to lose the eye completely. Her father hadn't even cared once he knew her eye was fine… 'A mark to remember him by', he had called it. Weiss sighed and turned from the mirror to resume the smile she'd had before stepping back out into the dorm.

' _Now isn't the time to regret the past._ '

Ruby raised her eyes as Weiss reentered and her face brightened. She pulled one side of her headphones off and flashed Weiss two thumbs up, "You're looking ready for my surprise!"

"Surprise…?" Weiss frowned, thinking back to the day prior and their promise to do whatever it was their team leader wanted, "Right. What is that, by the way?"

"Pfft," Ruby laughed and waved a hand dismissively, "I can't _tell_ you. That ruins the whole point!"

"As long as it isn't fighting grimm. I _just_ bought these clothes," Weiss sighed and sat down at her own desk, pulling out her scroll to pass the time.

Olivia rolled over on her bed to face the rest of the room, eyeing the other occupants. Weiss noticed her eyes looking up through the bottom of the bed to exactly where Blake had positioned herself, "I suppose that makes me the last line of defense," her eyes flickered over to Ruby, "What'cha got planned, kid?"

Ruby crossed her arms and huffed, turning her head to the side, "You'll have to wait and see like everybody else."

Olivia hopped up from her bed, still in her skimpy shorts and tank top, to slip behind Ruby on her chair and snake her arms down around the younger girl's neck until they were nearly cheek to cheek, "Come on, kid. You can't spare a few hints for little ol' me~?"

Ruby leaned forward while laughing and cupped a hand to her ear, "Stop it, that tickles!"

Olivia sighed and pulled away, placing her hands on her hips to share an apologetic smile with both Blake and Weiss, "Sorry, ladies. I tried my best. Must need to brush up on my torture training."

"Whatever nefarious acts she has planned, I'm sure we'll be able to weather them together," Blake announced with sarcastic confidence, eyeing their team leader below, "You aren't thinking of anything too devious, are you Ruby?"

Ruby flashed a mischievous grin and held her hands up with a shrug, "You'll have to wait and see~"

Blake smirked and glanced over to Olivia who had begun picking through her dresser, "You're a bad influence on this one, Olivia. It's only been a week and she's already hatching evil schemes."

Olivia chuckled, "Hatching them is the easy part. Carrying them out is where it gets difficult," she turned back to Ruby with an armload of clothes in her hands, "She's got a long way to go."

"Carrying out evil plans. Truly something that all young girls on Remnant should aspire to," Weiss replied sarcastically.

"See?" Olivia grinned, "I _knew_ we'd see eye to eye, Princess." She disappeared into the bathroom and shut the door before Weiss could get another word in edgewise.

Weiss fumed silently, "You know, after," ' _last night_ ', "...yesterday, I was hoping she'd drop the whole 'Princess' thing."

"Does it really bother you that much?" Ruby asked with a small tilt to her head, "If you want, I could bring it up to her…"

Weiss sighed, "No, Ruby. I don't need you fighting all my battles for me. It isn't that big of a deal. I would just… appreciate it, if she used my actual name."

Ruby's mischievous grin returned in full force as she eyed the heiress, "Well, maybe after today you'll get your wish!"

Weiss raised an eyebrow, "If we're making wishes, then I don't think I'd waste one on something like Olivia not calling me by name."

Ruby put a finger to her chin in thought, then smiled, "I'd wish for upgrades for Crescent Rose. What about you, Blake?"

Blake frowned, "What's the point? Wishes don't come true unless you put in the effort to make them a reality."

Ruby rolled her eyes, "Well, _duh_. It's still fun to pretend, though!" her eyes shifted back over to Weiss, "What _would_ you wish for?"

"Not counting obvious things like world peace, or the death of all Grimm on Remnant?" Weiss pretended to think about it, but really, she already knew what it was she would wish for personally, "For my father to understand all the wrong he's doing, and to fix the SDC, I suppose."

Ruby rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment, "Right, world peace! That one's just too _obvious_ to count…"

Weiss sighed, ' _She didn't even think of it._ '

Olivia emerged from the bathroom, wearing a black coat with purple cuffs and a pair of black jeans. Ruby's eyes darted to her, glad for the interruption, "What about you, Olivia?"

"Uh, context?" she ran a brush through her hair, tilting her head to the side to get the full shoulder length without her ear getting in the way.

"What would you wish for?" Ruby asked, "Not counting world peace, of course."

Olivia paused to think it over. Weiss watched her closely, curious as well on what the other girl's answer would be. Her eyes darkened, a sad thought coming to mind before she forced herself to smile once more, "How about ten million lien?"

"What!? That's lame!" Ruby laughed before grabbing her scythe from where it was leaning next to her desk and walking to the door. She propped it open and gestured out into the hall, "Everyone ready?"

"I suppose," Blake saved her place in the book she held and hopped lightly down to the floor below, eyeing Crescent Rose strapped to Ruby's lower back, "Are we going to want our weapons on this little outing?"

Ruby raised her index finger in the air as if giving a lecture, "You should _always_ keep your weapon with you incase of an emergency."

"She's right~" Olivia cut in before any of the others could respond, offering them all a sagely nod, "What if the White Fang suddenly appeared? I don't know how long Blake and I could hold them back without our weapons while Ruby carried the Princess to safety."

Blake crossed her arms with a scowl, "You _are_ your weapon, Olivia."

"Ah yes," Olivia's hand stroked down past her chin as if tugging lightly on a long beard, "Our _minds_ are our weapons. How right you are, Blake."

"And why is Ruby carrying _me_ to safety?" Weiss huffed.

Olivia waved her hand, "Because the hero always protects the damsel. Also that gets Ruby away from the battle, so good ideas all around."

"I wouldn't run away from the White Fang!" Ruby argued. She transformed her weapon with a quick spin, then planted the spike down into the floor of the hall with a confident smile.

Olivia's eyes grew clouded, and she shook her head, glancing to Ruby with a concerned frown before muttering something under her breath. Blake frowned as well, apparently catching on to whatever Olivia had said.

Weiss returned to her bedside table to grab Myrtenaster from where it had been leaning in the corner. With some small trouble, she managed to figure out a workaround to make sure it would remain on her hip. Blake followed suit after Weiss, hopping up to snatch Gambol Shroud from beneath her pillow.

Olivia watched them all gathering their weapons and shrugged, snagging Oath out from beneath her bed and collapsing it to attach to her back similar to Ruby's weapon, "At least people will stay out of our way, wherever we're going."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," Ruby replied with a smug grin. She swung the door wider and gesture for everyone to follow along.

Weiss stepped out past her first, followed by Blake and Olivia. Ruby resumed her place at the front and skipped along ahead of them, humming happily. The other two fell into step on either side of Weiss, each of them sharing in some curiosity for their destination.

"Any bets?" Olivia asked offhandedly.

"Emerald Forest?" Blake ventured a guess.

"It had better _not_ be," Weiss replied vehemently, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at the young reaper's back, "We do that enough already."

"What, kill Grimm? What classes are _you_ taking?" Olivia snorted.

"I mean fighting in general. I'd like my weekends to be what they're _meant_ for, a break from what we already do every day."

"You'll have to get used to it eventually, Princess. The Grimm don't rest, and neither can you on a mission. One _wink_ of sleep," Olivia slid a finger across her throat, "Anything could happen."

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Oh, _please_. Hunters have to sleep, too. Missions can go on for entire _months_ at a time."

Olivia laughed, "Well, you'll be fine as long as I'm around. I don't really tend to get caught off guard all that often," she placed a hand to her chin, "Or ever, really."

"You _never_ get caught off guard?" Weiss raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

Olivia stretched, letting out a yawn, "Nope. One of the perks of being me."

While her eyes were averted, Weiss raised a finger and aimed to poke her in the chest. As soon as her hand moved forward, Olivia's own came back down to snatch it in midair. She turned back to Weiss with a cheshire grin.

"You'll have to be more devious than that, Princess."

Weiss narrowed her eyes and pulled her hand free. Olivia had been surprisingly delicate despite the speed at which she'd moved, "Are you ever going to stop calling me that?"

Olivia chuckled, "Are you ever going to win a fight against me?" she considered Weiss's glare with amusement and held a hand up, "Tell you what... If you can score a _hit_ in any of our spars, then I'll let that count."

"Do you really think that little of me?"

"No, I think that much of _myself_. Gotta have the confidence to succeed in this world, Princess. Otherwise you end up a weakling like so many others."

Weiss shifted her glare to the floor. She had _tried_ being confident many times in her life. Unfortunately, she'd never been able to work up any courage when it really mattered. Her father had always gotten the best of her, and when it came to confronting him… Weiss was ashamed to admit how weak she really was.

' _I wish I could have Olivia's self-confidence…_ '

The faunus wasn't afraid to say what was on her mind, to make her opposition known if she felt strongly enough about it. Weiss had faltered at every opportunity to replicate that for herself. As a result, she'd allowed Jacques to walk all over her own desires her entire life. She hadn't even been able to credit herself on her _own_ songs. At the time, Weiss had been sure that anyone who heard it would recognize the voice as her own anyway, but no one she knew had made the connection. The songs were too far removed from the 'Schnee image' that her father had worked so hard on.

Weiss was brought from her inner thoughts as they stepped out the front of the school dorms and headed for the bullheads in the distance. Ruby still skipped ahead, peeking over her shoulder at those that followed with a mysterious grin.

"Well, at least we know it's something in Vale," Olivia sighed with relief, "That rules out the Emerald Forest. Congrats, Princess. You got your wish."

"Hurry up, slow pokes!" Ruby chastised. Every now and then, a small burst of petals would drift from her body, her semblance seemingly reacting to her excitement alone.

Blake bent down to pick one of them up in passing, turning the small red petal over in her hands before letting it fall to the wayside, "Whatever you say, Ruby." With a shared glance between the three, they picked up the pace to catch up with their leader, her grin only widening once they were at her side.

"I hope wherever we're going has food," Olivia piped up once they were closer, her eyes glancing at Ruby to see if she'd fall for the ploy and give them a hint.

"Don't worry, my-" Ruby stopped herself and directed a half-hearted glare at Olivia before folding her arms across her chest, "You aren't getting me that easily!"

Olivia stared back innocently, as if shocked that Ruby would believe her so conniving, "I would never try and ruin the surprise~"

Ruby staunchly refused to speak any more as they took the bullhead down to Vale, warily keeping her mouth shut so that she wouldn't fall for any of the tricks that Olivia continued throwing her way. Weiss kept an eye on their surroundings, taking in the streets of Vale.

The city was a nice change of pace from the floating city of Atlas. Weiss couldn't quite put her finger on the reason why, but it felt more grounded, in more than just it's lack in height. The people were kinder, spending more time on street corners and in front of shops speaking with each other. Children ran through the streets, happily dodging around other pedestrians much to their parents' dismay.

' _Everyone gives you the literal cold shoulder in Atlas…_ ' Weiss thought glumly. Vale felt more like a gathering of like-minded people than Atlas ever had. A home, with neighbors that did more than just tolerate everyone around them, instead _connecting_ with them.

Weiss glanced over at Olivia, remembering how she had described the Mistral slums. Her attitude and willingness for conflict made a lot more sense, though Weiss couldn't fault her for that. ' _It must have been really rough… It makes sense that she would always put up a front…_ '

On the other hand, Ren and Nora seemed to be a lot more relaxed around other people. Even now, surrounded by her team as she was, Weiss could see the way that Olivia's eyes darted to look at anyone that passed them, the way her body tensed subconsciously whenever another person strayed too close…

' _Is that part of the price she paid for being a faunus? Constantly having to look over her shoulder, unable to afford to trust anyone around her?_ ' Weiss could feel her heart sink slightly in her chest at the thought, reflecting on her own childhood, ' _No one deserves to be that anxious all the time._ '

A more deliberate look of dread began to dawn on Olivia's face as they continued walking. Her eyes stared off into the distance, widening slightly and darting over to Ruby. Weiss frowned and glanced up, having to shade her eyes from the sun's glare to get a view of what lay ahead.

The Vale docks lay off in the distance, several ships tied to the port, including a much larger ferry. Olivia quickened her pace slightly to move up next to Ruby, an urgency in the way she moved.

"Ruby… Please tell me we aren't doing what I think we're doing…"

Ruby smirked and gave a sharp nod, "I was wondering how long it would take you to figure out," her eyes shifted back to Weiss and Blake before reverting to Olivia. Ruby held a finger up to her own lips and winked, devolving into a quiet giggle and turning back towards the ships.

Olivia visibly paled, her eyes now fixated on the ships ahead and her shoulders slumping. Weiss raised a hand to place on her shoulder, then hesitated, letting it fall down to her side instead. ' _I doubt she wants a Schnee getting too close…_ '

When Olivia came to a jarring halt, thirty feet away from the ferry and the edge of the docks, the rest were forced to stop with her. She rubbed the back of her head and appeared to look flustered, glancing back the way they came, "Oh _man_ , I just remembered something I need to do. Is it alright if I catch up, Ruby? I can take a bullhead-..."

Ruby pouted, striking a pose that Weiss could never have hoped to work on her father, "What's more important than this? I really want you to be there with us, Olivia!"

"What do you need to do?" Blake asked from the side with a curious frown, eyeing her clearly agitated teammate.

"Nothing much-"

Ruby cut her off with a triumphant smile, "Then we should be all set! You can do whatever you need to when we get back!"

When everyone turned to continue forward, Olivia balked. Her legs twitched, taking very hesitant steps in the direction of the docks. Weiss paused in concern, slowing down while Ruby and Blake made their way ahead.

"What's wrong?"

Olivia glanced to her, seeming to draw herself up slightly, "I… I'm fine," her eyes fixated once more on the ship, but she returned to a closer approximation of her usual pace. Weiss stayed where she was, curiously watching the straight-backed faunus pretending she wasn't in obvious distress as she slowly marched to the ship.

Weiss caught up, walking nearly shoulder to shoulder and looking closely at the tint of green starting to work its way into her teammate's cheeks, "You know, if you aren't comfortable riding on ships-"

"I said I'm fine," Olivia snapped back. She paused at the end of the gang plank and closed her eyes, legs wobbling beneath her.

Weiss flinched at the tone she'd used and gave her space, crossing her arms with a huff to watch Olivia struggle across on to the ship, ' _Suit yourself, then. I was only trying to help…_ '

The faunus immediately sat down at one of the benches near the railing and leaned forward against it, attempting to stabilize herself as much as possible. Ruby called out from a little ways ahead, standing next to Blake closer to the bow and gesturing for the two teammates to follow along.

Weiss walked up to stand next to Olivia once more, noticing the way her eyes had closed and that she'd wrapped her arms around her stomach. She eyed the way the ship's crew had begun casting off the lines, and the attendant that now stood near the gang plank, ushering on the last few stragglers, "Last chance to come clean and take that bullhead."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Hmph," Weiss threw her hair over her shoulder and walked away, heading over to where Blake and Ruby were still waiting. The young leader went on tiptoe to look over Weiss's shoulder with a frown, seeing that Olivia had chosen to remain where she was.

"What's she doing?"

Weiss shrugged nonchalantly, lips pursed in a thin line, "Olivia said she was fine."

"She doesn't _look_ fine," Blake replied uneasily, finally taking in the discoloration on the faunus girl's cheeks.

"No, she doesn't," Weiss agreed offhandedly, not bothering to look back.

Ruby's eyebrows knit together in concern, and she zipped back over to where Olivia sat, taking the spot next to her on the bench. Ruby's hand raised up to rub her back, eyes going wide, "Olivia!? Are you alright?"

A loud whistle announced the ferry's departure as the gang plank was pulled up and the ship itself began to move. Olivia groaned and leaned forward harder against the railing, closing her eyes tightly, her foot drumming against the deck beneath her.

"I'll be fine, kid. Go enjoy yourself," Olivia mumbled out.

"You…" Ruby tilted her head to the side, still rubbing small circles across Olivia's back, "You can't ride boats, can you…? That's why you always took a bullhead to Patch…"

Olivia could only nod her head in defeat, a groan escaping her lips soon after due to the small motion she'd made, "Just leave me to it, kid. I'll get over it once we're back on land."

"That's ten minutes away!" Ruby chastised, refusing to leave Olivia's side, instead shifting closer so that they were shoulder to shoulder, "A leader never abandons her team."

Weiss sighed heavily and walked back over with Blake. She wanted to be angry, but couldn't help but pity Olivia for the state she was in, "Admit that it was foolish not to tell the truth, and I'll make it better."

"You can do that?" Ruby piped up excitedly.

"I can."

Olivia remained silent for a few moments, her eyes opening slightly to glance in the heiress's direction. The ship lurched heavily, taking a larger wave to its side, and Olivia shuddered weakly in defeat, "I should have just told the truth. You win. Please help."

Weiss drew Myrtenaster from her side and gestured for Ruby to move away, then combined gravity dust to create a blackened glyph. It appeared beneath Olivia and raised her up, using the ship itself as a focal point to move with it, but not dip or sway.

Olivia pulled her knees up so that she was fully on top of the glyph, still holding her stomach. Her eyes opened fully, looking at the circular disk beneath her. Olivia flinched as the ship rocked once more, but the color from her cheeks was beginning to fade.

"That's… so much better."

Weiss sniffed, returning Myrtenaster to her hip and crossing her arms, "I'll take that as a thank you."

"Good thinking, Weiss!" Ruby cheered and raised her hands as if to go for a double high five. Weiss raised an eyebrow, and the young leader slowly dropped her hands back down with a grin.

"Is it your sixth sense?" Blake spoke up from behind, still keeping an eye on Olivia.

"Yeah… I told Qrow before, but spider faunus aren't meant for ships. It's torture," Olivia admitted gloomily.

"They why didn't you say something?" Ruby chipped in.

Olivia shrugged, a small motion like every other she'd made since getting on the ship, "I didn't want to disappoint you, I guess. You looked so happy…"

Ruby scoffed and shook her head, patting Olivia on the shoulder as she did, "I wouldn't have minded, Olivia. Especially if I'd known what was going to happen," a smug grin spread across her face, and her eyes lit up, "I guess there is one good thing that came out of this at least."

"What's that?"

"I know one of your weak-nesses~" Ruby half sang with a laugh.

"Good luck capitalizing on it in the _arena_ ," Olivia grumbled, drawing herself into a tighter ball to scowl at their leader.

Weiss frowned, "I suppose you wouldn't have known until coming to Vale that you couldn't handle being on a ship? From what I recall, the city of Mistral doesn't have any large bodies of water nearby. Not ones that people would take boats out onto, anyway."

Olivia nodded, "Ruby's uncle invited me out to their home. I didn't realize until the ship set sail why I was suddenly feeling so terrible."

"Why'd her uncle take you home?" Blake asked aloud.

It seemed Ruby's interest was piqued as well, seeing as she leaned forward against the glyph to look at Olivia. The faunus leaned back slightly and waved her hand in the air dismissively.

"He found me when I was having a rough time. Figured it would be best if I had company, I guess," Olivia's eyes grew distant, then refocused to look down on Ruby, "I'd say he was right, eh kid?"

"Never doubt Uncle Qrow!" Ruby smiled.

"So is that where we're going?" Weiss looked ahead to the island, still a fair distance away, but steadily growing larger in their approach.

"Dang iiiitttt…" Ruby muttered, turning to face Weiss and Blake. Her feet idly kicked against the deck, scuffing the wood while she stared down in dejection, "Yeaaahhhh... I wanted to introduce you all to my dad. He really wanted to meet everyone, and I was going to surprise him too, since I didn't tell him I was the team leader yet..."

Olivia placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder, squeezing gently, "Hey, at least one of your surprises can still work out. Tai doesn't know about you being the leader!"

Weiss nodded along, sharing in the attempt to cheer up their leader, "I'm sure Mr. Rose is a wonderful man."

Olivia's eyes widened and she gestured with her hand past her neck, signalling for Weiss to be silent. She let out a weak chuckle, "Mr. _Xiao Long_ is really nice, Princess. _And_ he's a great cook, isn't that right Ruby?"

"...Right!" Ruby hesitated for a moment, a flash of pain behind her eyes before raising a fist as she agreed.

"That's the spirit," Olivia grabbed Ruby beneath her armpits and pulled her up on top of the glyph with her. The young leader's feet dangled over the side while she giggled, "Now we've got front row seats!" she raised an eyebrow at Weiss questioningly, "How long can you keep this up?"

Weiss was beginning to feel a very mild strain from the continued effort, but with the island nearing, she gave Olivia a confident smirk, "Long enough."

"What else can your semblance do?" Blake poked at the glyph, feeling the smooth, yet wispy texture that made up its surface.

Weiss crossed her arms proudly, "The Schnee semblance is rather varied. Utilizing dust, I can create several different types of glyphs," she hesitated for a moment, a spot of color appearing on her cheeks, "Once I've gained more control… I'll be able to summon."

"Summon what?" Blake asked, tilting her head to the side slightly.

"They're sort of like…" Weiss searched for the correct phrase to use, "reanimated grimm that I've defeated, made of the same sort of material as the glyphs themselves?"

Blake's eyes widened, and Ruby leaned forward, teetering on the glyph's edge, "That. Is. So. Cooooool~!"

Olivia rapped her knuckles against the glyph and frowned, "Any way to make them more durable? I seem to recall punching straight through one of your glyphs during our fight…"

Weiss huffed, "I seem to recall you punching straight through a boarbatusk's _skull_ on the first day of class as well. Not everyone has your _ridiculous_ strength, Olivia."

Olivia nodded her assent, much to Weiss's surprise. She was expecting another snarky comment or backhanded insult out of the faunus. Instead, Olivia closed her eyes and relaxed on top of the glyph, letting the salty breeze ruffle her shoulder length hair.

The ferry's horn blared once more, announcing their arrival at Patch. The ship pulled in to the side, crew bustling about to tie off lines and put out the gang plank once more. Olivia sighed and looked around, seeming to gauge her distance from the glyph to the docks themselves.

"Excuse me, kid~" Olivia helped Ruby down off the glyph and then stood atop it, preparing herself to leap across the fifteen foot gap that separated her from the docks.

"You can't be serious. You'll never make it…" Weiss snipped, frowning up at Olivia.

Olivia scoffed, "I'm not touching this boat again." With a tense few moments to prepare, Olivia's muscles flexed. The glyph cracked beneath her feet as she hurled herself through the air, using an unprecedented strength that Weiss would have never predicted her to have.

' _Her punches are one thing, but her legs too!? Just what exactly_ _ **is**_ _her semblance!?_ ' Even after a week, Weiss had only been able to gather that she had some form of increased strength.

Olivia tucked and rolled across the dock to spring back up to her feet and turned, bowing to Ruby's applause. Blake smiled as well and offered up a few light claps of her own, barely audible even from where Weiss was standing. Olivia smirked all the same, then marched the short distance so that she was completely on dry land.

Ruby glowed with a cheerful smile as she turned to her other two teammates, "Are you ladies ready!?"

"Whenever you are, Ruby," Blake smiled back.

Weiss nodded, "Let's get you that surprise."

With that, the three regrouped with Olivia, still smugly standing at the shore's edge, and walked through the thick copse of trees into the small town of Patch.


	39. Home

Olivia let her appendages retract and tried her hardest to ignore the gut wrenching feeling still boiling in her stomach from the trip to Patch. Despite Weiss's assistance with her glyph, the ferry itself had still been moving beneath her. It was the only time in her life that she'd regretted having a sixth sense, but with the rest of her team now approaching from the docks, she readily turned to face away from the cursed contraption and set off into the small forest that hid Patch from view.

Ruby zipped up next to her, tapping into her own semblance to appear in a burst of red petals. The younger girl grinned sweetly, hands clasped behind her back and leaning forward to look up at Olivia's face.

"Feeling better?"

Olivia resisted the groan that threatened to escape her lips and instead flashed her a smile in return, "So much better."

"Good!" Ruby straightened and turned around to walk backwards, looking back at the other two members of their team a dozen feet behind, "You know, you really should talk to Weiss. She didn't _have_ to help you."

"On the contrary, she had just as much of a stake as I did."

Ruby raised an eyebrow, "Why do you say that?"

Olivia grinned, "I doubt she wanted to see me emptying my stomach. She saved herself as much as she did me."

Ruby shook her head ruefully, "I don't think _that's_ why Weiss did it, Olivia. You've gotta give her more credit than that."

' _She was trying to keep me from making that mistake in the first place…_ ' Olivia could sense the heiress walking with her arms crossed, speaking idly with Blake next to her as the two followed along in their wake, "Maybe. I'll think about it, kid. You can't expect me to be ready for stuff like that yet."

Ruby frowned in confusion, "Not ready to say two little _words_?"

' _She has a point…_ '

Olivia raised her hands in defeat, "Alright, _fine_. You've got me there," she paused in place along with Ruby, waiting for Weiss and Blake to catch up.

The two of them shared a look of confusion, glancing ahead to make sure nothing was wrong then eyeing Olivia. An uncertain smile flickered onto her face, trying her best to make the look appear genuine for Ruby's sake. Once Weiss had stopped within arm's reach, Olivia raised a hand and awkwardly bumped Weiss on the shoulder.

"Um… well done, Princess."

Weiss raised an eyebrow, "You're… welcome…?"

Olivia turned on her heel and marched ahead, joined once again by Ruby while Weiss and Blake frowned after them. Olivia let out a deep shiver. The action of complimenting a _Schnee_ had left her feeling unclean.

"When I said 'two words', I meant ' _thank you_ ', Olivia," Ruby admonished quietly, glancing back over her shoulder as Weiss and Blake continued following them.

"I know, it's just… what I said was hard enough already, alright? You want me to _thank_ her? Sorry to disappoint, but that's _not_ happening," Olivia muttered in annoyance, not at Ruby, but at the situation itself.

"Fine, fine. I guess that was close enough," Ruby sighed.

The trees that surrounded them suddenly opened up into a vast clearing, the small town of Patch hidden within its bounds. The group of four walked into town, Ruby occasionally giving a cheery wave to various people she knew from the island. Olivia had seen it all before, so instead focused on the way ahead.

Weiss and Blake kept their heads on a swivel, eyeing the town curiously while they walked through the mainstreet. Aside from the two story inn near the center of the town, the majority of it consisted of small shops that the citizens could use instead of taking a more lengthy trip into Vale. The wares were more often than not of average quality. If you wanted something perfect, then you'd have to make the trip into Vale regardless.

Olivia was surprised as Ruby cooed from next to her, the girl's feet stopping in place to look over towards a structure that Olivia had always readily ignored.

" _Ooooh~_ Do you guys wanna go to the arcade!? I haven't been there in forever~!" Ruby's eyes were wide and hopeful, darting between the three of them excitedly.

Weiss was the first to speak, stepping forward to glance through the arcade's glass front doors, "Isn't your father expecting us, Ruby? Or were you going to bring us all home unannounced?"

"Ummm," Ruby balked at the question, nervously glancing between the three, "It was a surprise…?"

Weiss huffed, "Really, Ruby? You could have kept your _actual_ surprise a secret without showing up with three people out of the blue."

Olivia raised her hands placatingly, "To be fair, Tai seems like a pretty nice guy. I don't think he'd mind."

"Y-yeah!" Ruby agreed, regaining some of her lost composure, "My dad won't mind!"

Olivia could sense Blake's ears twitch on top of her head as a low rumble emanated from her stomach. Her face brightened and her hand dropped down, "Umm… we all skipped breakfast, right? It might be better if we come back later..."

Ruby perked back up, "I can live with that. We'll stop by before flying back on the bullhead!"

Olivia shrugged when the younger girl's eyes turned to her hopefully, "Sounds good to me. I've played in an arcade a few times before."

"So Mistral wasn't _all_ doom and gloom?" Weiss asked lightly.

Olivia couldn't stand the tone that Weiss had used. There was a challenge to it, as if she was trying to suggest that Olivia's accounts of Mistral might have been blown out of proportion in some way. She sneered, "Well, the first time I went to one _did_ lead to me almost being deported to the Schnee mines. Guess it was _fun_ while it lasted?"

Weiss seized up nervously, eyes dropping to the ground for a time.

"Uh-umm… guess we should get moving?" Ruby mumbled, not waiting for an answer from the rest. She walked ahead, quickly joined by Blake and Olivia moments later.

The group slowly shuffled past the arcade in silence, heading deeper into the forest on the path that would eventually lead them to Ruby's home. Olivia could feel Weiss sending furtive glances in her direction while she walked a little ways behind the rest of the group. At the same time, Ruby had become more crestfallen, her earlier excitement falling away with the current tension and feet dragging in the dirt.

Olivia sighed, ' _I'll be damned if my issues are going to ruin the kid's big moment,_ ' she patted Ruby on the shoulder, ushering her to go ahead with Blake, then fell back to walk in line with Weiss.

The heiress tensed, nervously glancing over to Olivia and away again.

"Hey."

"H-hey…"

"Just ignore what I said before. There's no reason to bring up the past now. Ruby wants to show off her _team_ , so that's what we're going to _be_ , alright?"

"I-I'll try…" Weiss recovered somewhat, but still seemed to be nervous, "Can you... tell me what happened?"

"Why do you want to know?"

Weiss shrugged weakly, "How am I supposed to help if I don't know what's wrong?"

Olivia shook her head, "It doesn't matter. The problem was already taken care of years ago."

"What do you mean?"

Olivia sighed. Even after all these years, she could still picture his face. Her voice came out in a snarl, " _Beryl Verdigris_ … He was a council member that I stole from while I was living on the streets. I ran into him a couple days later, and he had me hauled off to the detainment center. He's… already dead. Has been for years now. There isn't a faunus on this planet that needs to worry about _him_ anymore."

Blake's ears twitched, clearly listening in on their conversation despite Ruby speaking in a muted tone next to her, ' _I'll probably have to explain that to her later, but… there's_ _ **no**_ _defending what that man was trying to do to me._ '

"Was it the…the-"

"The White Fang? Yeah," Olivia confirmed, raising her hands to hold them behind her head and feign being relaxed with the conversation. Her eyes strayed over to Weiss, who was looking at the ground with a wide-eyed expression, "You might hate the White Fang, Princess, but honestly… they saved me from the mines. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for them," she let out one quick, humorless laugh, "I might not have even been _alive_ …"

" _They_ saved you…?" Weiss asked quietly, more as a rhetorical question than one meant to be answered, but Olivia wasn't quite ready to stop there.

"Yes. As _bad_ as you think they are, as _cruel_ as some of their acts sound to an heiress that lived in the clouds… When you're struggling to survive on the streets, when your fellow faunus are being beaten, and death is as common as the air you breathe… The White Fang was an organization that we could look _up_ to… one that fought for _us_ , because the _humans_ never would..."

"That's why you're so defensive of them…" Weiss's voice came out slightly choked, as if she was holding back her sadness, "I…"

Olivia raised a hand to wrap around Weiss's shoulder and draw her in sideways, clutching the heiress tightly. Between her current emotions, and Olivia's superior strength, she didn't even bother to fight back against the intrusion.

"That's enough about the past. I don't _want_ to hear an apology. You had _nothing_ to do with it. We've already established that, right? Just… try to understand that everyone has a reason for the things they do, no matter how bad it might seem to someone else. You'll never understand until you've walked a mile in their shoes…"

' _For me at least, that would be a very blood-soaked mile…_ '

"How do you do it? Even after everything that happened to you, you're so confident… so…" Weiss shrugged weakly.

Olivia's next laugh was genuine, and she used her hold on the heiress to rock her from side to side, "Because _I_ am what they call, a 'badass', Ms. Schnee. When life gets you down, you know what you've gotta do?"

"Um… make lemonade, or something…? I don't think that's how the saying goes..."

" _No_ , Princess~ You grab life by the throat and squeeze until it uses your safe word, then you squeeze just a _little_ harder."

Weiss's cheeks reddened as the heat rose to them and she pushed herself out of Olivia's hold, blushing furiously, "That's _definitely_ not how that saying goes!"

Olivia laughed harder, easily drawing the attention of both Blake and Ruby who stopped in surprise, looking back to stare at the spider faunus. Weiss crossed her arms tightly and glared off into the forest, refusing to look back at her.

"Is everything okay…?"

Olivia managed to get herself under control, trying to speak for a few seconds but each time devolving into another fit. After a while, she finally managed to speak, "Everything is _perfect_ , Ruby. I think team Rainbow is ready for their spectacular reveal," she glanced over to Weiss, "Don't you?"

Ruby glanced off to Weiss. The heiress noticed and rolled her eyes, letting a smile curl her lips, "Let's go meet your dad. If he's anything like you or your sister then I won't be disappointed."

Ruby stared intently for a few seconds before brightening, her previous subdued demeanor vanishing in an instant to be replaced with her usual happy go lucky attitude. Olivia flashed Weiss a thumbs up while their leader's back was turned, then stepped forward to place a hand on Ruby's shoulder and steer her once again towards the Xiao Long household.

"Any particular way you want to break the news, kid?"

"Nope! I just wanna be the one that tells him!" Ruby grinned.

A thought came to Olivia's mind, and she slipped her scroll out to send a message to Yang while they were still on their way to the cabin. The road gave way to another trail ahead, and soon enough the group of four girls were all headed down it. Olivia could see small glimpses of the cabin itself through the trees, the winding path certain to bring them to it.

" _Hey, did you tell your dad about how the teams were assigned?_ " Olivia sent off the message quickly, sure to avoid letting Ruby see what it was she was typing out.

After a handful of seconds, and Olivia's patience wearing thin with the slowly approaching cabin, Yang sent her reply.

" _Of course? Why wouldn't I? I told him the first night._ "

Olivia held back a groan and typed out, " _Send him another right now and tell him to act surprised when Ruby says she's team leader!_ "

The trail wound through its final turn, revealing the cabin in full for all their eyes to see. The two story home sat atop a small hill, the green grass cut short and the trees set back a fair distance. In some ways, it reminded her of her first home, back in Mistral with her parents and Copper. Theirs had been a single story, though, and hadn't had any adjoining buildings like Tai's much nicer cabin.

Ruby happily skipped a few feet ahead of the rest and led them straight to the front door of the cabin. Olivia's nerves tensed, hoping against hope that Yang had managed to get her message through in time. Ruby grasped the door's knob and twisted before throwing it open with a loud bang.

"I'm hooooooooome~!" Ruby called out melodically, stepping through and gesturing for the rest to follow.

Olivia motioned Blake and Weiss to go ahead of her, then followed up behind to close the door behind them all.

"Welcome home, girls!" Tai rounded the kitchen corner, slipping his scroll into his pocket and rushing to grasp Ruby in a tight hug. The young reaper accepted readily, giggling in delight when Tai lifted her off the floor.

Zwei came zipping out of a back room, barking happily. Ruby shrugged off her father's hug to drop to the floor and pick up Zwei, spinning in a circle while asking him who was a good boy.

With her attention thoroughly diverted, the older blond gave Olivia a wink. Olivia felt herself relax, her body having been tensed up without her quite realizing it. Weiss and Blake stood awkwardly to each side of the entryway, but smiled at the familial display of affection.

Tai spared an eye to the other two he had yet to meet, "So Rubes, who've you brought with you this time?"

"Oh, right!" Ruby set Zwei down and zipped between the two of them, placing a hand first on Blake's shoulder, "This is Blake," she glanced over her shoulder, "You already know Olivia," she smiled to the heiress next to her, "And this is Weiss! Together, we make up team Rainbow! And guess what…?"

Tai spared a quizzical frown, raising one eyebrow.

"I'm the leader!" Ruby cheered.

A wide smile crossed Tai's face, "That's wonderful, sweetheart! Ohhh, your mom would be so proud!" he placed his hands on his hips, eyes roaming across the rest, "Glad to meet all of you. You'll take good care of my little Ruby, won't you?"

"I wouldn't dream of disappointing our leader," Blake replied kindly, a soft smile playing at her lips from watching Ruby's excitement.

"I _always_ do my best, Mr. Xiao Long," Weiss nodded serenely.

"Do you even need to ask?" Olivia scoffed, leaning back against the door and winking back to Tai with a small smile.

Tai loudly clapped his hands together a single time, "Well, let me whip you kids something up to celebrate! Did you eat yet?"

"Not yet! I knew you'd want to make something!" Ruby confessed.

"Go ahead and make yourselves at home. I'll get started in the kitchen," Tai flashed another smile before heading off to it. The sound of cabinet doors opening and pots and pans being set on the counter could be heard from out in the living room.

Ruby waved a hand and stepped over into the actual living room itself. Olivia followed Tai into the kitchen while the others got situated, taking up places on the various recliners and the couch. Ruby could be heard loudly asking what they wanted to do, pointing out the movies on the nearby rack and the console beneath the screen.

Olivia walked in the kitchen to find Tai already measuring out flour, the other key ingredients to a cake strewn out across the countertop and the oven preheating. Alongside all of it were various burger toppings and the burgers themselves, waiting to be set on the pans currently heating up on the stove.

With her sixth sense, Olivia could feel that Ruby was too far away to overhear the two of them and relaxed, crossing her arms to lean against the counter, "I wasn't sure Yang got the message to you in time, or that you would've seen it before we walked in."

Tai smiled, "I'll always take the time for my daughters. Thanks for making sure I was warned beforehand. I wouldn't have wanted to disappoint Ruby like that."

Olivia shrugged nonchalantly, "It was nothing, really. I already ruined one part of the surprise thanks to my damn ocean sickness. I wasn't about to let the rest of it go to waste if I could help it."

"Qrow did tell me about that," he glanced towards the living room as the opening credits to a movie loudly began to play, "Do you need some money for the bullhead back? It isn't inexpensive, especially with four people."

Olivia shook her head, "I don't like to flaunt it or anything, but I've made a tidy sum for myself," she laughed once, "Also, the one wearing all white is Weiss _Schnee_. We're more than covered on that front."

"Schnee?" Tai's eyes went wide and his hand paused in place overtop the bowl he was mixing. He looked to Olivia, scrutinizing her closely," Are you two getting along?"

"Ah, ha…" Olivia rubbed a hand against the back of her head, "We are _now_. It was a rough first week, but we made it through. I didn't want anything to do with her at first, but… If Ruby likes her, then I can at least give her a chance, right?"

"Ruby _has_ always been a pretty good judge of character," Tai nodded, "It's one of the reasons she sold me on you, despite you smashing a _hole_ through my favorite door."

Olivia could tell by his smirk that he was kidding, but had the decency to appear apologetic regardless.

"Olivia! Hurry up! You're gonna miss the beginning!" Ruby called out in warning.

Olivia smiled, giving Tai another wink before straightening up from where she'd been leaning on the counter, "Duty calls~"

"You kids enjoy yourselves. I'll get started on lunch once I've got the cake in the oven," Tai went back to his task as Olivia nodded her thanks and walked back out into the living room.

Both Weiss and Ruby had taken up seperate recliners, while Blake was sitting on the couch with her feet drawn up, shoes set on the floor below to not get dirt on the cushions. Olivia chose the spot nearest her and layed out, her feet hanging off the end of the other arm rest and her head near Blake's knees.

"You know, lap pillows are the best pillows," Olivia remarked quietly, the movie already beginning in the middle of a loud action scene. Bullets whizzed by the hero and panged off the twisted metal he was using for cover, while explosions went off in the distance and people screamed in pain.

"Hm, unfortunate that there are none available to you," Blake smirked, drawing her feet in tighter to deny Olivia completely.

Olivia smiled, already knowing beforehand that the faunus wouldn't have gone for the idea. It was fun to mess with her all the same, "Does this remind you of days past? I was never one for large scale battles myself."

Blake glanced sharply towards the other two in the room, but relaxed upon seeing them engrossed in the loud movie. Besides that, Olivia had kept her voice down, easily unnoticed beneath the loud gunfight happening on screen, "No, not really. Given my… proclivity for stealth, I was always more inclined to a more refined touch. If I could get in and out without starting a fight at all, _that_ was a successful mission," she eyed Olivia closely, "What about you?"

Olivia shrugged from her place on the couch, an odd movement that shuffled the cushion beneath her, "The fight _was_ the mission for me. I could never avoid getting my hands dirty."

"And that council member… was he one of those missions?"

Olivia sighed, and gave a minute nod, "My first ever. We were afraid that once he learned I'd been set free, he would put out a search warrant for me, and I'd end up getting everyone else caught as well," she looked up into the soft, uncertain expression of Blake's eyes, "I mainly did it to _protect_ myself, Blake. Not for revenge. Would _you_ have been able to sleep at night, a lonely orphan, knowing that a council member was after you?"

Blake nodded, though was still reserved, "Fair enough. Did you still have to… do that, though?"

Olivia scoffed, "What _else_ were we going to do? Bring him to _justice_? The entire Mistral council was made up of racist humans, aside from Lionheart. There was no _legal_ way we could have done anything in the slightest to him."

" _You_ didn't have to be the one that did it, Olivia. You were only a child…"

She shook her head, "Mistral is a completely different place from Vale. _I_ had to be the one that did it because _I_ needed to learn. The surest way to protect yourself is to remove all those that threaten you in the first place. Crim taught me the importance of that… of being _decisive_. I'll never forget his lessons."

Blake's eyes drifted over to Weiss, her voice breathless, "And now…?"

Olivia could feel through her senses how unthreatening Weiss had become. Where before she had been a source of constant headaches, now it was only a dull buzz, similar to Ruby herself. Olivia reached up to pat Blake on the knee, "The Princess isn't a threat, is she? You've all been very _adamant_ about me learning that lesson as well. It isn't one I'll soon forget."

"I hope so, Olivia," there was a hint of doubt in Blake's voice, though she tried to hide it.

"Hey… I won't lie to you, alright? At least, I'll try not to. I can't overcome my issues without acknowledging them, and you've been more understanding than I ever would have hoped for. I really can't put into words how much that means to me."

Blake smiled softly, the truth of Olivia's words apparent in how she'd spoken. There was no sarcasm to it, like she usually might have used previously. It was direct and honest, just the way Olivia knew Blake liked it. ' _Adam obviously lied to her a lot in the past to hide what he was. I'm not him… not anymore._ '

The two left their conversation there, instead focusing on the movie that was playing. Action movies weren't really her favorite, but seeing Ruby excitedly sitting on the edge of her seat allowed Olivia to tolerate it that much more easily. After another handful of minutes had passed, Blake's ears twitched on top of her head, and Olivia could smell the wafting scent of cooking meat drifting out from the kitchen.

A familiar presence entered the range of Olivia's sixth sense, walking up the dirt trail to approach the cabin's front door. Olivia quickly hopped up to get to it first, then put on her most devilish smirk before swinging the door open.

"Sorry, we won't be needing any girl scout cookies today~"

Qrow rolled his eyes with a brief chuckle, "Don't let Ruby hear you saying that, she'll be out the door with her entire allowance faster than you can blink."

Olivia stepped back to let Qrow in, raising an eyebrow at the black blood coating the length of his weapon. He caught her glance and shrugged, "I would have been here sooner, but there was a pack of beowolves spotted near the town. A few of the folks were worried and asked me to look into it."

"I take it you found them, then? How many were there?"

"Couple dozen, nothing I couldn't handle easily enough."

Their conversation finally pulled Ruby's attention away from the loud movie, and she jumped up in glee, "Uncle Qrow!"

"Heya, kid," Qrow smiled, then took a moment to nod to Blake and Weiss, both of which offered small waves in return.

Ruby caught the exchange and straightened, "Qrow, meet Weiss and Blake!"

"Nice to meet ya," Qrow greeted them unenthusiastically, pulling the flask from his coat pocket and taking a sip before wiping his mouth, "I hope you aren't all little shits like Olivia here."

"Hey!" Olivia crossed her arms in a pretend huff, "They couldn't possibly be half the pain in your ass that I am!"

Qrow laughed and ruffled Olivia's hair before walking into the kitchen. Olivia straightened the strands back out and returned to the couch, reclining against the armrest on the opposite end from Blake. Ruby returned to her place on her chair and resumed the movie, the main character in the middle of an intense dialogue with the supposed villain. ' _Now would be the perfect time to catch the hero by surprise… these villains are so unrealistic._ '

After another few minutes, Tai called from the kitchen, "Lunch is ready! Come get it while it's hot!"

Ruby sprung up to pause the movie and darted ahead to the kitchen with Zwei hot on her heels, while Olivia laughed with a shake of her head and gestured for the other two to go ahead of her. After Blake and Weiss had stepped into the kitchen, Olivia leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed, watching the entire congregation going about piecing together their burgers.

Blake and Weiss were awkward among the others, unsure of themselves around the two much older huntsmen, and tended to stick near Ruby as much as possible. Qrow and Tai bantered back and forth, in the middle of stacking their burgers high with toppings. Ruby took her duty as leader seriously and helped Blake and Weiss, doling out the patties on to their buns while the two held their plates up.

Seeing them all so happy, so content… An odd sadness settled into Olivia's chest while she stood there watching, a reminder of all the things she had missed when growing up. If things had been different… ' _Would I have celebrated with my parents like this…?_ ' Would that be Copper, helping Olivia to make her burger while her parents stood in the background, happily congratulating her on getting into Haven? If not them, would it be Crim and July, with Jace instead?

Feeling that sadness welling up, and the moisture she was beginning to blink back in her eyes, Olivia stepped back into the living room and headed for the door. She silently made her way outside and looked around, spotting a tree swing off to the side. It was little more than two ropes wrapped around a branch that supported a single plank of wood, but she sat on it all the same.

Her feet pushed gently against the grass beneath, head down and tears not quite yet falling, but threatening to all the same. Olivia swayed ever so slightly, her spirit diminishing with every moment that passed. Her hands clenched the ropes on either side, a white knuckle grip to stop herself from bringing them to her face. She couldn't acknowledge the tears… that would make them real.

' _I miss them so much…_ '

Olivia's mind was caught in the past, replaying some of her dearest memories over and over. Copper reading comic books with her, playing tag and hide n' seek along the outskirts of their small home… All of the training sessions with Jace, and the times they'd go to get a meal after. Just the two of them, enjoying each other's company… With Copper long gone, Olivia had looked up to Jace more than she'd ever been able to admit to him. He was strong and kind… just how she'd always remembered her own brother to be.

' _Could this be a new replacement…?_ ' Olivia couldn't dare hope for it to be. She had been so crushed before, when all of those bright people she'd gotten to know where snuffed out. It wasn't fair… How many homes had she already lost?

Olivia heard the door open and close behind her before feeling Weiss's presence. The heiress scanned across the surrounding treeline, spotting Olivia and heading in her direction. Despite having her back turned, the spider faunus could still feel the two plates that Weiss held.

" _There_ you are. We were wondering where you ran off to all of a sudden," Weiss closed the distance and stood behind her, frowning at Olivia's back, "I uh… brought your plate out for you. Did you want to come back inside, or…?"

Olivia used her coat sleeve to wipe her face as discreetly as she could while standing up, fiercely blinking back whatever tears were left before turning around with a smile, "Just needed to clear my head a bit. You guys really didn't need to worry. It's not like anything around here would stand a chance against me."

Weiss's hand paused in the middle of handing Olivia's plate over, her eyes looking closely at her face. Her expression grew more somber, a hint of sympathy behind her eyes, "Are you okay…?"

Olivia waved her hand dismissively and reached out to grab the plate, "Of course. When am I not?" She gestured back towards the cabin with her free hand before picking up the burger and taking a small bite, speaking past the food in her mouth, "Let's not keep them worrying any longer than they need to, eh?"

"O-okay," Weiss accepted that she wasn't going to get anything more out of the faunus and began heading back to the cabin, keeping herself at a slow pace to match with Olivia, who was taking advantage of the heiress's turned back to wipe her face off more thoroughly.

They reached the door and Weiss held it open for her, letting Olivia walk in first before stepping in after and letting it close behind them. Ruby and Zwei took up their original seat, while Blake had returned to her spot, joined by Tai and Qrow taking up the remaining places on the couch.

Olivia's eyes scanned across the group, looking for another place to sit. Weiss seemed to notice and bumped a shoulder against her in passing, nodding to the recliner, "Come sit with me. We're both pretty small, so we'll fit just fine."

Making good on her own words, Weiss moved to the recliner and sat down, edging as far into the armrest on her side as she could. Seeing no other place, Olivia begrudgingly accepted the offer and sat down next to her. Even with both of them being relatively small in stature, their legs were still pressed together between them, and they had to lean away from each other to not bump elbows while they ate.

Olivia could feel Blake's eyes on the two of them instead of the movie, and sent her a quick glance that spoke volumes of how she felt about the current predicament. A small smile tugged at Blakes lips, her mirth not quite hidden while watching the two awkwardly trying to maneuver so that they were touching as little as possible. Olivia narrowed her eyes to show that _she_ didn't see the humor in it, before turning back to her meal and the movie.

With not much interest in the movie that was beginning to ramp up to its eventual climactic battle, Olivia took Weiss's plate and her own into the kitchen to wash them, placing them in the drying rack afterwards. Even from her place at the counter, she could hear Ruby gasping with each explosion, and Tai and Qrow shouting encouragement at the screen.

A sense of calm settled over Olivia's heart, and she leaned against the counter with a sigh, closing her eyes and raising a hand to her chest, ' _Maybe… maybe I could call this place home… but… not yet._ '

The end credits of the movie began to play, a triumphant soundtrack meant to fill the listeners with a sense of accomplishment. Olivia walked back out into the living room to see the group standing up, a few of them stretching. Ruby hopped up from her chair, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet.

Olivia eyed the rest of her team, "Well, did we want to head out? We were still supposed to hit up the arcade before we leave Patch, right?"

"Yeah!" Ruby pumped a fist into the air, still riding the high of the movie's exciting ending.

Weiss and Blake agreed as well. Qrow and Tai chose to remain behind, and gave them all a fond farewell as the group began their trip back into town. Ruby discussed the movie with Blake and Weiss while Olivia listened, following the other three from behind and enjoying their conversation despite not taking part in it. Ruby was obsessed with the hero, and loudly proclaimed that she would be just like that when _she_ was a huntress.

"What part did you like the most, Olivia?" Ruby asked over her shoulder, trying to include the mostly quiet faunus.

"Uh, the part with all the explosions, of course."

Blake flashed her an amused grin, "So the majority of the movie? That's the part I liked, too."

"I do wish there had been more of an emphasis on the villain's motives," Weiss interjected, holding her chin in one hand, "I mean, who in their right mind would make it their goal to rule the _world_? Do you know how much _paperwork_ would be involved in that?"

"I thought you _liked_ paperwork, Princess? You're always so quick to do your homework."

"I like _learning_ ," Weiss scoffed.

"Isn't much difference, as far as I'm concerned," Olivia shrugged, "I tend to learn more easily when it's something I can actually work with. Checking off multiple choice questions on a piece of paper doesn't really hold my interest all too well."

"Some people are more hands on in their approach," Weiss remarked. She turned a considering eye to Olivia, measuring her up and down, "You don't suppose you'd want to make a deal with a Schnee, would you?"

"Depends on the deal," Olivia replied truthfully, "If you want help setting up another labor camp then I'm not your gal."

Weiss rolled her eyes, "No. I was wondering if you'd want to… exchange specialties, in a way. I'm much more studious, and can help you with your classwork, while you're a better fighter… Would you spar more often with me in exchange? Help me hone my skills so that it isn't such a one sided affair the next time we actually fight in class?"

Olivia rubbed her chin thoughtfully, then smirked, "This wouldn't be your way of trying to get in more opportunities to hit me, would it Princess?"

"Of course not. I want to grow as a huntress, and it sounds like a fair trade to me. Do you disagree?"

"Pity. I almost thought you'd started to learn a thing or two from me like Ruby has," she shrugged, "I suppose that's alright," her eyes drifted off to Ruby, who was giving the two of them a wide grin, "...We are teammates, after all."

"Great!" Weiss nodded happily, gaining a skip to her step as they walked along the trail. Blake shared a small thumbs up with her as well, an attempt to show that she was glad the two of them were managing to get past their differences.

Olivia sighed, content to let things continue on as they were. Her misplaced hatred for the heiress had been dropped by the wayside, replaced with a mild tolerance. As long as Weiss continued as she was, not getting on Olivia's nerves and acting how a true teammate should… she was willing to reciprocate.

Olivia had the sudden urge to set up another night off with Melanie, and shot her a text asking when would be a good time for her. With the girl's response of being free on Wednesday along with a winking emoji, Olivia decided to put one of her previous ideas into action.

' _Those library rooms did look like a place you could have a lot of fun in._ '


	40. Battle of the Blunders

Pyrrha spared a nervous eye around the entire dining hall, noticing the sheer amount of faces that were turned in their table's direction. She sat with the rest of team Lion, across from most of team Rainbow. Somehow, word had gotten out that Pyrrha and Olivia would be sparring in Goodwitch's class later in the day. Each class had been a sea of first years shooting the two quick glances, many whispering, wondering if the faunus would be capable of dethroning the Mistralian champion.

' _I hate this…_ ' When Pyrrha had originally won her first regionals, she'd garnered a large amount of attention from the media and other people for accomplishing it at such a young age. Now after four _years_ of straight wins, the media had long since been whipped into a frenzy, and the viewers along with it.

The articles trying to figure out her semblance, the theory-crafting and videos drawing eyes to every minute detail of her fighting style to attempt and find a crack in her defenses, the forum and social media posts calling her a cheater, or saying that the fights themselves were all set up in advance like it was some sort of cheap wrestling drama…

Pyrrha slumped in her place on the bench and idly shifted the food around on her plate, not really having the stomach to eat any of it.

Yang noticed next to her and patted her on the back, flashing a cheery smile, "Don't worry about the fight! I've taken both of you on, and I gotta say, I think you've got the edge in this one!"

Pyrrha gave her a weak smile back before turning to face the windows, her head resting on her forearm, ' _Of course I've got the edge. As long as someone has a metal weapon, I'll_ _ **always**_ _have the edge._ '

The whispers were all around them, directed towards her, about her, talking behind her back, ' _I came to Beacon to get away from all this in the first place._ ' Sure there would have been _some_ recognition. Pyrrha had been prepared for _that_. This was more than she'd ever thought, though. An entire continent away, and she was still being treated as an icon, even by her fellow hunters in training.

Olivia appeared as if she'd noticed the undo attention as well, and while Pyrrha was in the dining hall, dejectedly praying for it to all be over with quickly, the faunus had practically hidden away somewhere after Oobleck's class had ended. Pyrrha didn't know what she was doing, but it certainly wasn't eating either. Olivia was nowhere to be seen.

' _Is she warming up for our fight?_ ' Pyrrha had half a mind to leave early and go check for herself. Olivia had been so confident in her declaration on Saturday, flashing the champion a wide grin while proclaiming her intentions. From her showings in previous spars, she had reason for it. Olivia was an excellent fighter, almost definitely on par with Pyrrha herself.

A thought occurred to Pyrrha, staring out those tall glass windows and out into the open fresh air. Other students milled around, either alone or with their team. They were… peaceful. No one disturbed them, no one paid them any mind. They spoke to each other and laughed, on benches and beneath trees while sitting in the grass...

' _Would it… would it be so bad to lose for once?_ ' Would the eyes leave her, allowing her to become just a normal girl again? Surely, she would still be Pyrrha Nikos... but would she still be _Pyrrha Nikos_?

A soft smile crept across the corners of Pyrrha's mouth, becoming more and more pronounced as the idea took hold. With the idea firmly planted, she nodded to herself and sat up, finally managing to bring herself to eat. A secretive grin remained affixed to her face, the product of hope for once in a long time.

 _Pyrrha Nikos_ was going to _lose_.

* * *

' _Oh this is bad, this is very bad,_ ' Olivia repeated to herself over and over, tucked away into a broom closet near Miss Goodwitch's class. It was the perfect place to get inside once the bell rang, tell the teacher she was feeling sick, then ditch class altogether.

' _Sorry Pyrrha, can't fight today! What? Yeah, I've got a stomach ache. Must have eaten too much at lunch. Huh? Oh, right. I didn't go to lunch! I uh… brought my own food from Vale! Yup! That's what I did!_ '

Olivia planned out her excuses, hoping that by some miracle, the rest of the student body would forget about the entire spar altogether by the time Tuesday came around. Olivia didn't know how many times she could get herself excused from combat class, but she needed to at all costs.

In preparation for their spar, Olivia had decided to do a little research into exactly what it was she was going up against. A simple search on the CCT Network had brought up hundreds of thousands of pages worth of search results, all directed towards the champion herself.

If Olivia actually did beat Pyrrha, then how many would turn those eyes to the little known spider faunus? How long would it take for a news organization to pick up on her true identity?

' _Black Lotus defeats Invincible Girl,_ ' Olivia could already imagine the headline now, on every magazine, posted to every message board, with videos diving into theories about who she really was, and more importantly, _where_ she was.

' _I would never have a moment of peace for the rest of my life…_ ' Olivia shivered, dismay wrenching a pit in her chest that descended into ever darker depths. She would be hunted like a wild animal, every eye a threat, every hesitant glance becoming recognition in her mind. ' _If I thought I had it bad in Mistral…_ '

What would she do if that became the whole _world_?

The bell rang loudly, announcing the beginning of the final period for first years. Olivia ducked out of the closet quickly, feeling out with her sixth sense to make sure that no other students were close enough nearby to notice her odd behavior. In only a dozen steps, she was at the door for the combat class and swinging it open wide.

Miss Goodwitch stood down on the stage, idly going through files on her overly large scroll. Her eyes glanced up when the door opened so soon after the bell, a frown tugging at her lips, "That eager to fight Miss Nikos, are you?" at Olivia's shocked expression, she continued, "I overheard quite a few other students talking about it. For the record, I don't appreciate spars that are fought for fame, Miss Mandevilla."

Olivia put a hand to her stomach and feigned a queasy expression, "They'll have to wait. I've been feeling pretty awful for the last couple hours. Can I be excused for today, Miss Goodwitch?"

The tall blond teacher raised an eyebrow, scoffing lightly, "It is nothing to be ashamed of if you are apprehensive, Miss Mandevilla. Request denied. I'll be expecting you to try and get over your nerves and challenge Miss Nikos as you planned."

Olivia opened her mouth to argue, but was cut off at a sharp glance from the teacher, "No excuses. Please take your seat and try to relax. The rest of the class should be here soon."

Olivia stood in place, feeling numb to the bone as the door opened behind her and other students filed in. She racked her brain, looking for an excuse, _any_ that would appease the older woman and allow her to get away from the situation altogether. None came to mind.

Both her team and team Lion filed in closely after each other. Yang noticed Olivia standing there on the stairs and clapped a hand on her shoulder, steering her over to sit down with the rest of them. Olivia allowed it, mind stuck in an overwhelming haze.

She forced herself to take a breath, the world around her returning to focus. Yang nudged her on the shoulder with a fist and laughed, clear and melodical, "No _way_ are you beating Pyrrha, Short Stack."

' _That's right. No one expects me to win. All I have to do is put on a good show, and the rest will fall into place. There aren't any forum posts or videos about Yang's fight with Pyrrha last week. I… I should be fine._ '

' _I just have to_ _ **lose**_ _._ '

Feeling her nerves ease, Olivia returned Yang's smile with a cocky grin of her own, "Just you wait and see. I'll be sure to give it my _all_."

* * *

Pyrrha heard Olivia's confident words and smirked, already preparing her losing speech before pausing in thought, ' _Wait, do losers even get speeches?_ ' she shrugged. All the better to avoid the limelight. If Olivia was that sure of herself, then perhaps she'd have a better time dealing with the media than Pyrrha had.

' _Best of luck, Olivia. I hope you enjoy fame._ '

Yang turned around with an excited smile, "You hear that, Pyrrha? _Oh~_ This is going to be the fight of the _century_ ~"

* * *

The bell rang once more, but more students continued to filter into the large arena. With only a single class inside, there was plenty of extra space left over. Team Coffee, along with some other upper year teams that Olivia didn't recognize, joined the first years to watch the fight that everyone knew was coming.

Cinder, Mercury, Emerald, and the mute girl Neo were the last to enter, each sitting down next to each other near the back row. Olivia was careful not to acknowledge them, but could still feel the worried frown on Cinder's face. Like her, the older woman had realized what it would mean if Olivia managed to defeat the Mistral champion.

A wispy version of Cinder appeared in front of Olivia as she sat there waiting for Miss Goodwitch to begin class. An illusion, conjured by Emerald to pass on a secret message with no one else being any the wiser. The illusionary Cinder held up a sign, 'Don't win' clearly printed in bold lettering across the front.

Olivia nodded, trying to appear absentminded about it but knowing that those that were supposed to catch the message, would. ' _At least Cinder knew better than I did when I made this stupid challenge. I knew Pyrrha was popular, but…_ ' she shook her head, focusing back on the situation at hand.

The tide of students finally stemmed, leaving Goodwitch to narrow her eyes at the gathered crowd before directing that stare at Olivia herself, "Now that class has begun, is there anything you wish to _say_ , Miss Mandevilla?"

Olivia stood awkwardly in front of all those eyes and patted down her skirt, feeling extremely self-conscious. With a hesitant smile, she turned to look at Pyrrha, "Pyrrha Nikos, I would like to challenge you to a spar."

Pyrrha grinned widely, "I accept. I hope you're going to bring your A game, Olivia~"

' _More like my tissue box for how badly I'm going to lose,_ ' Olivia thought, hiding the smirk that threatened its way to her lips. She gave Pyrrha a tight nod and turned to walk down the stairs into the womens' locker room. Pyrrha followed, only a few steps behind and having to pace herself to match the smaller stride of the much shorter faunus.

Olivia was glad to get away from all those eyes. Once out of sight, she breathed a quiet sigh of relief, back still turned to Pyrrha so that she hopefully wouldn't pick up how on edge she really was. The two headed to their respective lockers, Olivia more than happy to change out of that damn skirt and into her combat attire. As an added precaution, she rolled her sleeves back down and buttoned them in place, hiding her black veins completely. With her gloves added on, you'd be hard pressed to notice them peeking out from beneath her clothes.

Olivia allowed Pyrrha to retain her modesty and didn't turn to look while she was changing, not that she could ignore it quite so easily with her sixth sense. She planted the tip of Oath into the ground and leaned forward against it, preparing herself for the fight to come.

"You know, I think you just might manage to beat me," Pyrrha spoke up, sliding her skirt up onto her hips, "I've watched your other fights in class like everyone else, and it's pretty obvious you haven't been taking them seriously."

"Nah, you've definitely got this. How could I stand up to Pyrrha Nikos?"

"No one's unbeatable."

"Says the 'Invincible Girl'. You've got this in the bag."

"You shouldn't doubt yourself so much."

"Eh, I'm all talk. You're the real deal."

"Never know until you try."

"I've got a pretty good idea. I mean, who else could win four regional championships in a row?"

The two turned to stare at each other as Pyrrha finished getting ready, uncertain frowns mirroring between them as both wondered what the other's game was. Olivia obviously hadn't fought Pyrrha yet up until this point. ' _Is this her way of getting into people's heads? Complimenting them and giving them hope?_ ' It was certainly an odd strategy, if that was the case.

With a heartfelt sigh, Olivia stood, grinding the point of Oath into the floor for a moment more before slinging it over her shoulder. She eyed Pyrrha, "Ready to win?"

Pyrrha's frown deepened, her mouth opening to speak before the door was forcefully opened. Goodwitch peeked through with a stern gaze, seeing the two fully dressed and ready, "Trying to delay, Miss Mandevilla? Let's go. On stage. I will only allow these excess students to remain as long as your fight lasts."

"Sure thing, ma'am," Olivia replied easily, sparing Pyrrha a wink over her shoulder before stepping past their teacher and back into the arena. The floodlights had already been lit, illuminating the stage itself while leaving the stands darkened. Olivia could still feel them all out there, though. The gathering of students had grown to twice the first year class's regular size.

Goodwitch returned to the stage, and Pyrrha walked out after her, taking her place on the opposite end of the arena from where Olivia currently stood. The fiery redhead double checked her sword and shield, transforming the sword into both its other modes.

Olivia shifted Oath into its sickle form and prepared to open the fight by throwing it. As much as she wanted to lose, she could hardly make it look like she was doing so on _purpose_. That could possibly stir up even more questions, questions that she very much did _not_ want to answer.

Pyrrha bent into her usual stance as the timer began to tick down on the screen behind them. Olivia transferred her appendages to her arms and legs, feeling the overwhelming strength surge down into her limbs. She bent her legs and prepared as well, arm drawing taut.

With the sound of a buzzer, the counter wound down to zero.

The floor cracked beneath Olivia's feet as she pushed off hard, hurling Oath with all her might towards the other Mistralian. It flew true, aimed directly at center mass. With a casual flick, Pyrrha parried the thrown blade up and to the side. Olivia immediately activated her gloves, closing the last few feet to begin a flurry of blows before catching Oath in the middle of it and dropping low to slash at Pyrrha's legs.

Pyrrha blocked each of her punches, deflecting their power to the sides or stopping them dead with her shield. When Oath flickered back into sight and Olivia dropped, she jumped forward to roll across her. Pyrrha's sword flashed out in retaliation, but was knocked to the side the instant before it could make contact, the faunus reading the attack with practiced ease.

Olivia pressed the attack once more, mixing in kicks, punches, and her blade in a series of strikes that sought a crack in Pyrrha's defenses. She remained resilient, though, an impenetrable wall that stoically denied all of Olivia's advances and attacked in kind, seeking to get at least a glancing blow against the faunus's aura.

With a flash of inspiration, the Olivia transformed Oath during the middle of an overhead swing. As she had before, Pyrrha raised her shield to block it, but was caught off guard when the point wrapped around the back side of her shield, tugging it to the side to allow Olivia a clean blow to her chest.

There was a collective gasp as Olivia landed the first solid hit. She paused in shock, refusing to follow up while Pyrrha pulled herself back to her feet. ' _Damn it! I started fighting on instinct! Lose, Olivia, lose!_ '

Pyrrha brushed a hand across her chest and gave Olivia a nod of approval before resetting back into her combat stance. Olivia did the same, determined to make sure she was the one that lost the next engagement.

Pyrrha was the one to go on the offensive this time, darting across the floor with a burst of speed that put her exactly within her weapon's own range. Olivia ducked, dipped, and parried the sword with each strike that came her way, intent on at least not looking like a pushover.

The shield raised, streaking forward in a golden flash meant to catch Olivia in the chest. She brought Oath up to stop it, positioning the blade within the hollow recess aimed at her chest. Pyrrha swung her sword in a horizontal arc towards Olivia's head, which she ducked easily.

However, Pyrrha's true goal was soon revealed, as the back edge of her sword collided against Oath as well, trapping the blade between both. Pyrrha used them in tandem to force Oath down to the side, out of the way for her next strike when she slashed in a line upwards across Olivia's chest.

The audience gasped again, many turning to whisper to those nearest.

Olivia disengaged, pulling herself free and leveling Oath between them in one hand, dropping into a low stance. She had to force herself to calm down, battle instincts once more threatening to kick in. With a deep exhale, she launched back into the fray with a more measured response, feeling for any gaps or deficiencies as she had before.

Steel struck steel, each strike coming in rapid succession and being followed up just as quickly with a fist or a kick. Olivia had to give it to Pyrrha. Not only was she good, but she was _far_ exceeding her expectations.

That was, until Pyrrha made the foolish mistake of dropping her guard, shield dipping too low to her side. Olivia reacted instantly, reflexes fine tuned to strike at such a blatant opportunity. Oath streaked across Pyrrha's aura, drawing a long line that rippled outwards in brilliant red waves.

Olivia didn't have to bother to look up at the screens. She could tell how much damage that single blow had caused, and cursed herself for not resisting temptation. Pyrrha raised her shield high, blocking her own sight and once more creating openings for herself. Olivia stopped herself from striking with a white knuckle grip.

The shield lowered back down a moment later, Pyrrha eyeing Olivia overtop it. She rolled her shoulders and resumed a proper stance, gaze narrowing as she attacked.

Olivia decided to set herself up for failure. She blocked as she would normally, sixth sense helping her to respond immediately to each blow sent her way. After the first dozen, she let one of Pyrrha's strikes knock Oath further to the side than it would have gone normally. Pyrrha struck instantly, capitalizing on Olivia's exposed chest once more.

Pink and black rippled outward from the point of Pyrrha's blade, dropping her aura by ten percent and sending Olivia flying backwards in a roll across the floor. She moved into a crouch, hand resting against the floor to support herself and Oath held in a reverse grip behind herself.

Pyrrha stopped, waiting for Olivia to return to her feet fully, an annoyed scowl on her face.

' _What…?_ ' Olivia watched as Pyrrha rolled her wrists, seeming to chastise herself silently and dropping into a much looser stance than she'd used previously.

Olivia narrowed her eyes in return, suspicions beginning to take hold, ' _I'll make sure with the next engagement…_ '

The faunus drew her arm back and threw Oath once again, repeating her attack from the start of the spar. Unlike before though, Pyrrha sidestepped the blade, allowing it to streak past. Yellow lightning dust coursed along its blade, leaving a visible trail of lightning in its wake.

Olivia activated her gloves after another moment, closing the distance to feign her next attacks. Pyrrha remained in place, supposedly oblivious to the weapon quickly returning. With her suspicions all but confirmed, Olivia surprised Pyrrha by leaping over her to spin and catch Oath in midair before it could connect, denying her own blow. Olivia followed it up with a lazy strike, making it seem as if that had been her intention all along.

Pyrrha blocked it contemptuously, glaring at Olivia in confusion. Neither attacking.

With only a couple feet between them, Olivia kept her voice low, frowning right back at the tall redhead, "What are you doing!?"

"Losing. What are _you_ doing!?"

Olivia glared, "I don't _want_ to win! Hurry up and beat me!"

"But you're such a capable fighter! If you don't beat me, then who will!?"

"I don't know! Find someone else!" Olivia hissed out the last few words, throwing herself forward to attack weakly as she felt the mounting impatience from the gathered crowd and Miss Goodwitch herself.

The two began what amounted to a mockery of their true skills, each feigning moments of incompetence in the hopes that the other would capitalize on the mistake. Olivia was finding it hard not to give into her trained urges, but with the threat of discovery on the horizon, managed to maintain her composure.

Olivia was in the middle of swinging directly at Pyrrha's shield when the edge of the blade itself became muted, yellow lightning mixing with an odd black aura. Oath twisted in her grasp, changing it's trajectory to arc downwards and slash Pyrrha's exposed calf.

With a startled yelp, Olivia drew Oath back to herself and frowned at the blade, seeing that it had lost its black aura the moment after striking. ' _What the hell was that!?_ ' Her eyes darted up to Pyrrha's face, seeing the slightly smug look that twinged her lips, even as she pretended to back up defensively.

' _I see how it is. Two can play at that game, and the Black Lotus always wins, even if that means losing!_ ' Pyrrha was utilizing her semblance somehow, causing Olivia's weapon to act on its own accord and strike where she didn't want it to.

Olivia launched into another flurry of blows, this time putting in far more effort in order to put her plan into action. Pyrrha frowned in surprise, clearing wondering what Olivia was up to. With a quick succession of strikes meant to knock Pyrrha's shield to the side and force her to block with her sword instead, the champion soon found out.

Olivia circled the blade of Oath against Pyrrha's sword, acting as if she was attempting to disarm her. However, at the end of the rotation, she used all her strength to hurl Oath off the stage, it's sickled point digging a foot into the arena wall at an angle. Olivia activated her gloves, testing them out for all to see, and smirked as the sword remained in place, thoroughly dug in.

"Uh oh, looks like I don't have a weapon," Olivia stated loud enough for the closer spectators to hear, feigning a hint of worry in her voice. She lowered it, whispering to Pyrrha, "What _ever_ shall I do now~?"

Pyrrha flung herself back into combat, while Olivia dropped her semblance completely. Suddenly, attacks that had been knocked to the side without affecting her aura were instead causing it to dip sharply. In only a few strikes, she was down another twenty percent, leaving her in the high forties while Pyrrha remained in the low seventies.

Olivia spoke as they fought, both going at nearly half speed, but neither capitalizing on that fact, "I guess I really just never stood a chance!" she unfurled her appendages, each fifteen feet in length and towering over the two girls, unseen by the naked eye.

Olivia used that fact to her advantage. On Pyrrha's next strike, she used one appendage to divert it onto a correct path, directly into her chest. With the other three, she struck herself as well. The combined force devastated her aura and sent her flying off the stage, nearly shattering it completely when she collided with the wall and fell to slump against the floor.

Pyrrha stared in wide-eyed dismay, eyes glancing down between her sword and Olivia in shock. There hadn't been nearly enough force behind her attack to send the faunus girl flying away as she did, but whether possible or not, she couldn't argue with the results.

"And that's the match!" Goodwitch called loudly to the sound of wild cheering from the stands.

Ruby bolted down the stairs to Olivia's side, placing an arm beneath hers and helping to lift her up from the floor. Olivia pretended to be tired, in reality still feeling as fresh as she did at the start of the 'fight'. Olivia wrenched Oath free from the wall before letting Ruby help her up the steps to the rest of their team.

"Well, at least now I know you can be hit," Weiss smirked momentarily, then inhaled sharply, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be teasing you after a fight like that. You tried your best."

' _And got exactly what I wanted,_ ' Olivia smiled, "It's fine, Princess. I would have teased you, too. Maybe I _am_ rubbing off on you~"

"What was that she did at the end?" Blake spoke up, sharp eyes dilated from staring so intently during the fight.

Olivia shrugged, "Dunno. Her semblance, maybe? There was a lot more force behind it than it looked like, that's for sure."

"Hmmm," Blake watched Pyrrha curiously as she walked off stage and back into the dressing rooms.

Seeing the distress on her face, a small part of Olivia felt sorry for her. With a few muttered excuses to the other three about needing to put Oath away, she followed back down the steps and into the dressing room a handful of seconds after Pyrrha. Goodwitch loudly began calling out for the next challengers, otherwise she would be moving to planned fights.

Olivia found the Mistral champion sitting on one of the benches, still in her combat outfit and slumped forward with her elbows on her knees. Her weapon and shield rested on either side of her, long forgotten as her hands were busy holding her face.

"Oh, um…" Olivia froze, seeing the slight shake to Pyrrha's shoulders.

Pyrrha tensed, hands briefly rubbing across her eyes before dropping to her sides, a smile struggling to reach her lips, "Oh, hey Olivia. That was a good fight…!"

Olivia forced herself to walk up to the other girl and sit down next to her, only inches apart. Whatever else she might be, heartless was not one of them. She placed a hand on Pyrrha's back, rubbing in what she hoped were small soothing motions.

The tension in Pyrrha's muscles faded, her figure slumping once more under Olivia's attempts at helping her to calm down, "I'm sorry for trying to force the win on you, Olivia. It was wrong of me."

"Why did you want to in the first place?" Olivia asked quietly, "You've always struck me as the competitive type. What changed?"

Pyrrha sighed, giving a weak shrug of her shoulders, "I was hoping to escape the limelight. My fame has grown out of control… Do you know what it's like to hate being looked at? Every time someone sees me, I'm afraid that they'll come up to me, asking for an autograph, asking for tips on how to improve, asking me personal questions that they have no business knowing…"

Olivia let out a small laugh and held her arm out, rolling her sleeves back to show off her black veins, "Trust me, I know what it's like to be afraid of other people's gaze. Always wondering if they somehow know. If _this_ time, I'm going to have to defend myself only because of what I am, not _who_ I am," she shrugged, "It may not be for the same reasons, but I can relate."

Pyrrha shivered, the tension returning to her shoulders, "I'm sorry. I didn't even consider that. I almost put you directly into the eyes of millions, only thinking of myself…"

Olivia laughed weakly, patting Pyrrha once more on the back before standing up, "Well, you'll just have to try harder next time. Even if it was a race to lose, I still beat you, Pyrrha. Guess you aren't quite as invincible as they make you out to be, eh~?"

Pyrrha laughed, eyes turning up to regard Olivia warmly, "I suppose I'm not, after all. How did you do that at the end anyway?"

Olivia stared at Pyrrha for a few moments, considering her options before smirking lightheartedly, "You'd have to go first. What was that whole thing with the black aura on Oath? _Someone's_ been holding back~"

Pyrrha seemed to consider the offer, but eventually shook her head with a smile, "Perhaps our secrets are best kept to ourselves."

"Perhaps they are," Olivia giggled as she stored Oath back in her locker. With a relaxed sigh, she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at the state Pyrrha was still in, "Are you going to put your weapons away any time soon? I'm sure your team is ready to shower you with praise."

Pyrrha smiled weakly in return and put her sword and shield back in her locker. With a moment spent collecting herself, an easy smile slipped back into place, practiced after years spent in the media's presence. She stepped past Olivia and held the door open, gesturing for her to head out with her.

As Olivia passed, Pyrrha whispered quietly, "You know we're going to have to fight for real one of these times, right? Preferably when there's no one around to watch."

Olivia winked, "You've got yourself a date, Nikos~"

Pyrrha blushed and Olivia laughed as they returned to the stands, and their waiting teams.

Cinder and the others had vanished. Olivia wasn't sure when exactly they'd left.


	41. Just Teammates

Olivia settled into a routine over the next few days, starting with waking up earlier in the morning in order to study and do homework then. She found that waiting until after classes to do it each day was a bad idea. Olivia could only do paperwork for so long, and certainly wasn't up for doing homework after sitting around in classes all day. By doing her homework early in the morning, she was finishing assignments while at her best.

And for the most part, that was how she managed to get by in her classes. Unfortunately, her current assignment from Professor Oobleck had left her stumped. It required more intricate knowledge of history to pull points from varying moments in time that were important. Olivia lacked the depth of knowledge or patience to search for so many different points of interest, and her temper was at an all time high every time she tried to go back to it.

And so it was that later that day, after she'd gotten rid of some of her pent up aggression by challenging an entire team in Miss Goodwitch's class, that Olivia begrudgingly sought Weiss for help. The Schnee heiress cheered her on with the rest of their team after the match was over, along with team Lion. Olivia was the first to try and take on an entire team. She was just glad that Goodwitch had approved the bout. One weakling wouldn't have been enough to soothe her frustrations.

"Good job, Olivia!" Ruby cheered loudly, throwing her hands up into the air, "I like how you lured two of them into Oath's path at the same time! Russel didn't stand a chance!"

' _Was that what one of their names was?_ ' Olivia shrugged half-heartedly, glad for the praise but knowing it had been a simple enough feat to not truly deserve it, "After the first throw, it was pretty obvious which ones weren't paying attention to their surroundings. You always want to take advantage of an opponent's weak points, exploit them to their fullest, and use them to claim victory. It's your best chance at success."

Ruby nodded happily, glad for the advice. Blake raised an eyebrow, a slight smirk on her lips, "Be careful not to forget your own in the meantime. A presumed weakness could just as easily be a feint designed to create openings in _your_ defense."

Olivia hummed agreement, "I wouldn't expect to come across something like that against any of _these_ opponents, but Blake makes a good point. There are a lot of intricacies in a fight. Awareness is key."

Ruby opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by Goodwitch down on the stage, who had finished up piecing the arena back together after Olivia's fight, "If no one else would like to issue a challenge, we'll move on to the next spar," she waited a few moments, and when no one stood to interject, continued, "Well then," her eyes traveled down to her scroll before returning to the stands, "Weiss Schnee and Lie Ren, if you would both change into your combat attire, we'll get the next spar underway."

"Wish me luck!" Weiss said uncertainly, trying to keep a positive attitude in the tone of her voice but failing.

"Luck has very little to do with a fight," Olivia scoffed, glancing over at Ren. The rest of team Lion cheered him on as he made his way down the stairs, "How about tips instead?"

"Tips are good, too," Weiss confirmed, lips twitching into a hesitant smile.

Olivia turned to follow Ren with her eyes as he made his way into the mens' changing rooms, "Ren is a close range fighter without much mobility, but with plenty of skill to make up for it. Both of his weapons are fast fire rate, low impact. Use your black glyphs to block his shots. Do the same if he throws one of his weapons. He uses them like boomerangs, so if you can keep one or both from returning then you'll deprive him of a weapon. Don't get cocky, though. He's adept at aura control and is just as dangerous with his bare hands. Stay on your toes, and use your speed to your advantage."

Olivia turned back around to regard Weiss, then drop her face into her hands while shaking her head, "And for Oum's sake, don't write that down. You don't have time to check notes in the middle of a _fight_ , Princess. Commit them to memory and… do your best."

Weiss slowly placed her notepad and pen back away with an embarrassed smile before drawing herself up, "Th-thanks, Olivia. I'll try and keep all that in mind…" she nodded firmly to the other two and set off for the changing room, hands anxiously clenching her skirt. Olivia realized with a start that this would be her first fight against others in either of their two teams, the rest having been against fodder.

"She's doomed," Olivia stated with a sigh, sitting back down between Blake and Ruby.

"Hey! Have some faith in Weiss! She can do this!" Ruby chided, leveling a glare at Olivia.

"Problem is, I have a lot more faith in _Ren_ ," Olivia retorted, "I've spent a good portion of the last month sparring against him and Nora. Neither of them are pushovers. Weiss has her work cut out for her if she wants to win this one."

"Well, all we can do is cheer her on for now," Blake replied with a simple smile, "I am glad you're taking your deal with her seriously, though. Teammates are supposed to help each other."

Olivia shrugged, "I need her help with homework later, so I'll do what I can now to pay it forward."

"Still," Blake bumped her shoulder into Olivia's side, giving her a smile that was almost doting, "Progress is progress. I can't tell you how happy I am seeing you two getting along."

"Me too!" Ruby interrupted cheerily, drumming her feet against the wooden bleachers, "We're finally a team!"

Olivia smiled, refraining from sharing the entire reason she'd wanted to get her frustrations out on an entire team in the first place, ' _No point ruining their moment,_ ' and she had to admit... even if Weiss was a _Schnee_ , ' _It's nice being able to help someone…_ '

"So, how much you betting!?" Nora exclaimed from a couple rows beneath them, turning to face the remainder of team Rainbow, "Twenty lien says Ren comes out on top!"

Olivia smirked, "Oh my, _Nora_ ~ Are you sure you want Ren on top of another woman like that? That's awfully generous of you~"

"What!?" Nora crossed her arms with a glare, "That isn't what I meant and you know it!"

Blake turned to the side to hide a laugh with a cough, while Ruby's face went red. She managed to peek through her fingers to look between them at Nora, "I-I'll take you up on that offer! Weiss is gonna win this one!"

"Ha!" Nora stood with her arms crossed, seeming to almost look down her nose at Ruby despite being several feet lower than her on the bleachers, "Put your money where your mouth is then, Red!"

Ruby dug in her pocket and pulled out twenty lien, dropping down to the row below to slap it on the bench between them, "And if Weiss wins, you have to do our laundry for a week!"

"Upping the ante, are we?" Nora chuckled, putting her hands on her hips, "In _that_ case," Nora put a hand to her chin, trying to think of something Ruby would have to do in exchange, "If Ren wins, you have to bring breakfast up to our room for a week! Hope you can carry all those pancaaaakes~"

Ruby grinned confidently and held out her hand. Nora roughly slapped hers into the grip and shook it, sealing their bet. The ginger Mistralian raised her eyes to Blake and Olivia, extending the challenge, "Anything you two want to _lose_ ~?"

"I don't have any spare lien," Blake confessed weakly.

"Oh~? Someone doesn't believe in their teammate," Nora mocked jokingly.

"I've seen them both fight," Blake said carefully, glancing to Ruby with some hesitance, "And Olivia isn't the only one experienced at sizing up opponents. I know a bad bet when I see one."

"What!?" Ruby crossed her arms, turning away to face the stage while she pouted, "My partner will show all of you! Just wait and see!"

Olivia shook her head with a smile and watched as both Ren and Weiss exited their respective changing rooms. Ren went to the far side of the arena. Weiss stopped near the edge nearest the changing rooms and pulled her rapier free from her hip, leveling it in Ren's direction with her left hand.

' _Myrtenaster'… Is that even a word?_ ' Once again, the ways of hunters in training confused her. At least the name Weiss had chosen _sounded_ high class, just like the rest of her.

The timer began its countdown, display showing a large picture of both Ren and Weiss with their current aura levels below. Ren pulled his weapons free and aimed them in Weiss's direction, bending his knees in preparation to move the instant the timer reached zero. Weiss closed her eyes for a moment and let out a deep breath.

The buzzer sounded loudly, announcing the beginning of the fight.

Weiss waved Myrtenaster between herself and Ren, conjuring a spinning black glyph that blocked the shots he fired across the arena floor. Already, he was moving, running in a clockwise circle near the outside edge to circle around to Weiss's side.

Weiss waved Myrtenaster once more, firing off four ice dust projectiles that curved out around her black glyph and honed in on Ren. Unlike with her fight against Olivia, though, Weiss immediately followed it up by dropping the black glyph and creating a white one behind herself. While Ren was in the middle of dodging in a forward roll to avoid her projectiles, she flew into the fray to catch him off guard.

Myrtenaster slammed in a straight lunge against Ren's chest as he came up from his roll, knocking him backwards. Ren rolled with the hit as well as he could, using his hands to backflip away and slide to a stop on his feet, dagger scraping against the floor to maintain his stability.

Weiss didn't let up, rushing back within range to slash at his chest. Ren leaned just out of reach and retaliated, becoming a flurry of blades that Weiss struggled to deflect. With one particularly good attack, Ren caught the edge of her rapier within the gap between his blade and pistol and pushed it to the side to leave Weiss defenseless. He spun quickly, lashing out with a brutal kick that caught her in the ribs and launched her across the arena floor.

Weiss hit the ground hard, sliding several feet before struggling to her feet. She was given little warning before one of Ren's daggers came streaking through the air in her direction. She dodged awkwardly and waved her rapier, turning around to cast another black glyph in the dagger's path behind herself. It slammed into the glyph's smooth surface before getting knocked off course and falling to the ground off the stage.

Weiss breathed out in relief and turned back to level her rapier between herself and Ren once more. The Mistralian took a moment to give her an appreciative nod, then returned to his combat stance, left hand now weaponless.

' _Hopefully she doesn't let that get to her head. Another aura infused blow could cripple her chances,_ ' Olivia didn't need to look at the screen to sense that Weiss's aura was down to eighty percent. Ren had likely added his aura when he kicked Weiss in the side. Their levels were nearly identical at the moment, both having gotten at least one solid attack in so far.

Weiss raised her offhand to the side of her blade and ran it down it's length, the blade itself beginning to shimmer blue. Ren eyed it warily, preparing for whatever it was that Weiss had planned. Olivia sat forward in interest, seeing a new attack for the first time.

' _The Princess certainly didn't use that during our fight._ '

Weiss suddenly slashed her rapier through the air, the shimmering blue flying off it like water. Ren realized the implications an instant before the ice dust took effect, throwing his hands up to protect himself as the ice took hold on the floor in front of him. The dust expanded outwards, an array of piercing shards flashing into existence and slamming into Ren's arms.

Ren was knocked backwards, recovering quickly and using an aura infused hand to break off the ice spreading across his forearm. His senses warned him just in time to dodge to the side, Weiss having launched herself above the ice to flash downward in a straight lunge with added speed from one of her glyphs.

Ren caught Weiss by the wrist as she passed and spun on his heel, bodily throwing her back towards the ice she'd conjured. Trapped between the ice and Ren, Weiss had no choice but to try and defend herself against the flurry of attacks that came her way a moment after. She backed further into the grouping of ice shards, dodging from side to side, narrowly avoiding Ren's attacks that would then shatter ice in their wake.

Weiss finally ran out of places to retreat to, backed completely against the mass of ice behind her. Ren slashed out with his dagger and caught her rapier once more, knocking it to the side and striking out with his fist. The aura enhanced blow caught her directly in the stomach and blasted her backwards through the sheet of ice. Weiss gasped in pain, hand reflexively opening to let Myrtenaster fall free and clatter to the ground between herself and Ren.

Olivia groaned audibly, feeling Weiss's aura plunge in response to the blow. Caught between Ren and the ice, she'd taken the full brunt of the attack and was now down to less than forty percent. Weiss struggled to her feet, falling back to her knee once before standing shakily. She watched Ren with wary eyes, glancing at the rapier between Ren and herself.

' _Come on, Princess. Remember what you have at your disposal. Your weapon isn't all you have to depend on._ '

Olivia sighed as Weiss dove for the rapier, putting herself in a terrible position against Ren's follow up attack. The heiress was caught in the chest by his dagger, the edge slamming into her aura and propelling her backwards, still weaponless. Ren glanced to the screen above them and raised his pistol, firing off the last few rounds needed to drop Weiss below fifteen percent.

"That's the match!" Goodwitch called out loudly, knowing Ren to be careful and already waving her riding crop to rid the stage of excess ice.

Ren put his weapon away and extended a hand down to help Weiss up from the floor. She accepted with as much grace as she could muster, sweating profusely from exerting herself so much in the match. Olivia couldn't quite hear the words they shared, but Weiss smiled afterward and nodded thanks before retrieving her weapon and heading back up to the stands.

Nora loudly swiped the lien off the bench and grinned coyly at Ruby, "Make sure you bring plenty of bacon, Ruby~"

Ruby slumped, arms crossed and refusing to meet Nora's gaze, "Lucky shot. Ren won't beat her again, not when Olivia is going to train her!"

"What, me?" Olivia balked, "My tips weren't good enough?"

"Not even close, Olivia!" Ruby replied fiercely, staring her down, "As team leader, I order you to train Weiss with all you've got! Team Rainbow won't be beaten by the likes of team _Lion_!"

"You do remember I lost to _Pyrrha_ , right?" Olivia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Doesn't count. Pyrrha is Pyrrha," Ruby huffed.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, Olivia…" Weiss spoke up weakly, having overheard most of their conversation while heading up the stairs to them, "Your tips definitely helped me improve somewhat."

' _May as well make the most of it._ '

Olivia sighed in exasperation, "Alright, alright. Enough with the reverse psychology. I'll train you," she stared at Weiss, "In exchange, you're helping me with my homework later, and I'd _better_ get an A+ on it."

"I wasn't trying to…" Weiss began to argue before trailing off, looking at Olivia in surprise, "You'll actually help me train? For real?"

"Quid pro quo, Princess. You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours," Olivia corrected.

"I accept," Weiss smiled widely, sitting back down on the bench and smoothing her skirt out before crossing her legs. She looked back over to Olivia, "Do you… want to start after class?"

Olivia shrugged, "If you're up for it. Your aura took quite a beating just now. Sure you'll recover in time?"

"If we take it slow…" Weiss turned to look over the class, "There are plenty of bouts left before then. I think I'll be alright."

Olivia nodded agreement and sat back, relaxing as class continued on. She leaned back a little so that she could see Weiss past Ruby and spoke to her behind the younger girl's back, "I suppose there's some things we could go over while we wait for class to finish."

Weiss brightened, "You have more tips?"

"Something like that," Olivia raised her chin towards Myrtenaster, "Can you create glyphs without that?"

Weiss looked down at her weapon and placed her fingers lightly on its length, "Only my white glyphs. They act as propellants. The black glyphs require gravity dust, which I keep stored in my rapier."

Olivia nodded understanding, "You should have used a glyph to knock your weapon back towards yourself instead of diving for it, then. You could have kept yourself in a defensive stance and reclaimed your weapon without putting yourself in such a terrible position."

Weiss's eyes widened, staring down at Myrtenaster, "You're… you're right. I never thought of trying that."

"Can you control the _size_ of your glyphs?"

"Yes."

"And you can move them?"

"Yes…" Weiss frowned, "It's difficult to control, though."

"But not impossible, right? You kept your glyph moving with us on the boat," Olivia pointed out.

"True. It _does_ take quite a bit of concentration. What did you have in mind?"

"Do you think you could block off someone's barrel? Keep them from firing their weapon off completely?"

"That's…" Weiss pondered the question for a few seconds, then placed a hand on Myrtenaster and raised the other. At the end of her index finger, a small black glyph appeared. She trailed her finger in the air, concentrating hard to make the glyph move along with it. After a handful of seconds, she gasped, letting the glyph disappear and breathing heavily for a moment, "It's far too difficult to control something so small with that much precision."

"We'll come back to that, then," Olivia smirked, giving Weiss a look of appreciation, "You might not be as hopeless as I thought, Princess. Your semblance has a lot of potential, with the right mind to guide you."

"Oh~?" Weiss smiled, accepting the praise with some small color in her cheeks, "That sounds like an offer I can't refuse."

"Nope," Olivia stated simply, ruffling a hand through Ruby's hair, "Our fearless leader ordered it, remember? We don't have any choice in the matter."

"That's right!" Ruby grinned, straightening her hair back out, "If Olivia can't beat Pyrrha, then Weiss will!"

Olivia laughed, "I wouldn't quite go _that_ far, kid. One could dream, though."

"You never know. Given enough practice, anyone could become capable of competing against me," Pyrrha spoke up kindly, a hopeful glimmer in her eye.

Olivia remembered how devastated the Mistralian champion had seemed after their spar, and gave her a conspiratorial smile, "I guess I have no choice then," she turned back to Weiss with an evil grin, "You're going to train harder than you ever have before, Princess. I hope you're up for the task."

Weiss sat up straighter, "I look forward to it."

"Hold on to that confidence. You're gonna need it."

Yang spoke up from the side, leaning forward to look past Pyrrha, "Do you want to come with me in the mornings to work out, Weiss? You're going to need it if you want to contest with Pyrrha's athleticism."

Olivia tapped her chin with her index finger in thought, turning to regard Weiss and her extremely lithe form, "It wouldn't hurt, Princess, and would definitely be worth it in the long run."

"I go to the gym most mornings anyway," Yang added, "I could definitely show you the ropes so you could go on your own time, even. You wouldn't always have to go with me."

"I-I think I'll take you up on that," Weiss accepted, flashing Yang a smile. It quickly grew into a frown, "You aren't going to try and make me do anything extreme, are you? I'd rather not suffer the rest of the day."

Yang waved a hand dismissively, "I know you aren't up for the type of work out I'm used to. We'll start small and you can work your way up to more on your own time. I'll just focus on teaching you the basics."

"Then I will gladly join you, Yang. Thank you."

"No problem, Princess~" Yang smirked and winked at Olivia while Weiss groaned into her hands.

Class continued with some light conversation between the group, exchanging banter and plans alike. Olivia agreed that she would spend three days each week after Goodwitch's class training Weiss, while the heiress would give her help with classwork whenever Olivia needed it. All things considered, she thought she'd gotten the better half of the deal.

' _Help with my homework,_ _ **and**_ _I get to beat up the Princess? Why didn't I start doing this whole 'teammates' thing sooner?_ '

Once the final spar had ended, Goodwitch excused the class and fixed up the arena for the last time, exiting through the door at the back of the stage while the class filed out up the stairs. Olivia stretched, waiting behind with Weiss while everyone else said their goodbyes.

"Don't be too hard on her, Short Stack. She might like that~" Yang whispered in passing, trying to get a rise out of her.

"You never know," she smirked right back, "Maybe _I_ do, too~"

Yang laughed and followed after the rest of team Lion. Ruby and Blake paused at the door, the faunus trying to give her a hard stare that demanded she behave. Olivia made a small shooing motion with her hand, unnoticed by everyone except Blake. She nodded and left, leaving only Ruby remaining aside from the two of them.

"Good luck, you two! Train hard!" Ruby cheered, pumping a fist in the air, "I'll have a game set up for when you get back!"

"Thanks, kid. See you in a bit," Olivia smiled, giving her a wave as she left then turning to face the heiress, "Alrighty then. You ready?"

Weiss nodded nervously, eyeing Oath on Olivia's back, "How are we going to do this? Just… fight until my aura gives out again?"

Olivia pulled Oath free and flexed a small amount of aura into it, causing the weapon to straighten out into its full length. She smirked at the look of worry on Weiss's face before returning the weapon to her back and stepping past to the stairs, "First things first. Brainstorm."

"Brainstorm?" Weiss mimicked back questioningly, following a few steps behind Olivia as she walked down to the arena floor.

"Yup, brainstorm. What uses does your semblance have? The most important thing is knowing your limits, but at the same time, discussing it now might inspire you to try something in the future. Catching an opponent off guard is always a great way to turn the tide, and it won't be until you know what you _can_ do before you start wondering what you _could_ do."

Olivia eyed Weiss up and down, crossing her arms, "So, tell me all there is to know about the Schnee semblance. Different glyphs, that summoning thing you mentioned. All of it."

Weiss rested a hand on Myrtenaster as she began describing each of the different glyphs she could use, the abilities she'd seen her sister pull off but had yet to duplicate, and eventually, summoning."

"So wait, you have to stand still in order to use them?" Olivia frowned.

"As far as I've seen. Winter always does while she's using hers," Weiss confirmed, "Why. Is that so bad?"

"Well, just imagine trying to summon against someone like Nora, who has a strong ranged attack. She'll get a free shot on you every time you try. You'd never get a moment to spare to control it," Olivia placed a hand to her chin, "I _could_ see them being valuable outside of combat, though."

A thought occurred to her, and she snapped her eyes back over to Weiss, "Have you ever killed a nevermore?"

Weiss shrugged, "Only a few adolescents, why?"

Olivia rolled her eyes, "Because you could literally _fly_ , Princess. That's a huge advantage in more scenarios than you'd think," she pulled out her scroll and opened up her contacts, swiping down until she found Qrow's name.

" _Hey, you wanna be a pal? My teammate and I need to kill a nevermore. Know of any around Vale?_ " Olivia hit send and waited, tapping her foot against the floor impatiently.

"I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself, Olivia…" Weiss spoke up nervously, "I have to kill it myself, and I don't know if I could handle a nevermore as I am now. Certainly not a nevermore the same size as the one you took down during initiation…"

"It doesn't have to be massive," Olivia replied, but let herself relax a bit, "I see your point, though. Does anything you kill now count towards what you'll be able to summon later? You've already unlocked your semblance, after all."

"They'll count," Weiss answered, glad that Olivia had backtracked on what appeared to be immediate plans, "I even have something special hidden up my sleeve once I'm capable."

"Good," Olivia replied truthfully. Her scroll buzzed and she looked down at Qrow's reply, stating that he didn't know of any currently but that he'd have Ozpin keep an eye out.

"We'd better work on getting you to that point first, then," Olivia pulled Oath from her back and extended it out once more, "Now, I want you to come at me with everything you've got. No holding back. I'll focus on defending myself, but if you leave too large of an opening, I'll retaliate. Sound fair?"

Weiss nodded in determination and pulled Myrtenaster free, holding it between the two of them.

"Whenever you're ready, Princess."

Weiss began her assault, dashing in to slash, lunge, or hit Olivia with her projectiles. Olivia took it all in stride, relying on her sixth sense to control her reflexes while judging Weiss with a critical eye. Her stance was decent, if too stiff. Her footwork was nearly perfect, if far too slow. Her attacks were quick, but lacked the strength to break through Olivia's defenses.

On and on for the next half an hour, Olivia kept track of points she would bring up later. By the end of it all, with Weiss breathing heavily and sweat pouring down her face, dust expended and limbs shaking tiredly, Olivia returned Oath to her back and stood with her hands on her hips.

"That wasn't half bad, Princess. You almost had me a few times."

"...Don't… patronize… me…" Weiss struggled out, standing with her hands on her knees. Her hair had started to fall loose, braid coming undone after all of the frenetic attacks she'd attempted near the end when her strength was failing and desperation began to cloud her judgement. Her aura shimmered in places, still healing the bruises on her arms and legs from where Olivia had retaliated during that time.

"I'm not. That was a good fir- er, _second_ attempt," Olivia replied truthfully, "And it gave me a lot of information. We'll get you in championship condition in no time."

Weiss frowned, doubting Olivia's words when the spider faunus still stood there, as pristine as she'd been when they first began. Olivia couldn't help it. Her semblance did most of the work for her when it came to physical strength and speed. She wasn't even out of breath.

"Well…" Weiss drew herself up, standing tall once more, "If you say so… I'll trust your judgement, Olivia."

"Good," Olivia replied easily. She walked past Weiss on her way towards the stairs and waited for the heiress to collect herself enough to follow. On the way back to the room, she listed out all the faults she'd found in Weiss's fighting style, and offered up as many suggestions as she could think of. Olivia didn't mind so much when Weiss pulled her notebook back out and jotted down notes while they walked, paying close attention to everything Olivia said.

Olivia swiped her scroll past the lock on their door and opened it up to step into their dorm, "So, when you're on the defense, you want to concentrate on breaking your opponent's momentum. Once the fight starts swaying in the other person's favor, it can be very hard to get it back under your control. Best to do something sooner, rather than later. Even if you'd had to sacrifice taking a hit from Ren earlier on, it would have been better to keep yourself from being back into the ice completely."

Olivia waved her greeting to Ruby and Blake, the former sitting on the floor playing the fighting game she'd mentioned while Blake sat up in her bed, reading. Weiss followed through the door that Olivia held open for her, pen scratching away at her notebook with handwriting that still managed to look neat and tidy. Weiss moved to her desk immediately to finish, then looked back up at Olivia expectantly.

Olivia shrugged, "That's all for today, I'm afraid. I expect payment in the form of you being my study partner, due tomorrow morning before you go to the gym with Yang. Fair?"

Weiss nodded, already turning back to reread through her notes, "I'll be happy to help. You've given me so much to think about already… How do you keep track of all this while you're fighting?"

"You don't," Olivia confessed honestly, "It becomes second nature after you've been in enough fights. That's why letting you attack me was so important. It let me think about what I would have done differently in your shoes and gave me time to remember _why_ I do the things I do."

Weiss set her pen down and wiped a hand across her forehead, grimacing when it came back slick with sweat, "I think that's enough for the time being. If you don't mind, I'm going to take the first shower."

Weiss waited until Olivia nodded her acceptance before heading over to her dresser and grabbing a change of clothes along with a towel. Olivia sat down next to Ruby and pulled out her own scroll, flipping it in her hands while she waited for the younger girl to finish the current match she was playing in.

Once Weiss had stepped into the bathroom and firmly locked the door, Blake raised her head from her book, "So, how'd it go? It _sounded_ like it went well."

Olivia shrugged, "Weiss has a ways to go before she'll be able to stand toe to toe with someone like _Pyrrha_ , but I think I can mold her into a force to be reckoned with. Give me a month... maybe two? She'll be a power house soon enough."

"I'm glad you didn't come back arguing. She might just be growing on you~" Blake smirked, turning back to her book.

Olivia shivered visibly, pulling her arms in closer to herself as if struck by a sudden chill, "Don't make me puke. I'm tolerating her, at best," she poked Ruby in the shoulder, "And that's mainly for _your_ benefit, kid. I can't stand when you make that face."

"What face?" Ruby turned to look at her, eyes going wide and lip trembling slightly as if she was about to cry.

Olivia narrowed her eyes and pushed her to the side playfully, " _That_ one."

Ruby giggled and went back to her game, managing to finally finish up the boss battle she'd been in. She backed out and set it up for two players, waiting for Olivia to connect her scroll before going to the character select screen. She navigated through them, only having played the game a few times before and more than ready to try out some characters that she hadn't yet.

Olivia paused overtop a smaller female character with no visible weapons and shot Ruby a raised eyebrow.

"That's Mantis," Ruby pointed more closely to the screen, drawing Olivia's attention to the character's hand, "She uses a sword with an invisible blade. It has decent reach and power, but she's really hard to play because you can't tell how far her attacks are going to go," Ruby pointed off to one of the other characters, "You might want to try Yuliana instead. She's more um… noob friendly."

Olivia let out a mocking gasp, holding a hand to her chest lightly, "You don't think I can handle a little challenge?"

"I mean… Mantis _is_ really hard to play, Olivia."

Olivia selected Mantis anyway, interested in the similarity between their abilities and hoping to have a more intimate understanding of how to use her because of her own experience.

Ten minutes later, Olivia had to agree with Ruby. Mantis was _hard_. No amount of focusing on her sixth sense would allow Olivia to sense anything happening on screen. It simply didn't work that way. She gave up with a frustrated sigh after her fourth loss in a row and lay back on the carpet, putting her arms behind her head.

"I give, kid. You're better than I'll ever be."

"Aw, c'mon! Don't quit now! You did better that time!" Ruby looked down on Olivia with hope-filled eyes.

Olivia chuckled, "Sorry. You'll have to get Yang over here if you want to keep going. I don't think Blake or Weiss are really going to be up for it either."

Ruby sighed, "Fiiiine," and backed out to the main menu, letting the menu music play in the background while she disconnected her scroll to message Yang.

While Ruby was busy with her scroll, Olivia heard the shower turn off and could feel Weiss stepping out to dry herself off. Olivia tried to take her mind off it, but with nothing else to do, noticed her attention continuing to drift back to what the heiress was doing. The heiress began running the towel across her smooth arms, across her back, over her chest, down between her…

' _Alrighty then!_ ' Olivia hopped up quickly, pocketing her scroll and moving over to her dresser to change her top out for something more Vale appropriate, "I'm going to head down into the city for dinner. I'll be back in a couple hours if you want me to bring you back anything."

"Why don't we all go?" Ruby perked up, message to Yang still incomplete in her hands. Blake's head lifted up from her book as well, head tilting to regard Olivia.

"I haven't had dinner yet, either. Did you have a place in mind?"

' _Anywhere but here?_ ' Olivia gave a half-hearted shrug, easing up as the conversation served to distract her, "I could go for pretty much anything right about now. I had a pretty light lunch."

"Pasta?" Ruby chipped in.

"Sounds good to me..." Olivia lost focus, not hearing Ruby's response as she felt Weiss moving the towel down slowly, across her smooth stomach, past her hips, down her legs, back up her thighs until she reached...

Feeling the heat going to her cheeks, Olivia stammered out a quick, "Uh, let the Princess know. I'll grab Lion!" and darted from the room before the other two could protest. She crossed the hall and knocked on Lion's door a moment later, using a bit more force than was necessary.

Olivia could feel Yang hopping up from her bed to walk over and let her in. The blond's face brightened, "How'd training go?"

Olivia stepped in past her, breathing a sigh of relief as Weiss faded further out of range, especially once the door closed behind her, "As well as could be expected," she looked over at Ren where he sat on his bed, her mind still struggling to force the mental images from her head, "Well done, by the way. Sorry I wasn't rooting for you as loudly as Nora was. Different teams and all that."

Ren smiled lightly, "That's fine, Olivia. I wouldn't expect you to go against your team like that."

"What brings you to our dorm?" Pyrrha asked, noticing that something seemed off about the spider faunus.

"Nothing much," Olivia replied easily, finally getting herself under control, "We're all going down into Vale for dinner. I was wondering if you wanted to join us again like last time."

"Too late!" Nora replied energetically, shooting Olivia an apologetic smile, "Pyrrha already ordered us pizzas for delivery. They should be here soon."

"Maybe next time?" Pyrrha smiled.

"Alright," Olivia backed up to the door and gave a little wave, "You guys enjoy yourselves, then. Guess it's a team dinner this time around."

"Have fun~" Yang opened the door for Olivia once more and closed it gently after she'd stepped out, leaving the faunus alone in the hall. She felt out tentatively, and breathed out a breathless ' _Thank Oum_ ' when she felt Weiss fully clothed and sitting at her desk, fixing up her hair.

Olivia opened the door back into the Rainbow dorm and flashed a smile, "Looks like Lion already has plans. It's just us," she glanced over to Weiss, "You in, Princess?"

"Of course. I'm a little hungry after training earlier. Ruby mentioned pasta? Any place in particular?" Weiss ran a brush through her hair while she spoke, looking between the rest of her teammates.

"Ruby? I don't know any places like that," Olivia confessed.

"Me and my family went to one a while back. I think I can find it," Ruby replied, pulling out her scroll to bring up a map of Vale for directions.

"My family and I," Weiss corrected absentmindedly.

"My family and I," Ruby copied back automatically, still searching for the restaurant. She gave them a thumbs up a few seconds later, grinning widely, "Found it~ I thought I remembered it being on Main but it's a couple streets over."

"I'm ready when you all are," Olivia offered, making some minor adjustments to the coat she'd pulled on while making her hasty retreat. It hid her veins like most of her clothes, making her appear like any other human.

"One minute," Weiss replied, quickly fixing her hair back into a ponytail with practiced ease. She finished it off with the small crown piece, testing it to make sure it was firmly planted before nodding happily, "Okay, I'm ready."

Blake closed her book and hopped down to the floor, still dressed in her combat outfit from earlier. She'd only had to fight one of the weaker students, and was still pristine regardless. Ruby hopped up from where she'd been sitting on the edge of Weiss's bed and grinned.

"Team Rainbow, let's head out!" Ruby led the way out the door, followed by the rest of the team as their leader marched down the hallway giggling.

Olivia became lost in her own thoughts while the others conversed, her mind drifting off to what had just happened.

' _That was only natural, right? I had nothing else to take my attention off her, and I'm so used to focusing on what's she's doing since she's a Schnee…'_ Olivia nodded to herself, ' _Totally understandable._ '

So what if she couldn't stop picturing Weiss naked?

' _I've just been away from Melanie too long. I got all worked up because she was supposed to meet me tonight, and then our plans fell through because Miltia got sick… That's it,_ ' a little alone time later and she'd be good as new, no more thoughts straying dangerously close to betraying her own race, ' _Nope. None at all._ '

' _On the other hand, I've never reacted that way when it was Ruby or Blake freshening up…_ '

"Olivia?"

The spider faunus flinched, surprised by Weiss's sudden presence next to her. They had made it all the way down to the Beacon grounds and were making their way towards the bullheads in the distance. Ruby and Blake blazed a trail ahead of them, a dozen steps ahead of the two that took up the rear.

Weiss frowned, then shifted into a coy grin, "I thought you couldn't be surprised?"

Olivia could feel her heart beating wildly in her chest and put a hand to it, trying to relax, "I'm not… usually. Just something on my mind is all. What's up, Princess?"

"I wanted to say… thank you. I don't think I did earlier," Weiss confessed slowly, eyes straying away in embarrassment. Her eyes fell to the ground, shoulders slumping sadly, "When I first found out we would be on the same team, I… I almost quit right then. Ruby was there with me, though. She told me over and over how nice you could be, that you just needed to warm up to me first. I didn't really believe her, but… part of me _wanted_ to, wanted to hope that was she was saying was true," Weiss's eyes returned, locking on to Olivia's own, "I'm glad I stayed, and I hope we can get to know each other better…"

Olivia's breath caught at the admission, magenta eyes trapped by cold blue, "Me too, Princess… You've been… a pleasant surprise, to say the least. And if I'm being honest…" she sighed, looking down to the pavement, "Part of me wanted to leave too. I spent so long dreaming of coming to Beacon and joining a team with Ren and Nora, only to end up with a Schnee…" her mind went back to the ginger boy she had murdered in retaliation, spurred on by her fellow assassins and criminals. She felt regret clutch at her chest tightly, worming it's way deeper into her heart, "I'm _sorry_ for the things I did…"

"I forgive you," Weiss smiled and winked, "See? One of those redeeming qualities that Ruby mentioned~"

' _You wouldn't if you knew the truth…_ ' Olivia faked a smile in return and increased her pace, ready to get her mind off it all, "Let's leave the past behind us, eh? I don't know about you, but right now, I'm ready for a nice meal out with my team," she smirked for real, eyeing the heiress, "By the way, _I'm_ paying."

"By all means," Weiss smiled in return, hefting her purse, "I suppose that means I've got the tip, huh?"

They both laughed, ready to begin a fun night out between friends.

Olivia could only hope it stayed that way.

* * *

Dinner ended up running much later than any of them had anticipated. Olivia eventually called it a night when Ruby fell asleep at the table, head buried in her forearm and hair hanging dangerously close to her bowl of leftover pasta sauce.

Olivia helped support Ruby on the walk back to the bullheads, and then the rest of the way to the dorm. Blake unlocked the door for them, holding it open so that Olivia could get Ruby inside. She shrouded her limbs for a moment, and hefted the smaller girl as carefully as possible up into her bunk bed.

Ruby grumbled the entire way, and didn't bother worrying about her pajamas. She wrapped herself tightly into her blanket and rolled over to face the wall, snoring quietly within moments. Olivia smiled and headed over to her dresser, glad to see that both Blake and Weiss were doing the same. The spider faunus stepped into the bathroom and changed before brushing her teeth, walking back out in her skimpy top and shorts.

Blake and Weiss had already finished up as well, both heading to their respective beds. Olivia crawled into her own and sighed contently. It had been a fun night out, all things considered. They'd done away with talk of school or training, and instead focused on some of their favorite memories. Ruby had been the one sharing the most, but even Olivia had managed to include a few of her own.

Wrapped up in her thick blanket, Olivia relaxed, letting her body sink into the mattress. After only a few minutes, she could hear the quiet breaths of a sleeping Blake, could feel the speed that her chest was rising and falling and knew she was asleep. Weiss remained awake, turned away and facing the wall on her side of the room.

After a few more minutes, the heiress shuffled around, eyes falling on Olivia who opened hers in response to stare back across the gap separating them.

"Having trouble sleeping, Princess?"

Weiss sighed, eyes appearing slightly troubled, "I was just wondering if you needed to… do that thing again. I didn't want you to be stuck awake after we had such a nice day. It wouldn't be fair, you know?"

Olivia rolled on to her side, considering Weiss's proposal for only a moment before deciding to reject it, "That's alright. I've gotten used to you now. There wouldn't be much point to it anymore, honestly."

"Oh," Weiss replied quietly, eyes downcast. She looked back up, a hesitant smile on her lips, "I suppose I should be happy, huh? You're finally more comfortable around me."

Olivia shifted awkwardly, turning to lie on her back and stare up at Blake's bunk above her, "Yeah… you could say that..."

"Well then," Weiss's eyes flickered over to Olivia once more, thinking the faunus wouldn't notice since she was no longer looking at Weiss directly, "Have a good night."

"Weiss?" Olivia spoke up as the heiress began to roll back over, her mind urging her to make the offer anyway. She could remember the feeling she'd received from Weiss before. The need the heiress had for the physical affection she'd been deprived, even if only in a platonic setting.

Olivia thought better of it, though. She knew the real reason why her body wanted her to hold the heiress in her arms, to feel that warm, gentle skin against her own once more, and her mind fought against it in firm disagreement, ' _I couldn't possibly go down that route. Teammate or not, she's a Schnee. Even for her, that would be far too much of a step away from her family's values. I'll… I'll try and get into contact with Melanie tomorrow. I'm just not in the right state of mind right now. Once I've gotten it out of my system, I'll be able to go back to normal..._ '

"Nevermind, Princess. You have a good night, too."

"Okay…" Weiss replied, a hint of the disappointment she felt reflected in her voice.

' _Or am I just imagining what I want to hear?_ ' Olivia rolled over to face the wall and shut her eyes tight, forcing herself to focus on other things in the room with her sixth sense.

Weiss finished rolling over as well, and within ten minutes, was firmly asleep.

Olivia struggled for another hour before dreams finally took her. It wasn't the usual nightmares that plagued her that night.

She dreamt of lying in the snow, white flakes falling from the heavens to drift down and land lightly on her face. No matter how long she lay there…

She never felt the cold.


	42. Tension

Olivia woke up earlier than the other three with a strangled gasp, the remnants of her nightmare thickly clouding her mind for several moments after waking. She held her head in her hands, shutting her eyes tightly and willing the brutal visions to fade away. She could still see the ginger boy sitting in his chair, arms tied behind his back, visible through the wide hole in his chest. No matter how many times Olivia dropped her semblance and brought it back in the dream, the blood that coated their length remained.

With a growl of frustration, Olivia swung her feet off the bed and stomped to her dresser, grabbing her Beacon uniform and a towel before heading into the bathroom, ' _What the hell am I so worked up over? A racist human? He deserved what was coming to him!_ '

Olivia shut the door tightly and locked it, breathing out a heavy sigh and using the mirror to stare into magenta eyes. She activated her semblance, four massive appendages unfurling into the cramped space of the bathroom. They knocked over a few bottles in their wake, forcing Olivia to draw them in as closely as she could. She breathed out another sigh, this time in relief upon seeing her appendages free of the blood that stained them in the dream.

Olivia's attention was pulled free from her current issues to another residing in the room she'd just vacated. Weiss stirred, likely woken by the sound of plastic bottles hitting the floor. Olivia could feel the heiress sitting up to stretch, arching her back and opening her mouth wide to yawn before blinking the sleep from her eyes. Her head turned towards Olivia's bed, noting that it was empty and that the bathroom door was closed, before getting up to head to her own dresser.

Olivia undressed, pulling the thin fabric of her night shirt up and over her head before sliding her shorts and undergarments down smooth legs. She stepped out of them before kicking them out of the way, body now totally bare, and walked into the shower.

Weiss pulled her own Beacon uniform out of her dresser and set it down on top. Olivia paused as she felt the petite heiress glance towards the room's other two sleeping inhabitants before pulling her own night clothes off. Once they'd been discarded on the floor, hands went to hips and then up to cup naked breasts while Weiss studied herself in her bedside mirror, slowly spinning to look her body over from every angle.

Olivia could feel the heat going to her cheeks while another, more primal heat began to build further down. One hand went to her own stomach, fingers slowly trailing lower as she pictured the heiress in the other room, creamy pale skin and provocative form on full display for none other than the voyeuristic faunus's sixth sense. She bit her lips as she felt Weiss pressing her breasts together, then lifting them up one after the other, seeming to consider them from every angle as if judging her own body. 

Weiss nodded her head after a few moments as if satisfied, then turned her back to the mirror and reached down to lift one glorious cheek. Slender fingers dug into the delicate flesh as she appreciated her own figure. Quiet breaths came out ragged as Olivia fought against herself in a futile desperation, her hand drifting down further to twitch near the heat that had built. In one final act of defiance before succumbing to the fire building inside her, Olivia reached quickly out with her other hand and twisted one of the shower's plastic knobs to maximum.

Olivia had to bite her lip to stop herself from screaming in shock as ice cold water blasted overtop her naked figure. She gasped and instinctively acted to protect herself from the sudden frigid drop in temperature, all thoughts of Weiss firmly vacating her mind while she fought to not cry out in alarm. Olivia turned the second knob a moment later, shivering beneath heavy droplets while it slowly heated her body back to a bearable level.

By the time she'd gotten her senses under control, Weiss had already dressed and left the room, likely heading down for breakfast with nothing else to do in the meantime. Olivia slumped against the tiled wall and smacked her head against it lightly, eyes shut tight while she reprimanded herself, ' _Bad Olivia! Off limits! No tap zone!_ ' each phrase was accompanied by another dull thud of her head hitting the shower wall.

Olivia sighed and retreated from her self-inflicted punishment to grab a bar of soap. She rubbed it between her hands then got to work cleaning off her body, firmly trying to suppress the filthy thoughts threatening to return, ' _Damn it, Miltia! Why'd you have to get sick yesterday of all days!? Melanie and I could have had a fun time in the library, but nooo… You had to come down with a cold. Now look at me! Lusting after a Schnee!_ ' she growled in frustration, hands working furiously to try and cleanse both her mind and body.

' _And what was that all about, Princess!? You've gotta have some consideration for a poor spider faunus girl! You can't go feeling yourself up in the middle of the room while I'm right there!_ ' Olivia slowed with a frown, muttering quietly, ' _Okay, maybe not 'right there'. You obviously don't understand the full extent of my senses. Still! I thought you wanted to make a difference? You couldn't take the time between all that studying to do a little faunus based research!? Where's that compassionate attitude you kept going on about!? Standing there naked, pressing your breasts together, showing off all your curves… bending over while I….'_

"Aaaah!" Olivia gasped as her other hand turned the heat off once more, body recoiling from the icy shock to her overheating system.

' _I can't keep doing this!_ ' The Princess would need to be warned, somehow. A girl could only take so much.

Olivia had to punish herself a few more times before her body finally took the hint. She dressed and left the room while Ruby and Blake stirred awake, intent on speaking with the Schnee heiress in private. Olivia made her way downstairs to the ground floor quickly enough, then paused in thought as she exited through the large double doors out into the Beacon courtyard.

Met with a flash of inspiration, she turned the opposite way for a short visit to the library, seeking some 'educational' material that might make the whole situation a little easier on the both of them.

* * *

Weiss was nearly finished with her healthy breakfast of egg whites on whole wheat toast and a single strip of bacon when Olivia entered the dining hall. Her teammate's eyes searched across the sparsely numbered students that were also up this early, honing in on the heiress soon enough. Weiss dabbed at her lips with a napkin while Olivia crossed the distance, looking mildly flustered about something. She held a book in one hand, and slid it across the table to rest in front of Weiss upon arriving.

Weiss glanced down at the title, 'Faunus Traits: A Study of Faunus Kind', before looking back up with a raised eyebrow.

"Page seventy-six. Read it while I uh… go grab some food. I'll be right back," Olivia darted away while Weiss complied in confusion.

She opened the book up, searching for a few moments to find the page in question. Her eyes scanned across it, noting the bold lettering on top immediately that read 'Spider Faunus', and the small sketched depiction of dark veins in the margins, similar to those that Olivia possessed.

Curiosity thoroughly piqued, Weiss set aside her tray to press the pages open and begin reading.

' _Among all faunus that exist on Remnant, spider faunus remain one of the more rare among the populace. Due to this, we have not been able to do much research regarding the spider variety of faunus kind. However, a few have been found and brought in for questioning, mostly regarding the unique ability they possess. Their 'sixth sense', more correctly described as the ability to sense vibrations in the air, is far more potent than researchers first surmised. This sense develops throughout the spider faunus's young adult life, usually reaching its peak in their early twenties._

_At their youngest, they can feel the movements of objects or creatures around them, normally extending out to only a short distance of twenty feet. As they age, the distance increases, as does the accuracy of their additional sense. An adult spider faunus can tell the difference between what materials an object consists of, regardless of whether or not it is moving. Doing so allows them to identify objects without requiring actual sight._

_The distance increases as well, varying from faunus to faunus, but averaging out to around fifty feet from their body upon reaching adulthood. Research has shown this to extend to nearly thirty percent further when the faunus 'focuses', as a human might do by closing their eyes and listening to sounds alone._

_The acute nature of this sense is as of yet, not fully tested. Early research has shown, however, that this vibration sense is similar enough to our own eyesight that a spider faunus can interact with their environment perfectly. When given tests that involved blocking off a faunus's sight and sound, the subject was still acutely aware of everything going on around it, down to the most minute of details. Even going so far as to describe things happening several rooms over._

_In one particularly eye opening case, a researcher asked his colleague what time it was, and was instead answered by the blind and deafened adult faunus that they were in the midst of studying. When asked how she knew what he had asked, the faunus responded smugly, 'I read your lips'. When asked how she'd known the time, she alerted the researcher to the watch that had been left inside his colleague's desk, and told them that even if they had forgotten about it, the watch continued to tick._ '

Weiss's face grew hot, red coloring her cheeks as she glanced over to look at Olivia some distance away. Realization hit, and she buried her face in her hands, thinking about what she'd done earlier that morning while her teammate had been less than two dozen feet away.

' _I… I…_ '

Weiss jumped in surprise when Olivia's tray was set down on the long dining table across from her. She looked up from between the cracks in her fingers to see Olivia avoiding eye contact, cheeks similarly heated.

"So, um. I guess you figured out… why I had you read that?"

"I didn't know…" Weiss's voice came out in a choked whisper, embarrassment clutching her throat and trying to override her ability to form simple sentences.

"Right... I figured you didn't. Not many people really do, after all. Not even other faunus… I just wanted to let you know. I try to avoid paying attention to everyone when they're doing things privately, but this morning was a bit…" Olivia seemed to struggle to find the word, and eventually gave up with a shrug.

"You can't… turn it off?" Weiss asked weakly.

Olivia's lips curled in a grimace, "No. I would have been fine sleeping in the same room as you in the first place if I could just ignore it like that. I read the book before I gave it to you so I could make sure it was accurate. The way the humans described it… My sense is more like hearing than sight. It's just so acute that I'm practically 'seeing' with it. Hard to explain, but there you have it. Difference between that and my actual hearing is, there's no ears to plug…"

"Well," Weiss drew herself up as well as she could, trying to reclaim some small amount of dignity in the situation, "I'm sorry to have… subjected you... to that. It won't happen again," a thought came to mind, and her cheeks turned a few shades darker, "So, when I'm in the shower…?"

Olivia shook her head firmly, causing the heiress to breath out a sigh of relief, "The water confuses my senses too much. There's so much going on in such a confined space that my sense can't make heads or tails of what's what," she brought a finger up to scratch her cheek, averting her eyes once more, "You should probably leave it running until you're totally dressed, though. Once the shower turns off…"

"I-I see. I'll keep that in mind," Weiss shifted uncomfortably, wanting to bolt from the room and hide away to avoid the embarrassing situation she'd found herself in, ' _This… this is… gah!_ ' Weiss had never even kissed someone, let alone gotten naked practically in front of them and… and… ' _felt myself up in the mirror!_ ' Her head banged down on top of the book a moment later.

"It's not the end of the world, Princess. I um, know how _prudish_ you can be, though, and didn't want this to keep happening without some fair warning. I-if you want, I'll leave whenever you take a shower from now on… if that'll make you feel better."

Weiss raised her head off the book slightly with a frown, "You said you can't 'see' me in there, right? Not as long as the water is running?"

"Um, that's right. It's just… because of the uh… _gender_ that I prefer… I thought you might be weirded out by it..."

Weiss sat back up to shake her head firmly, "I trust you, Olivia. If you say you can't sense me with the water on, then I believe you. Lord knows we don't need _another_ reason for you to avoid the dorm. I'll be fine as long as I remember to take the necessary precautions."

A small smile infected Olivia's lips, and she nodded once, "Thanks," she stood up with her tray and set her feet towards the door, "I'm going to warn Blake, too. I know I make a lot of inappropriate jokes at her expense, but I really do respect her for being so accepting of me. I wouldn't want to risk her trust…" her eyes fell softly on Weiss's own, "Not either of yours."

Weiss spoke up as she was about to leave, a thought coming to mind, "What about _Ruby_? You didn't even mention her."

Olivia snorted, "The kid? She falls into the 'little sister' category more than anything. I don't think about her that way."

Weiss frowned, "So, you…?", ' _think about me that way!?_ ' she couldn't bring herself to finish the question.

Olivia's eyes widened and her cheeks flushed, managing to follow Weiss's train of thought regardless, "F-forget I said any of that! You're a teammate! T-E-A-M-M-A-..." Olivia's voice faded into the distance as she hurried away, heedless of the food that fell off the sides of her tray and onto the floor. She left the dining hall and took a right, headed back to their dorm room. The heiress could see Olivia muttering to herself in frustration through the large windows that lined the wall, all the way up until she disappeared behind the last archway.

Weiss gripped her skirt tightly and buried her face once more in the book, hiding away from prying eyes, breakfast thoroughly forgotten.

' _This is too much for me!_ '

* * *

Weiss discarded what remained of her breakfast a few minutes later and tucked the book under one arm, intent on studying it the same way she might an upcoming exam. If she wanted to get along with Olivia, then understanding her and other faunus would be important for the future. A quick look at the book's chapter index revealed a long list of different faunus types. Mammals, avian, canine, feline… Weiss was committed to learning all she could about each and every one to hopefully avoid any surprises in the future.

She left the dining hall and passed her other two teammates along the way. Ruby giddily wished her a good morning, oblivious to the glances that Weiss and Blake shared. Both their cheeks heated in mutual understanding, knowing what embarrassing truth had been shared to each of them that morning. Weiss prayed that Olivia hadn't revealed why she was confessing _now_ of all times. She didn't need Blake thinking a Schnee might be some sort of _harlot_.

Weiss retreated to the room, grimly aware that the cause of her embarrassment resided within. She raised herself up into a pathetic mockery of the poise her sister had taught her, then entered the room. With a quick scan, she found Olivia sitting at the faunus's desk, Oobleck's assignment on one side and mostly untouched tray of food on the other.

"You started without me?" Weiss asked incredulously, stepping up beside Olivia and looking down at her work so far.

"Yeah, I figured things might be a bit too awkward… I'll let you off the hook this time. One bad grade won't be the end of me, right?" Olivia gave a disheartened laugh.

"Inexcusable," Weiss replied sternly, bending closer to lean down and read Olivia's work. The faunus shifted away to avoid contact, then bent back down over her paper.

"You really don't have to. I um, think I've got it. Yep, it's all coming together. Leave it to me, Princess."

Weiss raised an eyebrow, reading the insubstantial amount of work that had already been put into the paper. The first few paragraphs were still only rough outlines, several more needing to be finished before she was even close to meeting Doctor Oobleck's requirements. Weiss sighed and left a moment, surprising the faunus when instead of leaving her to it, she grabbed her own desk chair and set it down alongside her.

Weiss grabbed Olivia's notebook and pulled it between them, "A Schnee never goes back on her word," she grabbed the pen off the desk and handed it to her teammate, mind focusing on the task at hand, "I can sort of tell what you're having trouble with. This was a difficult project depending on your understanding of the more widely available material. I suppose you didn't get much time to study things like this in Mistral," she pointed towards the book, "Open that up to chapter six. You'll find the next bit you need to know in there."

Olivia spent a few moments regarding her silently, expression changing to one that showed a small amount of newfound respect, "Maybe you aren't as prudish as I thought…"

"Quiet, you. Open your book."

Olivia smirked, replying with a sarcastic, "Yes, ma'am," before beginning to work on the assignment in earnest.

The two spent the next couple hours before Port's class, finishing up the paper to the best of their combined ability. Whenever Olivia had a question, Weiss was right there, ready with an answer. If not exact, then at least ready with the page number they would need to reference. Blake and Ruby returned not long into their session, but chose to wisely leave the two alone while they worked.

Weiss was surprised by how quick Olivia was to defer to her opinion. She would have expected the faunus to argue her own points with tooth and nail like with everything else, but instead, Olivia would smile, say thanks, even go so far as to ask how best to word the sentence. It showed a firm trust in Weiss's capabilities... a trust that the heiress couldn't help but appreciate.

By the end of it, while they were packing up their things and getting ready to head to class, Weiss found herself staring off into space, eyes unfocused but directed unconsciously towards Olivia's back.

' _That was… fun. Maybe there's some hope for you after all…?_ '

It was nice to feel needed.

* * *

Widow waited at the edge of the forest clearing, arms crossed and leaning up against a tree with her eyes closed. She appeared casual, but in all reality was in the midst of using her sixth sense in tandem with her semblance. Keeping her eyes closed helped her to focus. She could feel the exact position of everything around her, extending outward to nearly two hundred feet in all directions. Nothing escaped her. Not the shifting of a leaf in the wind, nor the approaching figures directly ahead of her.

"Relaxing on the job?" Cinder smirked, stopping before her, flanked on either side by her pet minions. The two others made efforts not to glare at her openly, but with her eyes closed, seemed to believe they were currently unobserved.

With a small, contented sigh, Widow cracked one eye open to stare down at the box held in Cinder's hand. She could feel some small creature skittering around the inside, impatiently waiting to break free.

"Just wondering what you've brought me. You said you had a reward?"

Cinder smiled, holding up the box between them and pressing down on a switch with her thumb. It clicked open, sides falling away to reveal a small Grimm-like bug. It shuffled atop her palm, looking between the two of them, " _This_ is how you will control the Grimm."

Widow leaned forward to look more closely at it, raising an eyebrow to the much younger woman, "This little thing? I hope you aren't expecting me to eat it~"

"No, not quite," she used her other hand to grasp the Grimm bug by its shelled back and hold it out. Widow hesitantly allowed it to be dropped into her own hand, feeling the small creature's feet scuttling around sharply.

"What do I do with it?" Widow asked curiously, staring at it more closely.

"Nothing, really. Once you're ready, I'll direct it to merge with your body. You'll become part Grimm, if only slightly. The Grimm don't care about that, though, only the amount of intelligence you possess. Since for them, it directly correlates with experience as a Grimm, any of _lesser_ intelligence will follow the commands you give."

"Do I give verbal commands? How does it work?"

"Speaking helps to keep your thoughts straight, but it's more about intent. You'll need to impose your will on the Grimm to force them to do as you wish. It may take some getting used to... but I think you'll do just fine," Cinder raised an eyebrow, looking between Widow and the Grimm, "Are you ready?"

Widow nodded.

The Grimm melted into her hand. She felt its body combine with her own, melding with flesh and traveling up the length of her arm into her chest. The small creature found a place near her heart, choosing to rest its tiny body around it. In only a few moments, Widow could feel a newfound strength coursing their her veins. If she bothered to check, she felt as if her blood itself would _truly_ be black now, instead of only her veins.

Widow raised her hand, clenching and unclenching her fist tightly. It was _exhilarating_ , feeling that power becoming one with her own. Her eyes returned to Cinder's own, and she could see that same strength reflected back. She knew _exactly_ how Widow must have felt in that moment.

"Well now… I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ready to test this out."

Cinder nodded with a smug grin, "Feel free. Once you've worked out the kinks, give me a call. I've got another job lined up for you. One that will require your... newly discovered _talents_."

The trio left Widow to it, her heart still pumping with adrenaline. She hardly paid attention to them leaving, instead setting off through the forest to find a few new _pets_ to play with.

' _Oh my, Little Spider~ I can't wait for you to experience this for yourself~ We'll be unstoppable!_ '

* * *

When Miss Goodwitch's class ended, Olivia was the first to bolt out the door and through the halls. She didn't bother changing before heading out to the bullheads, and bribed the pilot so that he would depart with her as the sole passenger.

Once freed from the confines of the metal contraption, Olivia set off for Junior's. She wove through the crowds impatiently, having left her weapon behind in her locker. It wasn't necessary for what she needed to do, and would have only served to slow her down.

Olivia reached Junior's in record time, eyes scanning the room around her and not finding her quarry anywhere to be seen. Junior raised an eyebrow at her, and with Olivia's questioning look around the room, nodded up the stairs.

Olivia could feel Melanie stepping out of her sister's room ahead, and took the stairs two at a time in order to meet her on the landing. Melanie's eyes widened in surprise, and she opened her mouth to speak, only to be met with a hungry mashing of lips. The spider faunus backed her up against the wall roughly, pressing their forms together for several minutes, tongues dancing playfully in each other's mouths.

When Melanie finally pushed her away for air, Olivia grabbed her hand and dragged her to their room. She slammed the door shut and locked it, turning back to find Melanie holding her hand up.

"Wait, Lotus. I've been around Miltia all day. I'm probably si-"

"Don't care," Olivia interjected, pressing herself against Melanie once more and backing her up across the room. Melanie's knees buckled against the edge of the bed and Olivia fell atop her, ravenous passion fueled by two day's worth of pent up urges.

She backed off one final time, voice coming out in a moan of pure frustration, "You would not _believe_ the day I've had," before the two lost themselves in each other's embrace. Olivia had two days to make up for, and made the most of their time together while she could.

A few hours later and breathing heavily, Olivia took a moment to suck her index finger clean with a wet pop, sighed in contentment, and turned to regard the quivering mess she had turned Melanie into.

"So, what was it you were saying about Miltia~?"


	43. Weakness

"-and so, when the Atlesians descended upon the Northeastern borders of Sanus, they were met with harsh resistance from-"

Olivia felt her head beginning to slip out of her palm and righted herself, shaking her head lightly and breathing deeply to rid herself of the fatigue weighing on her mind. She leaned forward against the desk instead and wrapped her arms tightly across her chest, kneading her chin down into the soft fabric of her coat.

Doctor Oobleck stood at the front of the classroom, zipping back and forth while rambling on about the Great War and drinking his coffee in spontaneous intervals. It had been enough to keep her awake for the first half of class, but now nearing the end, her mind was beginning to slip. Olivia shivered, drawing her arms in tighter still.

' _Dang it, Miltia…_ '

There was no real force behind the thought. It was Olivia's own fault for jumping Melanie after she'd been taking care of her twin for two days straight. The sister had proven impervious to the cold's effects, but Olivia had no such luck. She'd woken up the next morning with a terrible headache, a heat behind her eyes, and a chill running through her body that had forced her to wear her coat.

As of yet, neither of her teachers had commented on the attire, a fact that Olivia was supremely thankful for. Falling prey to sickness was for the weak, those unfit to survive within the slums. Olivia outright refused to stay posted up in her bed, wiling away the hours in solitude while there was work to be done.

' _Even if said 'work' is really, really…_ '

Olivia's head shot back up with a start several minutes later as she felt the teacher passing her by and setting a paper on her desk. She feigned a weak smile, pretending like she'd only been resting her eyes, and looked at the paper that had been left. With a flicker of recognition, Olivia reached out to flip it over.

She paused in shock.

Sitting at the top of her essay, written in bold red ink and circled several times over was a very apparent 'A+'. Olivia frowned, turning the paper to the side to look at the grade from different angles, figuring her mind was playing tricks on her. In two weeks, the best she'd received on any grade was a 'C'.

"Well done, Olivia," Weiss chirped from beside her, noticing the faunus awkwardly twisting her paper. With a glance, Olivia could see that Weiss's own paper was similarly decorated, though hers had been circled less times.

' _I… really got an A…?_ ' Olivia was having trouble wrapping her head around it, then realized the truth behind the matter. She turned to face Weiss and bumped her on the shoulder lightly with a fist, "Thanks, Princess. I really couldn't have done it without you."

Weiss waved a hand dismissively, "I only provided direction. You would have gotten there eventually."

"No…" Olivia shook her head, then stopped as that only served to further her headache, "I really wouldn't have," she raised the paper up in front of herself, a small smile tugging at her lips, "Maybe this whole 'quid pro quo' thing won't be so bad, eh?"

Weiss smiled in return, then began gathering her things as the bell rang, "I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, we won't be able to train later. I've heard from some of the other students that Miss Goodwitch's class today is going to be a field trip out into Forever Fall."

"Forever Fall?" the name sounded mildly familiar to Olivia, though she couldn't exactly recall from where.

"It's a portion of the woods, north of the Emerald Forest. Beats me what we'll be doing out there. Fighting Grimm, maybe?" Weiss shrugged and stood, waiting for Olivia to gather her things as well.

A pair of cat ears twitched against their bonds on top of Blake's head, her eyes darting over in Weiss's direction after picking up on part of the conversation, "What about Forever Fall?"

Ruby stopped in the middle of what she'd been saying to Blake, caught off guard by the sudden shift and looking a little put out. She shifted her eyes over to Weiss as well, though, curious as to the source of the interruption.

"Just that we're going there after lunch. Miss Goodwitch has a field trip planned for it," Weiss put a finger to her chin, tapping idly, "I really hope we get dropped off with the bullheads… I'd hate to walk all those miles in my heels…"

Olivia snorted in brief laughter, then choked back a groan when her head began to swim, "Maybe you ought to consider a change in wardrobe, then. Heels aren't exactly the best footwear for fighting anyway, Princess."

"I-I do well enough in them," Weiss argued without much determination, eyes falling to the shoes she was currently wearing.

"Do you, though?" Olivia asked offhandedly, grabbing up her own things and placing the paper on top, grade prominently displayed. She wasn't the type to usually take pride in high grades, but something about the one she'd received this time felt... nice… Olivia violently squashed the sudden desire to show it off to Ren and Nora. She was sure they would congratulate her, but the grade felt more personal than that. She didn't want to show it off to just anyone; not after the reaction Weiss had already given her.

The four of them set off from class, fairly behind the rest as Olivia was struggling to keep up with their normal gait. She did her best, but soon enough, her breath struggled out. Sweat beaded at her forehead, and she couldn't help but hold herself tightly to stem the shivers coursing through her body.

' _This damn skirt isn't helping at all_ ,' Olivia admonished, glaring down at the silly thing. Each step made her shiver anew, the open breeziness seeming to pull away whatever warmth she could muster from the rest of her body. An idea came to mind as they walked, and Olivia changed courses for the locker rooms instead of the dining hall.

"I'll catch you guys at lunch. Something I need to do first," Olivia waved herself free of them and hurried off towards the locker rooms, more than ready to change into her combat clothes ahead of time. There were no regular classes left aside from Miss Goodwitch's, and Olivia doubted the teacher was going to ask them to venture out into grimm territory in their Beacon uniforms.

The other three watched her go with curious glances until she'd turned the corner. Olivia could feel them heading on their way towards the dining hall after that, right before the distance became too great and she lost all sensation of them completely. Thankfully, most of the classes for first years were all situated within the same building, the only exception being Professor Peach who required a smaller one all to herself.

Olivia was panting even more heavily by the time she reached the locker rooms, the books in her arms seemingly gaining weight with each step. She was glad once she was finally able to unload them on to one of the locker's shelves. Olivia changed quickly, having to hold back a groan when the open air made contact with her upper torso.

' _Why am I so cold!?_ '

Olivia had been sick before, many times in fact, and each time she'd been able to grin and bear it. Hell, she'd nearly ruined one of her own missions by going on it while sick. At least the target had made her laugh with his reaction after hearing her suddenly sneeze behind him. The fully grown brute of a man had squealed in terror like a little girl. A pitiful end for a notorious drug kingpin.

' _At least I spared him anyone else knowing_ ,' Olivia laughed lightly, finishing with her combat clothes. She rolled her sleeves down and put the coat back on for good measure, taking a moment to bask in the comparative warmth. There was still a light chill that she could feel, but it was muted by the clothes that clung much more tightly, and in the case of her pants, thick compared to the _nothing_ that had been there before.

Whatever Melanie had transferred to her, it was unlike any sickness she'd had before. Olivia still staunchly refused to allow herself to be coddled by her teammates, though. She'd be fine, just like every other time before. Colds came and went, but people's opinions of you could dip sharply if they thought you weak. Lot-... ' _Olivia_ '... was many things, but never _weak_.

Newly changed and feeling a slight grumble in her stomach, Olivia set off for the dining hall with renewed vigor. She snatched Oath on her way out for good measure, saving herself a return trip before Miss Goodwitch's class. Olivia doubted she would need the weapon for any grimm they might encounter out in Forever Fall, but it would still be a welcome weight nonetheless.

' _Why does that forest sound familiar…?_ ' Olivia couldn't quite place it. Judging by Blake's reaction, she must have known something about it, but with the haze that had settled over her mind, Olivia couldn't connect the dots on her own.

The trip to the dining hall was the worst of all, a continuous billowing gust of wind rolling across the campus grounds and turning Olivia's body to ice itself. She shook unabated, incapable of holding back what her body demanded in order to try and stay warm. The only solace she could claim was by wrapping her arms around herself once more. In that way, at least her chest remained warm.

Olivia hurriedly rushed over the final dozen feet to the large double doors and pulled them open, just wide enough to slip through and shut out the wind that attempted to follow in her wake. Not wanting to give herself away, she allowed herself one last full body quake before tensing. Thankfully, the dining hall was full of other students, a mass of body heat and hot food keeping it blessedly warm.

The line was rather short with her having arrived later than most. Olivia moved through it quickly, gathering up an assortment of warmer items that might serve to heat her from the inside, and topped it off with a tall cup of hot cocoa. It didn't really go with the foods she'd chosen, but she'd be damned if it wasn't going to help more in the long run.

Ruby and Nora both waved her over as she approached the dining table, Ruby going so far as to shuffle to the side so that Olivia could sit between her and Blake. Weiss was pushed down further as well, but didn't bother to complain upon seeing the reason for it. Aside from a brief welcoming glance, she didn't interact with the rest of them much. Weiss was busy with her nose in the book that Olivia had given her, studying the traits of the various faunus that inhabited Remnant. Olivia had _told_ her it wasn't necessary, but she insisted regardless.

Ruby loudly continued on with her conversation to Nora, the two of them comparing the size of their weapons. Olivia was having trouble paying attention to it, but it sounded like Ruby was trying to recommend lighter parts that Nora could use, while the Mistralian ginger was adamantly refusing in favor of said weight. Her entire argument seemed to stem from whether or not she could 'break legs' with something smaller than Magnhild.

A small tap on her shoulder alerted Olivia to Blake's desire to speak privately next to her. Blake's face was stuck in a permanent scowl, suppressed enough that the others there might not recognize it for what it was. The way the cat faunus's ears twitched irritably beneath her bow, and how her hands clenched into white knuckled fists were signs enough for Olivia. She leaned closer to Blake as the cat faunus did the same.

"I'm really worried about this class trip. What if we run into the White Fang out there? Can we really go all the way out to Forever Fall with a Schnee up for grabs?" Blake whispered it minutely, afraid that one of the others might overhear.

' _Aaaah… that's why it sounded familiar…_ ' Blake had told her that was where the White Fang put up their camp. From what she could recall of the map of Vale, though, the forest was a rather large place, ' _And I kind of have an agreement with Adam and my mother not to target the Princess…_ '

Olivia turned her head in kind, careful to speak quietly, "You don't need to worry about that. I um… spoke to you-know-who. They won't be targeting Weiss since she's… under my protection?"

Blake's eyes grew wider with each word. Olivia turned away and lowered her hand to grab a slice of pizza, but was very suddenly yanked away from it as Blake dragged her from the table. Olivia stumbled over the side and righted herself, then turned back to the rest with a grin, "We'll be right back."

They were too caught up in Nora and Ruby's argument to pay them much mind. Ren gave a small wave and suggested they not be too long, having eaten so little. Olivia made a half baked remark before being led away once more. Blake pulled her through the cafeteria and out the front door, walking further from the main thoroughfare so that they wouldn't have to worry about being overheard by other students.

The wind hit Olivia full force once more, and she clenched her teeth together while her arms instinctively raised to nullify some small portion of the wind's strength. The two of them stopped beneath a tree and Olivia leaned against the opposite side, as far out of the wind as she could manage.

Blake rounded on her, "What do you mean, 'spoke to you-know-who'? Do you mean _Adam!?_ "

Olivia scratched her chin, averting her gaze slightly from the ferocity and hurt in Blake's eyes, "I uh… yeah," she held her hands up defensively, "It wasn't planned or anything."

Blake shook slightly, her feet threatening to turn away and leave Olivia where she stood, "How… How'd you meet?"

Olivia could feel the cold threatening to make her teeth chatter, and held it back with pure force of will, "Do you remember what I told you on the roof…? My 'mother'... she joined the White Fang again. She's working with Adam now," Olivia shrugged, "Widow must have told Adam about me, enough that he wanted to introduce himself."

"And…?" Blake raised an eyebrow, the pain beginning to dull slightly in her eyes as the truth was revealed. From the sounds of it, Olivia hadn't gone out of her way to betray the other faunus.

"Well, he um… wanted to threaten me for protecting Weiss, for starters."

Blake gave her a quizzical frown, prompting Olivia to explain further, "That day when the three of us went to the Daily Grind? One of the members of the Fang that showed up was Widow. I might have… told her Weiss was off limits, and to spread the word to the rest of them. That must have gotten back to Adam, eventually."

Blake smiled slightly, her defensive posture diminishing greatly at the news that Olivia had gone out of her way to stick up for their teammate, "That must have been terrifying… What did you say when he threatened you?"

Olivia snorted in a small burst of laughter, "Told him he'd die trying," Blake's eyes narrowed, and Olivia held her hand up, "He didn't seem like the type that would be impressed by 'please', Blake. He wasn't kidding about killing me right there. If I'd shown an ounce of hesitation, he might have actually tried."

Blake shivered, "Okay… I understand. Still, you need to be more careful. Adam is the strongest faunus I've ever met."

Olivia did laugh at that one, and placed a hand dotingly on Blake's shoulder, smiling back at her sudden look of confusion, "Blake. Please. _I_ am. Your ex wouldn't last two _minutes_ against me."

"How can you be so sure? You lost to Pyrrha. Who's to say you wouldn't lose to him?"

"I lost to Pyrrha on _purpose_ , silly," Olivia shook her head, feeling like the champion's secret would be safe with the reserved cat faunus, "We were _both_ trying to lose. That fight was a total _sham_."

Blake's face twisted in pure confusion, and Olivia saw fit to go into further detail, "Pyrrha doesn't want to be in the limelight anymore. She saw the chance to escape it by losing against someone else who's skills were near enough to her own. I saw what she was doing, but… I couldn't win, Blake. People would recognize me if my face was suddenly plastered all over social media. I wouldn't have any other choice but to leave Beacon…"

"What did you do…?" a small amount of fear ebbed into Blake's voice, her ears straining against her ribbon in their attempt to lay flat against her head.

"I…" Olivia considered her options carefully. Ren and Nora already knew part of the truth, but only under the pretense of a lie that Olivia had been 'one of the good guys'. If she told Blake the same truth, it would be under a very different context. There weren't many ways that Olivia would be able to twist it in her own favor, and once Blake's trust was gone… Olivia wasn't sure how long their team would last.

So instead, she decided on a different truth. One that was a harsh reality… the _reason_ she couldn't tell Blake. Olivia summoned up her courage, fixing her teammate with a determined eye… and sighed sadly.

"I can't tell you."

"Is it… Did you do something _that_ bad?"

Olivia turned her head to the side, able to just barely see through a gap in the windows to the two teams that made up her new family. She nodded her head in their direction, turning Blake's attention to them, " _That_ is what I would lose. The me from before… she didn't have that, Blake. She didn't have you, or Qrow, or… hope. All I had was my mother, and she… Widow was the worst influence I could have ever had. I was a young, stupid kid that lost her family, and just when I thought I'd found a new one… they all died, too. Widow was _all_ I had left. A scared, gullible little girl with a semblance too strong for her own good. I did whatever Widow said, fell for everything she told me, took every lesson as the truth for how the world worked."

Olivia's hand on Blake's shoulder clutched tightly, drawing her focus back to the very real tears brimming in Olivia's eyes. She blinked them away, but not before the other girl's eyes widened at the sight. Her voice came out with some struggle, a hitch in its tone, "I _can't_ , Blake. Not again. I can't lose another family. Please… you have to understand that."

Blake's hand raised to lay overtop Olivia's, fingers grasping her own warmly, "Okay, Olivia. I'll trust you. Just… don't give me a reason not to…?"

Olivia nodded in understanding, "I'll try my best. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about meeting Adam when it happened, but… I didn't want you to worry like you are now. As strong as you think he might be, Blake, I _promise_ you. _I'm_ stronger."

Blake laughed with a small sniff, rubbing a hand across her face, "You _do_ kick a lot of butt."

"I kick _ass_ , thank you very much~" Olivia grinned, sharing in the moment with her friend. With the cold beginning to take hold, Olivia nodded her chin back towards the doors to the dining hall, "Now, if you don't mind, I'd actually like to get a little food in me before we go traipsing off into the forest for Oum knows what."

Blake nodded her agreement, and the two of them returned to the interior of the dining hall. Olivia was immediately thankful to once again be enclosed within the heated space, and spared only a mild greeting upon their return before digging into the food she'd chosen.

' _That went better than I could have hoped…_ ' Olivia thought gladly, sparing an eye over to Blake who had also returned to her meal. The other faunus's mood had improved, and Olivia noted with some satisfaction that there was an almost imperceptible change in the way she sat. Where before Blake had been tense and distant, keeping herself removed from Olivia… Now she sat much more casually, an arm draped across the table near Olivia's own, their legs mere inches apart. Blake had relaxed in her presence, and it wasn't until she actually _had_ that Olivia could even spot the difference.

' _She might actually trust me now…_ '

Olivia grinned happily, and bumped shoulders with Blake simply because she didn't know how to express herself otherwise. Blake seemed to understand the wordless gesture and reciprocated with one of her own, playfully bumping her back before returning to the meal at hand.

Olivia's only regret in the moment was the pounding headache that was truly beginning to take hold.

* * *

By the time the bullhead touched down in the middle of Forever Fall, Olivia was beginning to regret her own stupid pride. It took a very real effort to keep herself from shaking, her head was pounding incessantly, and the dull heat behind her eyes had grown nearly tenfold. Olivia was getting by with mostly her sixth sense as a guide, choosing to keep her eyes closed more often than not when others weren't paying attention.

The ship rocked upon resting against the uneven terrain below. The ramp opened, and Miss Goodwitch was the first to step off onto the grass. The students followed, Olivia taking up the rear and suppressing a groan when her feet hit the ground, ' _At least there's no wind…_ '

Instead, the chilling breeze had been replaced with a humid heat, her skin starting to feel clammy with the excess moisture in the air. The forest itself was rather beautiful. Tall trees basked in the sun's rays, light reflecting off and piercing through the brilliant red leaves that encompassed the canopy above. Their small waypoint was a desolate clearing of trees. A glance around showed signs of deforestation, the place they were in not a natural opening in the forest floor.

The pilot checked to see that they'd all vacated the airship, and lifted off once more to head back towards Beacon. Olivia held herself to keep her clothes from whipping in the engines' streams, and turned to face their teacher as Miss Goodwitch began to speak, leading them further into the forest itself.

Goodwitch gestured towards a pair of other students, each carrying large boxes filled to the brim with glass jars, "Today, I'll be having you assist in the collection of sap for one of Professor Peach's many projects. Included in those boxes are tools that you may use to tap the trees. Your grade for the day will depend on whether or not you manage to fill your jar," she glanced over her shoulder as they walked, noticing the many awestruck eyes enraptured by the beauty of the forest around them, "Indeed, Forever Fall is quite a sight to behold. Remain cautious, though. As always, the creatures of grimm abound, even more so within the confines of these woods. Stay on your guard, but…" she smiled, "Have fun. We'll meet back at the clearing in half an hour."

The students carrying the boxes stopped and set them down as others clamored to grab jars and tools of their own. Groups began to split off in various sizes, either with singular teams or more clumped together to enjoy what basically amounted to a free period. Eyes remained vigilant though, not forgetting to heed Miss Goodwitch's warning. No one wanted to get caught off guard by a beowolf so far from immediate medical assistance.

Olivia waited until everyone else had taken their tools before calmly stepping up to take some for herself. The rest of her team and team Lion stood waiting off to the side, Ruby in a particular hurry to get going and making no secret of it by the way she gestured for Olivia to keep up. The faunus simply sighed and followed after, remaining a dozen steps behind the others as they excitedly soaked in the sights.

Weiss and Blake were both the least impressed by the view, and were the first to notice that something seemed off about Olivia. The normal carefree attitude she possessed had been replaced by one that was more so just tired, her eyes blinking repeatedly against the harsh light and arm moving up to blot out the sun. The pair fell back, waiting for Olivia to catch up before taking places on either side of her.

"Are you alright, Olivia?" Weiss was the first to ask, hand hesitating to reach up towards the faunus girl's forehead, "You're looking really pale…"

Olivia waved her hand away, "I'm fine, just a little under the weather is all."

"Are you sure?" Blake spoke up as well, leaning forward to get a better look at Olivia's face, "I thought I noticed something was off earlier, but Weiss is right. Your eyes are pretty bloodshot, too. Were you up late last night? I fell asleep before you got back to the dorm."

"I didn't stay out that long," Olivia assured her. She paused in place a moment later as her stomach began to churn, the various scents of the forest making her more nauseous as time went on. The rest of the group had found a much smaller clearing to claim ahead, so Olivia excused herself with a few muttered words and angled off in a different direction. The two began to follow, but at a raised hand, backed away with uncertain glances between each other.

' _I don't need you watching me puke…_ ' Olivia groaned, dropping the jar and tool to the ground to pick up later in favor of holding her stomach in their stead. She shut her eyes tightly, feeling the heat build up once more now that her path had put the sun more directly in front of her. Olivia relied on her sixth sense to keep herself from tripping over any exposed roots or large stones.

She found a small group of trees tightly packed together and sat down within their midst, leaning back against the dense trunk behind her. With a little difficulty, she managed to angle Oath so that it wasn't digging the edge of its blade into her back, and allowed herself to relax. Out of direct light and mostly protected by the shade, Olivia felt at least somewhat better. Her head laid back against the tree, and she sighed deeply while the grumbling in her belly calmed.

A few minutes later, Olivia was beginning to drift off when she felt a familiar presence approaching her little hollow. She didn't have the energy to panic or jump up in her own defense, so chose to wait for the figure to approach her fully instead. After a handful of seconds had passed, her mother walked around the side of the trees and planted a hand on her hip, grinning down at the younger spider faunus.

"Lazing away while your class does all the work~?" Widow chided playfully.

Olivia ignored the remark and cocked her head to the side, frowning up at the older woman, "So the White Fang really does have its camp set up out here? I didn't think you'd try sneaking around when the entire class is out and about."

Widow made a small 'hmph' sound in her throat, "As if any of them have the skill to catch me. Besides, didn't you want me to find you? Why else did you wander so far out from the rest?" she took a closer look at Olivia, her smile faltering into worry, "Are you okay, Little Spider? You don't look so good…"

"I'm fine," Olivia began to wave Widow off like she had her own team and then groaned, the simple action causing her insides to protest once more. Not wanting to appear weak in front of the most dangerous person she knew, Olivia struggled for a moment and used the tree to support herself back to her feet. The world swayed, and she was forced to dig her fingers into the bark to keep from falling over.

" _No_ , you're not," Widow stated matter-of-factly, looking Olivia over. Despite wanting to protest, she was in no condition to stop Widow as her mother reached out to feel her cheek, check her pulse, and lift one of her eyelids, "You need to get back to your team, Little Spider. You're worse off than you think…"

Olivia shuffled irritably and did her best to swat Widow's hand away, "I was just about to leave anyway," she took a step forward and felt her knees give out weakly, collapsing to the ground heavily. Her stomach wrenched, and she couldn't fight back the sudden urge to vomit. Her lunch came back up, splattering the grass in a disgusting display of weakness.

Widow was at her side a moment later, holding Olivia up so that she wouldn't fall further into the mess she'd made. The young faunus brought a trembling hand up to wipe off her mouth, her eyes widening in surprise when it came back smeared with blood.

"Lotus...?" Widow was shaking her worriedly as Olivia's mind began to waver. The world around her numbed, sixth sense fading away along with sound. Her strength gave way completely, and she fell to her side, eased on to the soft grass by Widow.

The last thing she could see was her mother's panicked face, shouting her name, eyes looking up to dart across the forest in search of others.

The world faded to black.

* * *

Weiss found herself continuously glancing back over her shoulder, worriedly waiting for Olivia to return. Despite what she'd said, her teammate had not looked 'fine'. Blake seemed to agree with her, the raven haired girl was only half-heartedly focusing on the task at hand. She spared a nervous glance with Weiss as the two looked back from where they'd came once more.

"It's been ten minutes," Weiss stated with a sense of finality, "I can understand if she wanted to be alone to, eh… take care of business, but hasn't that been long enough?"

Blake nodded, setting her barely filled jar off to the side, "She should have been back by now. I'm worried something may have happened to her…"

Weiss sighed in vexation and set down her nearly filled jar, spinning the top on for good measure. Ruby was busy chatting with Yang, the majority of the group too caught up in their field trip to notice their missing teammate. Weiss shrugged to Blake, "We should be able to find her well enough on our own, right?"

Blake was opening her mouth to reply when the forest was filled with a chorus of howls, the air suddenly filled with the blood curdling calls of dozens of beowolves. Weiss and Blake shared a panicked glance, pulling their weapons free and staring off into the distance where Olivia had last been seen.

"You don't think…?"

"No," Blake stated harshly, her tone betraying the fear she was truly feeling, "Olivia is more than capable of handling herself…"

The rest of their group had drawn their weapons as well, eyes scouring the forest around them for any signs of approaching beowolves. Ruby darted over to their side in a flash of red petals, a brief gust following in her wake. She looked at the two of them with a confident smile, then frowned.

"Where'd Olivia go?"

"She… she was sick, and wanted to be alone for a minute," Blake answered shamefully, not wanting to meet Ruby's worried gaze.

Their leader's eyes widened, mouth immediately setting in thin line, face twisting into one of determination, "We'll find her. Where'd you see her last?"

Blake was once more interrupted as a hoard of beowolves came charging out of the treeline.

Both teams sprang into action, cutting down the creatures of grimm that began their sudden assault upon the group of seven hunters in training. Team Lion were holding their own easily enough, not unexpected given their level of skill. Weiss raised Myrtenaster in preparation, then paused in surprise as the small, innocent Ruby became a flashing whirlwind of death.

The small red reaper blasted off with Crescent Rose, utilizing her semblance to the fullest in the way that Olivia had suggested. She moved in shorter bursts, a red blur that darted from beowolf to beowolf, stopping in place after each and immediately pivoting to attack the next. Within moments, a handful of the beasts had been cut to ribbons, their bodies becoming ash, black blood staining the long glistening blade of Crescent Rose.

Several of the beowolves backed up warily, retreating into the treeline. One in particular growled deeply, then turned to run into the woods. Blake cut down the other two before they could do the same, and Weiss gasped in panic, staring wide eyed after the remaining beowolf.

"It's headed towards where Olivia was!"

Ruby shouted, "Let's go!" and the three of them set off, sprinting into the densely packed forest in pursuit of the beowolf. The sounds of fighting continued behind them, team Lion still dealing with the remainder of the pack. Weiss kept her eyes fixated on the beast ahead of them, all the while hoping to spot Olivia in her periphery.

"There!" Blake suddenly called out, pointing ahead of them with Gambol Shroud. Lying on the ground next to a puddle of her own sick was Olivia, unconscious. Worry flashed through Weiss's mind, seeing red mixed in with the liquid already staining the grass.

The beowolf was headed straight for her.

"Oh no you don't!" Weiss shouted loudly. She raised Myrtenaster at the same time that Ruby blasted off once more in a flurry of petals. The beowolf charged at Olivia's downed form, suddenly slamming into the black glyph that Weiss had conjured.

It only had time for a single yelp before Ruby fell upon it. Her blade slashed directly through its midsection, an angry glare in her eye. With a spinning flourish, the blade whipped through the beowolves body many times over, churning its form into nothing but mincemeat. The pieces that were left fell with a sickening sound, blood pooling out beneath it even as the ashes began to form.

Blake reached Olivia first and rolled her on to her back, checking for any wounds. The source of the blood was immediately apparent, much of it staining the area around her mouth along with remnants of what had come from her stomach. Blake grabbed Olivia by the arm and hefted her up. Weiss followed suit and wrapped her arm around the other side, placing her shoulder into the crook of Olivia's armpit to assist.

Ruby's hand dipped into her pocket, retrieving her scroll. She pulled it open hurriedly and dialed Miss Goodwitch. The call went through instantly, and Ruby tilted the video feed so that their teacher would see the state their teammate was in. Their leader's adrenaline had vanished, replaced with a shaky panic, tears brimming at the corners of her eyes.

"Olivia is sick! We need to get her back to Beacon, right now!"

Miss Goodwitch nodded firmly, "Can you get her back to the evac point?"

"On it!"

The call was swiftly ended, Miss Goodwitch presumably calling to request the bullhead's immediate return. Ruby kept her scythe at the ready, watery eyes scouring the woods while the other two supported Olivia, carrying the small faunus girl between them.

"Olivia! Can you hear me?" Weiss tried to get a response out of her, anything as they hurried through the trees, careful to disturb their teammate as little as possible.

Weiss heard a gasping sigh escape Olivia's mouth, and her heart rose with hope for their teammate's well being.

It was viciously stripped away by the blood that followed it, dribbling from between Olivia's lips and down her chin.

Weiss shook with fear, but continued all the same. She repeated the same words over and over in her head, a true sense of panic setting in.

' _Please be okay. Please be okay…_ '


	44. A Hand to Hold

Olivia's mind faded in and out, a restless fever dream gnawing at her unconscious mind. Voices, the frantic words of those near her, hurriedly ushering her along through… through…

' _Where am I...?_ '

' _Ms. Goodwitch!_ '

' _Get her into the bullhead, quickly!_ '

More voices and the sounds of an engine flickered beyond conscious thought, but were lost as her mind began to wander further into the depths.

' _Hey, Olivia! You still with me or what?_ ' Olivia blinked her eyes open to stare in confusion at… Jace? She reached a hand out, feeling it make contact against flesh, "Jace? Is that really you?"

' _Of course it's me, Olly. Who else were you expecting?_ ' Jace grabbed her by the hand, a shiver washing through her body as some strange calm came over her.

Olivia's eyes unfocused, Jace's figure shifting to someone else. A boy her own age with black hair and a green coat. Her mind slipped, trying to put a name to him, instead reverting back to Jace's worried frown as her headache began to pound incessantly.

' _She's coughing up a lot of blood._ '

' _Can't you do something!?_ '

"I don't feel good, Jace…" whispers of other voices droned out Jace's response, and Olivia was forced to try and block them out, focusing instead on her friend… ' _My brother_ '.

' _You do look a little pale. When's the last time you ate?_ ' Jace stepped forward to run a hand across her forehead, grimacing at what he felt there, ' _We'd better get some food in you._ '

_The sounds of someone young sobbing nearby. More shouting. An arm shaking her, trying to keep her awake._

' _But I already am awake…_ '

Olivia felt her stomach protesting, nausea surging forth and barely being held back by her own force of will, "I don't think food would be the best thing for me right about now, Jace."

' _How about we go for a walk then?_ '

Her body felt exhausted. Incapable of moving an inch away from where she already stood. With a sigh, Olivia sat down instead, choosing to lay down sideways against the grass beneath her feet, "Let's just stay here and talk…"

' _Get the aura enhancers!_ '

' _Olivia! Stay awake, please!_ '

' _Sounds good to me,_ ' Jace agreed, sitting down with his legs crossed next to Olivia's place on the ground, ' _Watcha wanna talk about, Olly?_ '

"That _name_ , for one," Olivia muttered, drawing her knees up to her chest, "I thought I told you to not call me that?"

' _What else am I supposed to call you? Plain old Olivia is boring,_ ' Jace smirked, looking down on her smugly.

"We agreed on a different name already, didn't we?" Olivia replied in confusion, her mind wavering and having difficulty grasping the memory that lay just out of reach, "There was another name…"

' _What, like Spider Girl?_ ' Jace taunted, ' _You shot that one down already, remember?_ '

Olivia shivered, trying to ignore the sharp pain in her arm, "Definitely not _that_ one!"

' _They aren't_ _ **doing**_ _anything!_ '

' _Just give it time, Miss Valkyrie. It won't be immediate._ '

' _Hmmmm,_ ' Jace crossed his arms with a frown, then shrugged, ' _I'm stumped. Can't I just keep calling you Olly?_ '

"No way! That name is so _dumb_ , Jace!" Olivia laughed despite herself, a dry rasp racked with coughs. She bent double, feeling her body retching for a few seconds but with no visible signs of anything coming out.

' _Oh my god! Keep her still!_ '

' _T-There's so much blood…'_

Olivia recovered from her fit and tried to shake her head, but felt her body stiffen. Her eyes raised back over to Jace, "I'm _sure_ there was another name we decided on. Wasn't it like… a flower or something…?"

Jace's eyes lit up, seeming to finally recall what it was that Olivia was talking about, ' _Oh, right! The Black Lotus!_ '

"Yeaahhhh, _that's_ what it was," Olivia scoffed lightly, "How could we forget a name like that?"

' _Crim's going to be jealous, you know,_ ' Jace smirked, stroking his chin before letting out a melodical laugh, ' _It isn't every day that you get to choose your own code name._ '

Memories of the grassy hill out in the Mistralian forests came rushing back to mind, and Olivia looked down to see her hoodie covered in syrup, the forest lying in every direction around them while the bodies of dozens of Grimm faded away into black ash, "Weren't we…?"

' _The enhancers should be kicking in right about now. Just keep holding her steady. She'll fall unconscious soon enough._ '

' _Weren't we what?_ ' Jace frowned, holding up a plate filled with food. Olivia accepted it from him and got to work, feeding her stomach that felt so _empty_ all of a sudden. The pain shooting through her body began to numb, the… delusion… of Jace fading along with it.

Olivia's heart dropped, seeing her brother beginning to vanish. She let go of her plate to try and rush forward, to grab on to him once more, "Jace! Don't go, _please!_ "

' _I'm not leaving, Olly. I'll always be there for you._ '

Olivia's arms broke through the smoke holding the last vestiges of Jace together, his form evaporating into the darkness that surrounded her. She collapsed back to the ground, tears coming unbidden to her eyes. Eventually, even her own form began to dissipate, legs melting into the black as the numb feeling overrode all else. It drifted up the rest of her body in a painstakingly slow manner.

Olivia cried in the dark as even she vanished, quieting only once oblivion took hold, and _all_ faded to nothing.

* * *

Weiss held Ruby close to her, the younger girl's body shaking as they both watched Olivia's thrashing begin to relax. She was being held down by every member of team Lion, her semblance giving them a run for their money while her body had been struggling to move in her fevered dreams.

' _Jace…_ ' Weiss could recall the name from their dinner out in Vale. Olivia hadn't spoken much about her past, but the faunus had shared a few happy memories of her brother. Her muttered words and phrases had been mostly incoherent, seemingly carrying on both sides of the conversation with herself while fading in and out.

Blood caked the front of Olivia's chest, much of it also pooling down on the ground where she had puked once more. Other specks could be spotted on everything and _everyone_ nearby. Four empty aura enhancer injectors were scattered across the cabin floor, rolling this way and that beneath people's feet as the bullhead rocketed towards Beacon.

"I-Is she going to be okay?" Ruby managed to gasp out between sobs. Her forearm futilely rubbed across her face, tears instantly replaced the moment they were wiped free.

"Olivia is tough," Weiss tried to hide the doubt that she herself was feeling. She had never seen a more visceral or sudden sickness in her life, though given where she had lived, that was hardly a difficult bar to surpass, "She'll make it through this. Don't you worry."

Team Lion was able to relax now that Olivia had well and truly fallen unconscious. They stepped back with looks of exhaustion, wiping sweat from their brows. Ren's eyes raised to lock with Professor Goodwitch's, the question being unnecessary to vocalize.

Miss Goodwitch shook her head, breathing out a sigh of relief, "Miss Mandevilla should be fine as long as we can get her back to the infirmary at Beacon. In all my years, I've only seen a few students fall ill to this same sickness," she frowned in annoyance, "Most of _them_ reported it sooner, though."

"Is it contagious?" Yang grimaced, rubbing a hand across her face and seeing it come back with a fine misting of blood that Olivia had coughed out while they'd been holding her down.

"Yes and no," Miss Goodwitch replied in a soothing manner, "For humans, it is no worse than the common cold, and is often mistaken as such. For faunus, the sickness runs rampant, affecting you in proportion to the strength of their aura."

"Wait…" Nora looked down on Olivia worriedly, "If it makes you more sick the more aura you have…"

"Aura enhancers are not quite what the name suggests, Miss Valkyrie. They improve the speed at which your aura _regenerates_. They do not improve upon its max capacity. The sickness would have drained Miss Mandevilla's aura reserves, keeping her from being able to heal the internal damage properly. Now that the enhancers have taken affect, they'll allow her to maintain at least a small aura level that will fluctuate as it fights against the sickness."

"So we're fine, then?" Pyrrha asked, following Yang's example and trying to wipe her face clean at the very least.

"The worst you would get is a headache and a fever," Miss Goodwitch confirmed, "As a precaution, the headmaster will likely be requiring that all faunus students go to the infirmary for their shots. Preventative measures _must_ be taken to ensure that this doesn't cause an outbreak among our faunus students."

Blake had been sitting on the other side of Ruby, gripping her own knees tightly until she heard what Miss Goodwitch had said. Weiss watched her shuffle uncomfortably. Blake's hand drifted up to feel the bow atop her head, and came back down with a small red smear.

"How long does a faunus have before they'd get to the same point as Olivia?" Blake interjected, raising her eyes up to Miss Goodwitch.

Their teacher's face grew guarded, and she tapped her chin, "We'll be enforcing the procedure as quickly as possible, if _that_ answers your question. I would expect most faunus to be wary of waiting too long. Needles are a blessing compared to trying to deal with _this_."

Blake nodded, replying with a simple, "I hope they get the treatment they need," before turning to look at Ruby. Her hand lightly brushed against the other girl's, and Ruby grasped it tightly, seeking whatever solace she could find.

Weiss's eyes drifted up, settling on the bow that Blake wore… the bow that she'd never seen the girl without. The smallest hint of suspicion began to form, but with Ruby sobbing into her shoulder... she chose to ignore it for now.

' _There are bigger things to deal with…_ '

Ruby sniffled, managing to pull away from Weiss slightly while still holding both of her teammate's hands, "S-She's going to be okay then…?"

Miss Goodwitch gave Ruby a consoling smile and nodded firmly, "Miss Mandevilla will spend the weekend in the infirmary, perhaps longer. She will be good as new soon enough, though."

Ruby let out a few deep breaths, interrupted by the racking sobs she continued to recover from. After a minute, she let out one final sigh, and let go of her teammate's hands to wipe her eyes free of the tears staining her cheeks. She looked to Olivia and gave a small giggle, "She was out of it pretty bad there for a minute. It sounded like she thought she was the Black Lotus."

"The Black Lotus?" Weiss decided to indulge Ruby in whatever it was, as long as it kept the younger girl's mind off the state their teammate was in, "What's that?"

Ruby shook her head, "Just a character in the comics that I let Olivia borrow. She's one of the main villains earlier on in the series."

"Those comics she was reading the day you locked the two of us in the dorm?" Weiss asked quizzically, thinking back on the large box that she hadn't seen pulled out since, "What's it about?"

"Ozborne the Great and Powerful, a hero that goes around solving issues on Remnant, mostly by fighting them off. The Black Lotus is a recurring villain during the Mistral arc that uses all of his weaknesses against him to keep escaping and pulling one over on him."

"How does he end up beating her?"

Ruby let out one small laugh, "He doesn't." She appeared as if she was going to say more before the bullhead lurched to the side, slowing down midair to come in for a landing on Beacon cliff. Everyone held on to something for a moment as their weight shifted drastically, swaying back into place only as the ship touched down.

Their eyes were greeted by a few medical staff as the ramp lowered, a gurney waiting between them. Miss Goodwitch ordered everyone out of the way while they hovered it up next to the bed, and shifted Olivia's small figure on to it. Ruby was the first to jump up and follow after, her brow set in determination. Weiss half expected the teacher to demand they stay, but sighed in relief when no call came after them. The rest of the class allowed them all to pass before getting up themselves.

Weiss and Blake followed on Ruby's heels, as did team Lion with Ren and Nora leading their pack. The nurses rushed Olivia along the paved walkway, hurrying towards one of the larger structures on campus that lay within the ring of buildings surrounding the CCT.

Yang looked across all of them, to the blood splattered in various places and staining more than one garment, "I don't know how long it'll take Olivia to wake up… Does everyone want me to bring them a change of clothes?"

"It's likely best if we don't linger in ours for too long," Pyrrha agreed, grimacing at the flecks of blood that decorated part of her combat uniform, "I would hate to run into a faunus student and risk spreading the sickness to them."

Blake paled and looked down at her own clothes as well, eyes darting across the blood staining her top, "Y-you've got a point…" she sent a questioning glance towards Ruby and Weiss, "Want me to grab you both something else to wear as well?"

Weiss nodded, "My school uniform should work out nicely," then looked to Ruby, who's eyes were dead set on Olivia's face as she watched for any change, "Grab Ruby's while you're at it?"

Blake nodded and broke off with Yang and Pyrrha, the three taking it upon themselves to help in any way they could, even if it was merely a change of clothes.

"Oh!" Weiss piped up as Blake walked away, eyes intent on the bow atop her head. Her eyes dropped to Blake's own once the girl turned around, but staring as she had, she didn't fail to notice the bow twitch atop her head, "Perhaps you could bring the box of comics? Olivia will need something to do while she's recovering…"

"Yeah. Message me when you find out the room number," Blake accepted, turning back to hurry a few steps and catch up with the other two.

Weiss allowed her feet to carry her forward as her mind pieced together what she'd learned. Now that she knew what to look for from the book Olivia had given her, it was very clear that Blake was a faunus. Only her own predisposed idea that the girl was a human had kept her from seeing it until now.

' _The bow, the way she always stuck by Olivia's side…_ ' Looking back on it, she could faintly recall a few instances that had been odd at first glance, but that she'd waved off as Blake simply being another awkward teen.

Weiss thought on it for a while as what remained of the group made their way to the infirmary. A small pit had formed in her chest, and she wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

' _Am I upset that there's another faunus on my team?_ ' Weiss gave the question a very thorough investigation, prying into her own feelings as well as she could, ' _No… that isn't it…_ ' Something _was_ upsetting her about the situation, though.

After a few more moments mulling it over, the reason became clear. If Blake had continued hiding her heritage even after Weiss had become friends with Olivia, then the only explanation to be had was… ' _She still doesn't trust me…_ '

The sinking feeling in her chest grew as she continued thinking on it. ' _Is it because I'm a Schnee?_ ' Was her damned name to blame for her teammate's insecurity? Did Blake not feel _safe_ around her, not enough to share even the most basic of details about her _race_?

' _Can I really blame her…?_ '

As awful as it was, Weiss thought back to how she had been only a couple of weeks prior. If Olivia hadn't been so upfront about Weiss's ignorance, then she would still believe that her family's company was being unfairly targeted. As much as Weiss hated to admit it... she had felt _contempt_ towards the faunus for what they'd done. Never to the point of blatant racism, she could never go that far, but Weiss had felt that the faunus should feel guilty for what members of their species were doing to her own.

The group entered the hospital, gravity dust infused gurney slamming through the wide double doors and allowing them entry. Pavement gave way to a shiny white tiled floor, and the gut wrenching aroma of things that were a little _too_ clean. They followed after the nurses, one of the three stopping to check in at the front desk before rushing back and announcing that they would be going to room 13C.

Weiss pulled out her scroll, careful to make sure her hand was clean of any blood first, before opening up her messages and navigating to her text conversations with Blake. She quickly typed out the room number and then hesitated with her finger over the 'send' button. Weiss bit her lip, wondering if she should bring up her newfound knowledge with the faunus.

After a few moments, she failed to summon up the courage to do so and simply hit send, letting Blake know where they would be. She sighed in vexation, but ultimately thought it was for the best… ' _I should confront her in person…_ ' Weiss glanced ahead to Olivia's unconscious form and couldn't help but believe that the other faunus already knew. With how close the two were at times, it only made sense that they'd been in on the secret together.

They arrived at the room and one of the nurses blocked them off from entering along with them, "You'll have to wait out here. We can't have you crowding up the place," she raised a hand at the immediate rush of arguments about to come her way, face sternly gazing down on Ruby in particular, "Your friend will be _fine_. Let us do our work."

The fierce team leader glared up at the nurse for a few moments longer, then seemed to deflate, falling back on her heels and shoulders slumping, "Yeah… okay…"

The nurse gave a firm nod and entered the room, shutting the door behind them. Weiss had a momentary view inside and could see the nurses already hefting Olivia onto the hospital bed, propping her up partially and beginning to remove her clothes so that she could be cleaned of both the sick and blood that stained her uniform and skin.

Weiss placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder as the girl continued to stand in place, staring at the door as if she could see through it. With a quick glance around, she noticed a long bench across the hall and steered the younger girl in its direction. Ren and Nora took the hint, Nora going so far as to fall into place on Ruby's other side so that she ended up between the two older girls.

Nora grabbed Ruby's left hand with two of her own and leaned into the other girl's shoulder, sighing with a soothing note of relaxation, "Don't you worry, Red. Olivia is tougher than any of us. If Miss Goodwitch says it'll take a few days? Pfft, ha! Olivia will be out of there in a day!"

"Olivia _is_ surprisingly resilient," Ren agreed, leaning forward to look at Ruby around Nora. He held his hand out in a silent offer, raising one eyebrow minutely.

Ruby shook her head lightly and rubbed her arm across her face, "Thanks, though."

Ren smiled and sat back, "Any time."

Weiss let out a small chuckle despite herself, "I suppose we're going to need to stock up on soup and blankets. If even _one_ of us catches a cold then we _all_ might eventually."

"I wouldn't mind missing classes for a few days," Ruby grinned.

Weiss smacked her on the shoulder, though it lacked any real force, "None of that. If I catch you faking it, Ruby Rose, then I'll… I'll tell your father!"

Ruby gasped, "You wouldn't _dare_ …"

Weiss crossed her arms, "I would."

Ruby narrowed her eyes playfully, "You're pure _evil_ , Weiss Schnee. I thought we were partners, but you were just waiting until my back was turned to sink the dagger in."

Weiss scoffed, "I use a rapier."

Ruby laughed, her earlier nervousness and fear diminishing greatly. She sighed contentedly, "We got lucky that those Grimm attacked when they did… If it hadn't run away from us to Olivia then we might have taken too long to find her…"

"Is that a usual behavior?" Weiss frowned, raising an eyebrow to the other three, "My sister helped me train with her summons, so aside from initiation, I haven't fought many _actual_ Grimm."

Ren spoke up first while the others were still mulling the question over, "It isn't unheard of. Older Grimm are more intelligent, and can tell when a confrontation isn't going to go their way. It may have simply been smarter than most and decided that the fight wasn't worth it."

"Have you ever seen any do that before?"

"We avoided them for the most part," Nora chipped in, but nudged the hammer leaning against the bench next to her with her foot, "When we didn't have a choice, then I didn't really give them a _chance_ to run."

"You _avoided_ them?" Weiss asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.

Ren nodded, "My semblance does more than calm people. It can remove your emotions completely for a time. Doing so will hide you from the Grimm. Nora and I traveled from town to town that way in Mistral."

"That's so cool~!" Ruby fawned, looking to Ren and Nora with a pair of wide eyes, "You could sneak up on them and bash their heads in easy!"

"It was effective," Ren agreed with a self-satisfied curl to his lips.

The door to the hospital room opened, the three nurses filing out. The first two continued down the hall while the last stopped, looking the four of them over with a critical eye, "I overheard you all talking about changing clothes. Make sure you clean what you're wearing thoroughly before you even _think_ about putting it back on," her eyes stared more intently, "There's antibacterial soap at the sink. Make sure you use it to wash off your faces and hands as well."

"Yes, ma'am," Weiss spoke for them.

Ruby glanced past to the door, sheepishly turning her eyes up to the nurse, "Can we… go in?"

The nurse smiled lightly and gave a small shrug, "You may. The patient won't be awake for quite some time though, so don't expect to get a conversation out of her. We've got her set up on an intravenous dose of aura enhancers. She'll be under for at least the next day while her body fights off the sickness."

The nurse looked them over, "If there's nothing else…?" When no one offered up any more questions, she nodded firmly, "Try not to disturb her too much."

With that, the nurse followed after her colleagues down the hallway, leaving the four of them in the hall by themselves.

Ruby jumped up once she was gone and walked over first, keeping what the nurse had said in mind and carefully opening the door. Olivia had been changed into a hospital gown, and lay on the bed with a thin blanket pulled up to her chest. A line ran from a standing pole topped with a bag of blue liquid down into Olivia's arm, vanishing into one of her many black veins.

Ruby led the rest of them inside, eyes scouring the small room and falling on what she sought. The young leader snagged some of the chairs that were set off to the side and arranged four of them around the bed, two on either side. She sat down in the one closest to Olivia's left.

The spider faunus's body shook, her expression twisted into a frown verging on pain, her breath coming out in ragged pants. Ruby's eyes brimmed with tears once more, and she shuffled closer to intwine her fingers with Olivia's own.

Almost immediately, the faunus's expression started to calm. The shivering stopped, chest rising and falling more evenly while Ruby let out a small squeak of surprise. Olivia's hand closed to hold hers more tightly, fingers lacing with Ruby's and the hint of a smile appearing on her lips. Weiss smiled and sat down next to Ruby, rubbing a comforting hand across her back.

"See? Olivia is going to be just fine."

"Is she… awake…?" Ruby leaned forward, whispering into the faunus girl's ear, "Olivia, can you hear me?"

After a moment of no reaction, Weiss let out a quiet laugh, "I bet it's her sixth sense," she squeezed Ruby's shoulder, pulling her back slightly, "Spider faunus have a ridiculously good sense of their surroundings. Even if she can't say it… I bet she's glad you're here, Ruby."

Ruby smiled happily, giving Weiss a thankful nod before leaning against the side of the bed. She rested her head on the edge, mere inches away from Olivia's own, "A leader never leaves a teammate behind…"

They waited there for a while longer. Eventually, Ren got up from his chair to head to the sink and wash the blood off his hands and face. Nora did the same once he was finished, followed by Weiss a minute later. She returned to Ruby's side and looked at her closely, spotting the blood on her cheek, along with a little that had ended up in her hair, nearly blending in with the natural scarlet tips.

"Go wash up, Ruby."

"But-..." Ruby frowned in worry at Olivia, squeezing her hand more tightly, "She needs me here…"

Weiss sighed, grabbing Ruby by the shoulders and pulling her up out of the chair, "Don't worry. I'll take over while you're getting clean. You can't help Olivia if you end up getting sick yourself, right?"

Ruby begrudgingly had to accept. She used her other hand to pull the one Olivia was holding free. Weiss immediately took her place while Ruby shot worried glances back over her shoulder.

Weiss sat down in Ruby's chair and hesitated a moment, doubt invading her mind. ' _Would Olivia want me to try and comfort her?_ ' With the recent realization about Blake, Weiss felt her shoulders fall slack, ' _Maybe I should just wait for Ruby to get back…_ '

Olivia's shivers began anew, her breath once more coming out ragged and the smile fading from her face. Weiss reacted instinctively and moved her hand to Olivia's in hopes to ease her pain.

To her surprise, she reacted much the same as she had with Ruby. The tremors subsided, breathing returning to an even pace and hand reflexively tightening around Weiss's own. Olivia shifted slightly, her body moving almost imperceptibly closer and head inching to the side. Her lips parted, a quiet sigh escaping. The faunus gave no further outward signs, simply smiling minutely as she had been before. The heiress felt her cheeks heating slightly, and tried to hide it from Ren and Nora by raising a hand to fix her bangs. Olivia's hand closed more tightly, fingers digging in to ensure that Weiss wouldn't let go.

Weiss's other hand fell away from her hair, and she brought it down to hold Olivia's with it as well. The faunus relaxed, fingers returning to a more tender embrace while Weiss rubbed her thumb soothingly across her wrist.

The door to the room opened in a rush, and Weiss had to stop herself from visibly panicking when the other three entered, hefting clothes and comic books alike. Yang and the others had already changed, dressed in their regular Beacon uniforms instead of their combat outfits. They had also washed, not a hint of blood remaining on their skin or in their hair.

Yang and Pyrrha both separately carried a small bundle of clothing, and handed them off to their respective teammates, gesturing for them to go change in the adjoining bathroom. Blake set down the box of comics on the chair that Weiss had previously vacated, her uniform and Ruby's sitting on top of the stack. Blake's eyes fell on Weiss and Olivia's hands, and she smiled affectionately.

"How's she doing?"

Weiss had to force herself not to glance up at Blake's bow more than she would have normally. Every little motion that Blake made with her head caused the bow atop to move though, making Weiss believe that the ears hidden beneath were going to twitch once more. She shook herself out of it and looked back to Olivia, keeping her voice low, "She's going to be just fine. The nurses said she'll be out for a while because of the aura enhancers, but we can visit as long as we don't disturb her."

"Good," Blake smiled.

Ruby returned from washing herself and looked ready to resume her position. Weiss gave her a stern look and nodded to the uniform that Blake had brought, "Get changed, first. You're hardly out of the woods if you're still _wearing_ bloody clothes."

Ruby glared, though there was no real anger behind it, and snatched her uniform off the box of comics. She headed over to the bathroom and stood outside of it, waiting for Ren and Nora to finish up before entering herself. The two Mistralians grabbed another couple chairs on their way back over and set them down for Yang and Pyrrha, all of team Lion now on the right side of the bed.

Eventually, Ruby returned and Weiss was forced to give her place next to the bed back up so that the young team leader could resume her position. Olivia's hand clenched more tightly as Weiss stood up to leave, causing the heiress to hesitate as well. With Ruby ushering her to move though, Weiss used her other hand to free herself.

Even after Ruby had taken her spot back over, Olivia's smile didn't quite return.

The group discussed the events of the day, sharing exactly how everything had panned out for them. Lion revealed that the majority of the Grimm had fled, leaving the group scratching their heads, wondering where exactly team Rainbow had gone. Once they'd received the group wide message from Miss Goodwitch though, they'd rushed back in a panic to find Rainbow hefting Olivia into the bullhead.

"Where did you find her?" Pyrrha asked.

"Next to a group of trees," Ruby replied first, eyes staring at the calm expression on Olivia's face, "She must have puked and then passed out next to it… There was so much blood mixed in, I thought the Grimm might have beaten us there at first…"

Ruby shook at the memory of it, and Weiss gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder, "Hey, let's not think about what could have been, alright? There's no point to it. Olivia is alive, and she's going to make a fantastic recovery."

Ruby gave her a thankful smile and nodded sharply, "You're right."

After a few more minutes of idle chatter, a few of them brought up the topic of food. With a promise that she would take care of it, Weiss excused herself out into the hallway to call up pizzas for delivery. She had memorized everyone's favorites as well as she could, and ended up ordering one of each. The price was negligible as far as she was concerned, and was more than willing to try and brighten everyone's day, if only a little.

Weiss was beginning to pocket her scroll when she felt more than heard someone off to her left. She turned to the side and had to hide her surprise when she noticed the Headmaster standing only a handful of feet away, patiently waiting for her call to have ended.

"H-Headmaster! Sorry, I didn't notice you walk up!"

"No, no. My apologies, Miss Schnee. I sometimes forget how engrossed in their own activities people can become," he glanced to the door, then back to Weiss with a smile, "I take it Miss Mandevilla is doing alright? No sudden complications?"

Weiss shook her head, "The nurses said she should be just fine. Thank you for coming to check up on her, though."

"Of course," Ozpin sipped from his mug and then lowered it to swirl the liquid within, idly pondering something before raising his eyes to her, "Would you be willing to give a short recounting of the events? Miss Goodwitch could only tell me so much, seeing as she wasn't present for the initial discovery."

"Oh, um, sure!" Weiss collected her thoughts and straightened, "Olivia was showing signs of being sick by the time we left the bullhead and… thinking back on it, I can see now what else we missed. After we began our walk through the woods and had found a clearing of trees to collect sap from, Olivia left us under the pretense that she was going to puke. After a while though, we got worried when she didn't return. Blake and I were just about to go search for her when the beowolves attacked."

"And these beowolves. Were there many of them?"

Weiss thought back to the fight and gave a small shrug, "Ruby killed quite a few, and Blake killed a couple. The last one tried to run away and we followed it. That's how we managed to find Olivia so fast."

"Hmm," the Headmaster made the small noise in his throat before taking a long sip off his mug. Once he'd finished, his lips quirked into a small smile, "Thank you for your time, Miss Schnee. It seems you were lucky to have found Miss Mandevilla when you did. We can only thank the brothers that the Grimm did not instead lead you astray."

The Headmaster turned to leave, and Weiss gave a small "Goodnight" towards his retreating form. Ozpin returned the sentiment with a wave over his shoulder, soon vanishing around the corner of the hall and leaving Weiss alone once more. With a shake of her head at the oddity of the man, Weiss returned to her place in the room and waited for their dinner to arrive.

After they'd all eaten and had their fill, many began excusing themselves to go to bed. The hour grew much later, and eventually even Ren and Nora excused themselves as well, leaving only the members of team Rainbow behind in the room.

Weiss sighed and placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder, "Come on. We should all get some sleep."

"No. She… she needs me to stay here," Ruby argued quietly, clutching Olivia's hand more tightly while refusing to be drawn away, "You saw how she was before…"

Weiss's first reaction was to argue, but looking down and seeing the peaceful expression on Olivia's face, she couldn't help but agree. Weiss squeezed Ruby's shoulder lightly, "Alright. One of us will stay here until she wakes up. I'll be back in a few hours to trade you places, agreed?"

Ruby thought on the proposition and eventually nodded acceptance, turning back to lay her head against Olivia's bed, "Not too soon though, okay?"

"Okay," Weiss followed Blake to the door, and together the two of them exited the infirmary.

They walked silently, thinking on all that had happened during the day. Weiss couldn't help but find her eyes drifting over to Blake's bow, that small ache returning to her chest. She gathered up her courage as they walked, finally slowing down on the path and causing Blake to slow as well, the other girl's eyebrows raising in confusion.

"Weiss? Is something wrong?"

Weiss avoided her eyes, looking at the path beneath their feet. She could still see Blake partially, notice her shifting uncomfortably with the heiress's continued silence.

"Do you… do you not trust me, Blake?"

"Wha-...?" Blake's confusion was palpable, "What made you think that?"

"Because you're…" Weiss hesitated, but she wanted to know the truth. She'd already made so much progress with Olivia. Why should Blake be any different?

"Because you're a faunus, right?"

Blake's breath caught, and Weiss couldn't help but raise her eyes and see the fear that had appeared on her face. Immediately she regretted it, but with no way to take back what she'd said, pressed on, "I noticed how you reacted when Miss Goodwitch was talking about what Olivia has, and the way you raised your hand to your… they're _ears_ , aren't they? Hidden beneath your bow?"

Blake's eyes darted around them, seeming to check and make sure they weren't close enough to anyone else that they might overhear. With the hour approaching midnight, and the majority of the campus in total darkness though, there was no one else around for Blake to worry about.

Ever so slowly, her hand drifted up to the fresh bow that had replaced the bloody one from earlier. Blake grasped one end of it with trembling fingers, and carefully pulled on it until the knot came loose. The bow spilled off to the side, revealing the two feline ears that sat atop Blake's head. The instant they were free, both lowered sideways, mimicking a cat that was currently afraid.

"Blake…" Weiss felt that pain in her chest grow, and took a step forward as if to console her teammate. Blake immediately stepped back fearfully, hands partially raising in a defensive manner. Weiss stopped moving closer, and let her hands fall back down to her sides, feeling tears beginning to brim at the corner of her eyes, "Do you hate me too…?"

Blake's eyes widened further, and she stopped backing up, "N-No. I don't hate you, Weiss."

"Did you think I would try to hurt you? Why were you hiding who you were…?" Weiss wanted to know the answers. If not because of her, then what would have caused Blake to act in such a way?

"I… I'm not hiding from _you_ , Weiss…"

Weiss raised her eyes in confusion, wiping the tears free with the sleeve of her uniform, "Then… then why…?"

"I'm…" Blake bit her lip for a moment, uncertainty clouding her eyes, "I'm hiding from…" she seemed to struggle for a moment, then gave up with a sigh.

"Everyone…"

"Everyone…?"

Blake nodded timidly, "All humans… You never know who's going to be the next racist that belittles you, or refuses service. Hiding who… _what_ I am… It's just easier that way…"

"But…" Weiss shook her head, "You could have told me, Blake. I wouldn't have treated you differently."

"Wouldn't you, though?" Blake glanced up into Weiss's eyes, expression doubtful, "Even if Olivia has helped you to get better. Hell, maybe _because_ Olivia did. I… I wouldn't want you trying to compensate for anything you might have done in the past by giving me special treatment, either. I just… want to be like anyone else, Weiss. I'm not human, or faunus… I'm just Blake, your teammate."

"Well, if that's how you want to be treated…" Weiss played with the cuff of her right sleeve, rolling the button between her fingers nervously, "I can do that." A thought came to mind, and she glanced sharply back up at Blake, "Does Ruby know?"

Blake shook her head, and Weiss let out a sigh. At the very least, it hadn't been a secret being kept solely from her on the team. That truly would have felt like a small betrayal, the trust of her team being less than she had previously thought. Even now, the pain was still there, yet Blake's explanation had served to ease it.

Weiss nodded, "Okay. You're Blake. _Just_ Blake. I… I can handle that."

Blake looked her over, and after gazing closely for a few seconds, smiled in timid confidence, "You really think you can pull it off?"

Weiss smirked, "Pull off what, Blake?"

Blake snorted, "Alright. We'll see how you do. Maybe…" she looked wistfully into the distance, back towards the hospital they'd left, "Maybe if you manage to keep it a secret… I might tell Ruby then, too," she glanced back to Weiss, a smirk on her lips, "One is enough for now. I only have _one_ extra set of ears to keep track of what you're saying."

Weiss laughed lightly and stepped forward, walking past Blake a small ways and slowing down until the faunus had caught up, "I'll do my best."

Blake smiled, "I know you will, Weiss. For what it's worth…" she darted her eyes to the side before facing ahead once more, "A part of me is glad you know. It isn't easy keeping secrets, and I've got too many to count. Having one less to worry about is… nice."

"Well then, I'd better not disappoint."

The two of them enjoyed each other's company on the way back to the dorm, eventually finding themselves back in the room. Weiss changed into her night shirt and left her uniform on the chair nearby, ready to be changed back into once it was her turn to look after Olivia. She set her scroll on the nightstand and opened up her alarm app, then paused, looking across the room to Blake and her two sets of ears.

"Do alarms bother you?"

"Weiss…"

"...Yes?"

"No special treatment."

"...Right," Weiss chided herself for messing up so soon, but in her defense, was only trying to be nice. With a glance across to Blake's silhouette, she shrugged and lowered the alarm's volume, knowing that the quieter tone would still manage to wake herself up regardless.

Weiss crawled beneath the covers and turned over to face the wall. Her breath came out in a long sigh, the emotional fatigue of the day weighing heavily on her. With one last yawn, she turned ever so slightly to look across the room.

"Goodnight, Blake."

"Goodnight, Weiss."

The teammates fell asleep without another word, only the shared feeling of trust between them.

* * *

It was well past midnight, the only light in the room coming from the monitor that measured Lotus's pulse and aura level. The monitor let out a low, methodical beep, signalling each beat of the faunus girl's heart.

The child sat with her head against the side of Lotus's mattress, both their hands slack in each other's grasp as the younger girl slept quietly. If she had been awake, the girl would have seen the frown that slowly began to form on her friend's face. Would have heard the heart rate monitor beginning to pulse more rapidly.

The door opened silently, and a lithe red haired woman stepped in, shutting the door behind herself. She eyed both of the sleeping girls, and gave a small huff, choosing to ignore the one that was unimportant for now.

Widow walked to the opposite side of Lotus's bed and picked up the nurse's chart, reading the results of their findings. She recognized the sickness. It was one that had plagued Atlas long ago, killing off a significant portion of their faunus population before the doctors had been able to discover a cure that worked for those without aura.

Noticing that Lotus's heart rate had increased, Widow set the chart back down and stepped closer. Lotus shuffled slightly in her sleep, eyes flickering back and forth beneath her eyelids. Widow sighed, and placed her hand along the veins of her forearm, slowly and lightly stroking back and forth to try and soothe her daughter.

"I only wanted to make sure you were safe, Little Spider…" Widow whispered it quietly, making sure to block the noise from reaching the younger girl completely, "You have nothing to worry about from me…"

After a few minutes, Lotus's heart rate returned to normal, and her expression calmed once more. Widow continued to try and soothe her, sixth sense remaining on high alert, knowing that she was deep in enemy territory.

Widow felt a flash of anger as the Schnee's presence moved within range. Her hand raised to tighten on her dagger's hilt, and the heart rate monitor spiked once more. Seeing the sudden spike, Widow forcefully calmed herself, letting her hand fall away to her side. She leaned down, and kissed Lotus on the forehead before pressing her own against her daughter's.

"I'll save you from this self-destructive path soon enough, my Little Spider. It's only a matter of time before these people turn on you… but I… I will _never_ betray you…"

With that, Widow made her leave, making sure that everything was as it had been before she entered.

Widow felt the small Grimm beetle circling her heart, and placed her hand up to try and comfort it as well.

' _Now then… Let's get to work, shall we?_ '


	45. Literature

Blake woke to the sound of Weiss's alarm going off from across the room, its piercing tones tormenting both sets of ears. She grumbled and stuffed the pillow back over her head as best she could, trying to drown out the annoying sound.

' _Maybe I should have asked her to turn it down…_ ' Blake thought in mild annoyance at herself, '... _but then what would she have done next?_ ' The Atlesian could be quite nice at times, albeit in her own _abrasive_ sort of way. Blake hadn't been lying when she'd told Weiss that all she wanted was to be treated like everyone else.

Why she'd been hiding her heritage, though…

Blake had spent the better part of half an hour convincing herself that telling Weiss the truth about her involvement with the White Fang was a bad idea. No matter how much Olivia had managed to sweeten her up, no matter what harsh truths the heiress's eyes had been opened to… It was all well and good for someone _else_ to be a part of it, but one of her own teammates… let alone two?

' _There's no way that could have ended in anything other than disaster…_ '

Blake was more than willing to let Olivia be the first to give away that secret to their other two teammates, if at all. ' _At least she hasn't been in the White Fang for years. Me on the other hand… What would Weiss say if she found out I was responsible for the train car that was robbed less than two months ago?_ '

Weiss began to groggily wake, stirring from her place in bed to slap her hand down on the nearby table that held her scroll. After the fourth attempt, her hand finally came down on it, shutting the alarm off. Blake relaxed once it had quieted, pulling her pillow back off to the side and feeling her ears perk back up along with her bow.

"Oh, I'm sorry Blake! Did I wake you, too?"

Blake turned her head to see Weiss giving her a very worried and apologetic look. Blake shook her head as well as she could and sighed, throwing her blanket off herself, "It's fine… Did you want some company? I'm awake now anyway."

Weiss seemed to struggle with herself for a moment, looking as if she wanted to tell Blake that she was fine to go back to bed, but once the agile cat faunus's feet hit the floor, Weiss relaxed, "I would be grateful if you would accompany me. I didn't know how I was going to pass the time if she didn't wake up soon."

Blake gestured openly to the array of books she had acquired, both on the shelf and propping up her bunk, "You're welcome to any of my collection whenever you feel like it."

' _Aside from the ones I've hidden, but she'd never find those…_ '

Weiss smiled thankfully and nodded, getting up to change into the clothes she'd left nearby. Blake grabbed her own and headed into the bathroom, secretly glad that Olivia wasn't there to potentially 'observe' despite the closed off door. She wasn't totally sure what had driven the other faunus to finally admit so much about her sixth sense, but judging by the fact that she had told Weiss of all people first, Blake could only guess that the heiress had been pushing the boundaries of what might have otherwise been tolerable.

Blake wasn't in anyway creeped out by it. She knew Olivia wasn't the type to snoop on people in their private moments, otherwise why would she have opened up at all? The thought of becoming romantically involved with the ex-murderess still gave her shivers, though. Blake had already been dealt that hand with Adam, and finally folded when she realized it was too much to bear. As much as Olivia might change for the better, Blake would always have the fear that she would return to her old ways sooner or later.

' _But as a friend?_ ' Blake had learned to trust Olivia with that much.

"Blake? Are you ready?" Weiss knocked on the door lightly, and Blake realized she was still standing with one foot in a pant leg and one out, staring at the ground in thought.

"Y-yeah, one minute!" Blake called out, quickly buttoning her pants and double checking her ribbon before exiting the bathroom.

Weiss stood in her school uniform once more, and flashed the faunus a friendly smile, hefting a book she held in her hand, "I found this one behind the bookcase. It must have fallen."

Blake's eyes widened as she looked down to read the title, struggling for only an instant because it was upside down. The black cover with red text was unmistakable, though.

"Oh, huh," she muttered, trying to hide her own worry, "That uh, doesn't look like one of mine."

"Really?" Weiss frowned and raised it once more, eyes passing over the title, "But you're kind of like a ninja, right?"

"Yeah, no. Never heard of it. Maybe it's Olivia's?"

' _I'm sorry Olivia!_ ' Weiss wouldn't hit a sick person, would she?

"It was on both your side of the room…" Weiss turned it over in her hands for a few seconds longer, then shrugged, eyes going back up to Blake's who immediately tried to appear relaxed, "Shall we go?"

Blake cleared her throat to speak more clearly, trying and failing to think of a reason for Weiss to leave the book behind and choose another, "L-lead the way."

The two of them stepped out into the hall, Blake on Weiss's heels for a few seconds before the heiress slowed down to allow her to walk alongside. Blake had to force herself not to stare at 'Ninjas of Love', currently held in Weiss's delicate fingers. Her own twitched, the desire to snatch the book from the heiress then run and hide it a very real impulse.

"Thanks again for coming with me," Weiss said, pulling Blake's focus from the book she held, "You didn't have to, really."

"Don't mention it," Blake shrugged, looking back up to meet Weiss's eyes, "I probably shouldn't wait too long before I get treated as well, anyway. I wouldn't want to…" she trailed off, mind replaying the horrific display of Olivia both coughing and vomiting up blood the day before.

Weiss grimaced as well, "I don't blame you. I wonder where she got it from in the first place… I haven't heard of any other students getting sick."

Blake pondered on it for a moment, not taking long to connect the dots, "Olivia said that Melanie's sister was sick. I'd bet she got it from her."

"Melanie?" Weiss raised an eyebrow, "I don't recognize the name," she then paled slightly, "Is that her, um… girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend? No," Blake shook her head for good measure, "Olivia's made it pretty clear that Melanie is just a fling."

"A 'fling'?" Weiss frowned, "So they're not even really together?"

"I think Olivia called it 'mutual stress relief', if I remember correctly," Blake confirmed.

"That's…" Weiss trailed off, seeming unwilling to speak further.

"More casual than you'd ever feel comfortable with?" Blake finished for her, giving a nod of agreement, "I don't ever see myself doing the same."

"And two girls… how do they even…?" Weiss's face was growing more and more red by the second, at the same time clear with confusion.

' _Well, that book will certainly teach you…_ ' Blake thought idly, then feigned ignorance herself, "I have no clue."

Weiss spent a few moments in thought before squeaking, " _A-anyway._ " She was clearly unwilling to continue that train of thought any further, "Miss Goodwitch said she'd likely be better by the end of the weekend, but do you think she was judging that off the other faunus that were treated sooner? I wouldn't want to put anything past Olivia, but… it did appear to be a rather severe case."

"I've never seen anything like it," Blake agreed.

"You haven't?" Weiss glanced up at her bow, then darted her eyes around the quiet halls around them, "I-I mean, out of anyone I know…"

"I'm from Menagerie," Blake stated easily, already having cased their surroundings as they walked, "From what I remember, they're very strict about not allowing most humans there, let alone anyone that might be sick. It doesn't sound like it's very common in the first place either if Miss Goodwitch only had a few other students get it in the past."

"Oh," Weiss put a finger to her lips in thought, "I thought you were from Vale…"

Blake laughed lightly, "Well I wasn't about to tell you otherwise. How obvious would that have been?"

Weiss laughed as well, "I suppose you're right. Anything else that I should know now that I, well… know?"

' _Yeah, I used to be in the White Fang_ ,' Blake thought glumly, then paused to actually think on what she could tell Weiss.

They were just then approaching the front doors to the infirmary, and Blake used those extra few seconds to gather her thoughts. Once the doors had swung shut and they were walking down the hall towards Olivia's room, she spoke once more, "Both of my parents are feline faunus, like me. I've been living in Vale for, oh… three years now?"

"Do your parents live in Vale, too?"

"N-no. They live in Menagerie."

Weiss gave her a troubled frown, "So you haven't seen them for three years? How have you been getting by this whole time?"

"I've been… living with some other faunus in the city," Blake lied easily enough.

Weiss smiled sympathetically, "I can understand not wanting to see your family, Blake. Still, three years…? That's a long-"

Weiss cut off as Blake held her hand up, eyes narrowing during their approach to Olivia's room. Even from a few dozen feet away, she could hear how quickly the heart rate monitor was beeping from within the room. Blake nodded her head toward the room and quickened her pace, Weiss following on her heels.

Blake twisted the knob and burst the door open, eyes gleaming brightly as she scanned the darkened room. Olivia lay in bed, still unconscious but shivering in her sleep. Ruby half sat, half lay by her side, head and upper body propped up on the edge of Olivia's bed. Her eyes blurrily blinked open at the sound of the door, and she picked herself up slightly.

"Blake? Everything okay…?"

Aside from those two, Blake didn't spot anything else that might be amiss in the room and breathed a sigh of relief.

Slowly becoming more and more coherent with each passing moment, Ruby noticed the increased pulse emanating from the monitor, and resumed holding Olivia's hand. Fingers now intertwined, it took a minute longer than it had the day before for her pulse to lessen. However, the tremors eventually subsided, and Olivia breathed out heavily one final time.

Weiss pressed past Blake gently and walked over to Ruby's place at the bed, "Alright. Time for you to go to sleep."

Ruby pouted, turning with narrowed eyes to look up at Weiss, "I can stay a bit longer…"

"You were already asleep when we got here," Weiss made a shooing motion before bodily forcing Ruby up and out of the chair she was in. Ruby could hardly struggle, and gave up in moments while letting out a tired yawn.

"Okay, _fine_ ," she rubbed a hand across her eyes, holding back yet another yawn, "Message me when she wakes up, though."

"We will," Weiss agreed readily enough.

Blake held the door open for Ruby and whispered a quiet, "Good night," before the small reaper shuffled past. She slowly closed the door and turned back to the room, seeing that Weiss had already begun getting herself comfortable. The heiress took over the chair that Ruby had been in before, and shuffled it a bit closer to the bed so that she was sitting more parallel to it.

Blake walked to the opposite side and looked down on Olivia, glad to see that she had resumed a more peaceful rest even without the physical contact that Ruby had provided before. Aside from her brow creasing every now and then, and a few blips on the heart rate monitor, she seemed to be doing fine.

"Odd, isn't it?"

Blake looked over to Weiss and raised an eyebrow, seeing the other girl wistfully staring at Olivia while she slept, "What's odd?"

Weiss opened her mouth to speak, then closed it once more, apparently thinking over what she wanted to say before continuing, "It's just… I don't doubt at all that Olivia is one of the strongest in our year, and yet… even _she_ can fall ill to sickness, even she has fears… I would have thought that someone like her would be able to overcome anything. I… certainly wish _I_ was able to."

Blake's mind instinctually went to Adam, the one person she herself had never been able to overcome either, no matter how hard she trained. She sat down in one of the chairs on her side and looked across Olivia's sleeping form to Weiss, "Nobody can do _everything_ themselves. Needing others… it's just part of being a person."

"Who do you think Olivia had before this…? Before us?"

' _Widow…_ ' Blake's mind automatically filled in the blank, knowing from her talks with Olivia exactly who had 'raised' her, in a sense. It would be a betrayal of trust for Blake to tell Weiss about that, though, so instead she gave a small shrug, "I've talked more candidly with her than either you or Ruby likely have. She did have _someone_ before coming to Beacon."

"Who?" Weiss raised an eyebrow of her own.

Blake shook her head in response, "You'd have to ask her."

The two were quiet for a time. Weiss played with the front cover of the book, opening and closing it idly without actually reading any of the print held within, "She was talking about… _with_ her brother on the flight back."

"Sounded like it," Blake agreed carefully. Most anything from Olivia's past was a touchy subject. As far as she was aware, Olivia had only given Weiss blanket statements about her family members dying, aside from the few memories she'd brought up about her adoptive sibling.

"I can't imagine losing either of mine..."

Blake shared a comforting smile with her, "Your older sister works with the military, doesn't she? She must be strong."

"Winter is…"

Blake frowned, "And the other? I don't think you've mentioned another sibling to me before."

Weiss made a small scoffing noise with her throat, "Whitley. He's a little brat, honestly, but…" she stared down at the book in her hands, "What if the White Fang pulls off the unthinkable? What if they managed to get into Schnee Manor, and get revenge on the wrong people?" her eyes jumped up to Blake's, worry creasing her brow, "Now that Olivia's shown me just how downtrodden the faunus really are… I can't help but fear for my family. Even my mother…"

' _Sienna would never hurt a child…_ ' Blake had met the aspiring leader long ago, before she'd taken over the White Fang in Ghira's stead and many more times over the past few years. Sienna wasn't bloodthirsty… ' _But how am I supposed to tell Weiss that…?_ '

"I… I don't think you have to worry about that, Weiss," Blake confessed lightly, trying to think of some reason to back up her claim, "The uh… White Fang doesn't make a habit out of killing innocents, as far as I'm aware."

"But would they _see_ them as innocent?" Weiss's voice raised in pitch. The monitor suddenly spiked a moment after, and she quieted back down to a worried whisper, "Olivia was quick enough to blame _me_. Why would the White Fang be any different?"

"Still, Weiss… Killing a kid…? They wouldn't go that far…"

' _Adam would…but he's in Vale, not Atlas._ '

"You… you really think so…?" Weiss's eyes brimmed with the hint of tears, though she was quick to blink them away.

"Faunus have the same morals as you, Weiss," Blake stated firmly, hoping to pass along even the smallest bit of comfort to her teammate, "An extra set of ears or a tail doesn't make murder any less abhorrent."

Weiss's eyes widened, "I-I didn't mean-"

"I _know_ you didn't," Blake cut her off, shaking her head emphatically, "I'm only trying to make a point. You shouldn't worry yourself too much over it. Most faunus know that it isn't the entire family that's to blame for how the SDC operates."

"Olivia didn't seem to…"

"I did," Blake stated matter of factly, then turned her eyes to their unconscious teammate and shrugged warily, "Olivia is Olivia. She's… had it harder than most, I think. But even she wouldn't go that far."

' _I hope…_ '

Weiss thought on what Blake had said for a time, and eventually nodded hesitantly, "I don't think she would ever do something like that, either," she rubbed a hand across her arm, as if feeling a long since healed wound, "Beating _me_ up, though? Yeah, she doesn't seem to have any issues with that."

Blake smiled lightly, "How _was_ your training session? I only really got to ask her before."

Weiss's eyes brightened, and a small smile tugged on her lips despite the way she still rubbed her forearm, "She's amazing… No matter what I tried, Olivia had an answer for everything. By the time it was over, I thought she would just laugh at me, even say I wasn't worth teaching…" Weiss shook her head, "She certainly proved me wrong. I look forward to the next time we're able to train again."

Blake nodded sincerely, "I'm happy to hear that," then laughed, "Our team seemed pretty doomed right from the start."

Weiss chuckled along with her, "That we did..."

They both sighed contentedly, and Weiss shared another smile before leaning back in her chair and opening up the book she'd brought. Blake's smile faded, though Weiss had turned away by then. She sent the heiress a worried glance and drummed on her thighs. She couldn't think of any plans to separate Weiss from 'Ninjas of Love', though. Not without the heiress growing suspicious about who the real owner of the book might be.

' _Sorry, Olivia. At least Weiss isn't going to really think less of you for having a book like that. It is sort of right up your alley anyway._ '

In those few silent minutes, Blake realized that she'd been so caught up in what Weiss was bringing, that she'd forgotten to bring a book of her own to read, ' _I'm nearly done with 'The Man With Two Souls', too… Ah, well…_ ' Blake remembered the box of comics that she'd brought along with her teammates' uniforms the day prior, and ducked beneath the bed for a moment to pull it across to herself.

' _Let's see, let's see…_ ' Blake was glad to find that either Ruby or Olivia was tidy enough to have left the comics in order, starting from Issue #1 on the far left, all the way down to Issue #152 on the far right. She decided to just begin with the first in the series. Blake was an avid reader, and while she normally viewed comic books as beneath her, she was willing to give them a read if two of her teammates enjoyed them.

The room once more descended into a peaceful quiet as both girls wiled away their time in a companionable silence, interrupted only by the steady beeping of the monitor.

* * *

Intense battles, emotional subplots, details that bordered the line between being too gory and just right… Weiss was enraptured by the words on the pages before her. She bent closer to read more easily in the room's low light, using the monitor behind her to illuminate the pages more easily.

_Silence prevailed across the small forest they had escaped to. Hana knew of a small cabin in which they could find refuge, and half carried Ako, the other girl's arm draped over her shoulders roughly._

" _Just a bit further, Ako," Hana assured soothingly, doing her best to ease the girl's pains. Her aura was recovering, if slowly. Hana could already see the small wounds decorating her flesh beginning to heal, though it would have an overall effect on her energy. They'd be lucky if Ako would recover before the day was out._

' _I could always use my family's secret technique…'_

Weiss frowned, ' _Secret technique? How could you possibly regenerate aura faster without enhancers?_ ' She continued to read.

_The door to the cabin wasn't locked, a godsend considering the fact that Hana didn't believe she currently had the energy necessary to brute force her way in. She had been assisting Ako for miles now. With the promise of rest just out of her reach though, she struggled all the harder in getting the door open and crossing the threshold._

_Compared to the windswept forest, the calm stillness of the cabin's interior allowed both girls to relax somewhat. Already knowing her way around the place, Hana helped Ako through another doorway and into the living room. A fireplace dominated one wall, surrounded on all sides by a couch and two arm chairs._

_It was to the couch that Hana walked, and she gently lowered Ako down on to it. Her partner shivered, aura weakly responding to the ice cold shards of dust that still lingered in Ako's clothes, practically frozen to her body. She'd been hit with a very powerful ice dust attack, and was still dealing with the after effects._

_Hana started off by getting the fireplace prepared with a few logs and some kindling. A spark of fire dust was all it required to ignite the pile, the flames steadily building and heating the space around them. Hana turned back to her partner, seeing the way her body trembled atop the couch._

" _We'll need to get you out of those clothes, Ako. Your aura is struggling enough as it is."_

_Ako mumbled agreement, hands lowering to ineffectually tug at her clothing. Her muscles were still too weak to do it herself. Hana realized this quickly enough, and sighed while flashing her partner a small smile, "Let me help you."_

_Hana waited for Ako's movements to subside, then directed her hands above her head. With some small effort of her own, Hana managed to pull Ako's top free, exposing lightly tanned skin to the light of the fire. Hana's breath caught, finally seeing the true extent of the damage the ice dust had caused. Much of Ako's body was tinged blue from the cold, the remnants clinging unnaturally._

_Hana knew that she would need to perform her family's technique if she wanted her partner to survive the night. Hana sat down next to Ako, her hands gently caressing the other girl's to calm both their nerves._

" _Ako…? You know my family's technique, right…?"_

_Ako could only nod, gripped in the throes of pain as she was._

" _Do you… want me to use it? It may be your only chance…"_

_Ako's breath came out ragged, and her hand tightened against Hana's own, "P-please, Hana. I'm ready… Help me..."_

_Trying to still her beating heart, Hana looked down on the face of her partner. Her breath quickened, and she leaned down closer to the other girl. Hana's hands left Ako's, instead moving to the smooth skin of her cheeks. Hana brushed one of Ako's bangs from across her face, and stared into the brilliant blue eyes that opened to plead for her to hurry._

_Hana bent closer, eyes closing and lips parting slightly to-_

Weiss blushed, eyes darting over the text while she felt her cheeks heating. She glanced over to Olivia with an accusing stare, ' _H-How dare she… t-this is…_ '

Weiss's eyes tore away from Olivia to fall back on the page, curiosity thoroughly piqued to find out how the scene continued, ' _I-I just want to know if Ako lives, t-that's all…_ '

_Lips joined in fiery passion, and Hana delved deep within herself to try and draw forth the inner strength that would allow her to heal her partner's wounds. The treatment began to take effect, and Ako answered in kind. The heat expanded between them, blooming from where their lips met, down into their chests and beyond._

_And yet… Hana felt resistance. Some essence of the dark magics had affected Ako more deeply than she could reach through normal means. Though lips parted and hands caressed, it was not enough to stave off her wounds._

" _Ako, it… it isn't enough. I'm going to have to go deeper."_

" _Whatever you need to do, Hana," Ako moaned, the pain still too much to bear._

_Hana nodded acceptance, and lightly began to trail her lips down Ako's body, searching for the source of the malevolent magic. Past her neck, down between her breasts, across her lightly tanned stomach. Hana could feel herself growing closer to her true goal. She paused as it continued yet lower, the cloth of Ako's skirt now obstructing her._

_Feeling the burning desire to help her partner, Hana gripped the hem of Ako's skirt tightly and tore it open. There, revealed before her, was the source of Ako's need. Hana slowly lowered her head once more, lips and tongue finding their way to-_

* * *

Blake flinched, ears twitching and eyes darting up to Weiss as the book was slapped closed. The heiress sat with wide eyes and burning cheeks, staring into space with both ends of the book firmly clasped shut between her hands. She breathed heavily for a few moments, seemingly trying to calm herself from whatever ordeal she had just put herself through.

"Is um… everything alright, Weiss…?" Blake hadn't been able to ignore the other girl's quickened breathing over the last few minutes, nor the glance she had stole towards Olivia. Judging from how far she was into the book before closing it, Blake had her suspicions on what particular scene the heiress had reached.

"N-... Y-yeah, yeah! Everything's f-fine," Weiss stammered distractedly. She brought the book down to her lap, pages still firmly closed, and struggled to give Blake a reassuring smile, "I um…" she pulled her scroll out, "Look at the time! The breakfast hall should be open. Do you want me to get you anything?"

"Oh, um… some eggs and toast, maybe?" Blake was having trouble hiding the cheshire grin that threatened to pull at her lips, seeing how the heiress had responded to the book. Was it just wishful thinking, or did Weiss seem to be flustered for an entirely different reason than prudish sensibilities?

Weiss hopped up quickly, still clutching the book in one hand, and left with a muttered, "B-be right back!"

Blake let out the laughter she'd been containing as soon as she was sure Weiss would be too far away to hear it. She had to forcibly muffle herself with her hand once she'd begun, and hoped that was enough to not wake Olivia.

With a delighted sigh, Blake's eyes fell back on the comic in front of her. She'd found herself rather enjoying the plot, though some of the characters themselves were decidedly plain, merely a caricature of evil without any of the depth that went into real villainy. Blake had blazed through the first few story arcs, a neat stack of already read comics sitting in a chair off to her side.

The most recent arc was coming to its completion, the action winding down after Ozborne had defeated his current arch nemesis with both skill and panache. By the time Blake had finished with it and was reading the small excerpt at the end, ' _Next, to the City of Mistral!_ ' Weiss had returned, hefting two separate trays of food. The delicious aroma of fresh eggs and toast wafted through the door along with it, and Blake set the comic aside to accept the tray proffered to her.

Blake noticed with a small grin that 'Ninjas of Love' was nowhere to be seen, and turned an amused eye to Weiss as she sat down across from her once more, "Did you not enjoy the book?"

Weiss sputtered, coughing on the peas that she had been eating and face turning a bright red. She recovered quickly enough, then raised a napkin to her lips to try and hide her fiery cheeks, "I-It was alright. I realized that um… I should have asked Olivia first!" Weiss rushed the end of her sentence after a moment's hesitation, likely thinking of the excuse on the spot.

Blake hid her smirk by taking a bite of toast, "That's very considerate of you. What did you like most about it?"

Weiss's eyes flickered over to Blake briefly, then returned to her plate while she thought about her answer. Blake could see her cheeks still glowing slightly, though the shade had lessened greatly after her initial shock.

"The… companionship… shown between the two main characters was very endearing. I can only hope that I grow as close to someone someday…" she frowned, voice turning to a whisper that Blake could still hear thanks to her second set of ears, " _Though certain aspects could be left out for a time…_ "

It was Blake's turn to choke on her food as the weight of Weiss's words were truly realized. She coughed, holding a hand up to wave off her teammate who looked ready to cross the room in concern. Blake got herself under control, feeling her own cheeks reddening and attempted to play it off, "Sorry. Just went down the wrong pipe!"

Weiss slowly returned to her seat while Blake's mind reeled, ' _Was I not imagining things!? Does Weiss really have a soft spot for, well… that!?_ '

Doing her best to compose herself, Blake cleared her throat, "So, are you going to keep reading then?"

Weiss paled, though for her that meant turning only the smallest tone lighter, and stared at the wall in thought. She idly tapped her spoon against her chin, not noticing the tiny bits of food falling free, "I… think I will," her expression grew guarded, eyes searching Blake for any hint that the faunus might have actually read the book before appearing satisfied, "It was… exciting enough…"

"Well, I'm sure Olivia wouldn't mind then," Blake spoke carefully, thinking over how to keep her secret, "At least, she wouldn't if it was me that asked. Do you want me to do that for you? You know how she can be sometimes."

"When I'm involved?" Weiss gave an exasperated eye roll as if she knew exactly what Blake meant, but the small smile that tugged at her lips indicated she was happy to not have to be the one that asked permission to read a 'deplorable' work of literature, "I would appreciate that very much. Thank you, Blake."

Blake grinned, "No problem."

Continuing with that satisfied smile, the two of them went about finishing up their breakfast. Blake was the first to finish, and walked over to set her tray on the counter before washing her hands as well. The comics appeared to have been well taken care of in the time that Ruby and Olivia both had them. Blake would hate to be the one that ended that streak.

She had just sat back down to pull out the next issue when her scroll buzzed in her pocket. Weiss's did as well at the same time, drawing a raised eyebrow from each of them. Blake pulled out hers and checked it to see a message widely displayed across the screen.

" _All Faunus are to report to the Infirmary for a routine shot. An explanation will be given before the procedure. This is mandatory._ "

Blake read it out loud so that Weiss wouldn't have to dig into her own pocket, and the two of them shared a disgruntled frown.

"You'd better go quickly. I assume you're hiding from other faunus as well?" at a nod from Blake, Weiss continued, "Maybe they'll let you get in and out before anyone else has a chance to arrive."

Blake only had to think it over for a moment before coming to the same conclusion, "Good point," her feet were already set, heading towards the door and looking back over her shoulder to bid her teammate farewell, "I'll be back when I'm done."

"See you then!" Weiss called out to her as the door closed.

Blake rushed down the hall, all thoughts of Weiss and books forgotten for the time being.

* * *

" _Hey girls! Come get lunch while it's hot!" the voice of Tai called out, ushering Olivia to jump up from her place on the floor._

" _What!? Hold on! You can't leave now, I was just about to beat you!" Ruby protested, glaring up at Olivia while both of their characters stood motionless on screen._

_Olivia pocketed her scroll with a shrug, "Guess it's a tie, Rubes," then broke out in a mocking grin, "Maybe you'll win one of these days. Uncle Tai wants us now, though."_

_Her little cousin grumbled and stood with a huff, crossing her arms to pout as they both proceeded into the kitchen, "I would have beat you that time!"_

_Olivia smirked, ruffling her hair with her free hand while moving to lean against the doorframe and let her past, "Wishful thinking. You never have and you never will!"_

_Her uncle gave them both an amused chuckle, setting down a bowl for each of them at the dining table before returning with two more. He set them down as well and gestured for the two of them to sit before peeking his head out of the kitchen and calling up the stairs, "Yang! I know you heard me the first time!"_

" _Coming!" Yang yelled in reply. A few seconds later, the sound of her feet thumping down the steps preceded her jetting into the kitchen and taking her place at the table. Her hair was freshly washed, gleaming golden in the morning light that streamed through the windows, "What've you got for us this time, old man?"_

" _I'm not old," Tai grumbled, then waved his hand nonchalantly overtop the bowls, "It's a new recipe for stew I've been wanting to try."_

_The four of them sat and began to dig in. Olivia grinned, thoroughly enjoying the meal. It reminded her of her mother's… 'Who…?' The memory was fleeting and passed as soon as it had appeared, interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and another man entering._

" _I'm home!"_

" _Dad!" Olivia cheered, hopping up from her place at the table to cross the distance into her… father's… chest. Qrow smiled and returned the hug she gave in kind, spinning in a circle and eliciting a delighted giggle from Olivia._

" _How've you been, kiddo?" Qrow set her down after completing a few more spins, blinking quickly as if he'd made himself dizzy in the process._

" _Great! Me and Rubes have been playing that game you bought!" Olivia smirked, "She hasn't stood a chance~"_

_Qrow gave her a playful shove back towards the dining room, "Yeah, yeah. I'll kick both your butts if you aren't careful~"_

_The two rejoined those still at the table. Her uncle got up to serve another bowl and set it down next to where Olivia sat, her father now joining them as well. Olivia watched him detach the collapsed greatsword from his back and set it off to the side, its edges already coated in a thick black liquid._

" _Been busy?" she asked, raising an eyebrow._

_Qrow laughed once, shaking his head, "The Grimm have been a bit more active, lately. Not too much to worry about."_

" _I can't wait until I become a huntress!" Olivia fawned, staring at the greatsword with wide eyes, "Fighting must be so cool!"_

_Qrow's face darkened, and he shook his head, "It's… not all it's cracked up to be, kiddo."_

" _What do you-" Olivia was cut off as she felt the presence of three figures outside the front door. Her heart raced, memories flashing unbidden through her mind's eye of a different family, and a different meal that had been interrupted._

_Four massive appendages appeared from Olivia's back, their blackened forms visible for all to see. The others in the room screamed, backing away from her as she ignored them to stride out of the living room and towards the front door._

_Olivia stopped before it and snarled, raising her voice to be heard through the wood, "Leave, and we can avoid any trouble!"_

_A man's voice rose from the other side of the door, tone mocking, "Ah, but what if we want trouble?"_

_Olivia laughed, even as the door was broken open and the first few rounds of gunfire flashed across her aura, "Then 'trouble' is what you'll find!"_

_With a furious cry, Olivia burst from the house and out into the open air. Her appendages flickered through the air like spears, stabbing into the men as they backed up in surprise. That surprise quickly turned to pain, gaping holes appearing wherever black appendages struck, only to pull back and lunge forward once more._

_Olivia spared none. Mercy was for the weak, and the Black Lotus was anything but_ _**weak** _ _. In only a few seconds, she stood over the bodies, blood pooling out and soaking into the ground around them while she breathed heavily, energy expended._

" _What… what have you done?"_

_Those few simple words ripped Olivia from her rage, her eyes widening in shock as she spun around to find her family standing there, staring at the carnage that she had unleashed. Qrow, Tai, Ruby, and Yang. Each showed various signs of being sick at the sight, while Qrow himself remained the most resilient. He stared only into Olivia's eyes, begging for her to make sense of what she'd done._

" _I… I had to. They would have killed all of you!" Olivia pleaded, eyes caught just as readily by Qrow's. She wanted, no,_ _ **needed**_ _him to understand, "I did this for you!"_

" _And them?" Qrow swept his hand wide, and Olivia turned back around to see the forest had now become a barren tundra. The places where trees once stood had been replaced by mountains of corpses, all being feasted on by carrion and Grimm alike. Here and there, Olivia spotted a face that she recognized. Beryl, Vasilias, Cardin… they numbered among hundreds that all stared at her with cold, dead eyes._

" _I… I can explain," Olivia stammered, turning back around. When she did though, it was to find the cabin had disappeared as well. In its stead lay another pile of corpses. These ones, however… Tears fell unabated as Olivia collapsed to her knees, staring at what little remained of her long lost families._

" _I told you they would leave."_

_Olivia whipped her head around to see Widow standing off to the side, eyes leveled in sorrow at the heap of bodies as well. Her eyes turned to Olivia slowly, and her arms raised to try and welcome her for a hug, "Come to me, Little Spider. I promise I'll never leave you like they have. I'll never turn my back on you…"_

" _N-no!" Olivia scrambled back to her feet and backed away, feeling her body beginning to shake as the emotions overwhelmed her, "You betrayed them! You'll betray me, too!"_

_A warmth spread through Olivia's hand, and she instinctively grasped at this last remaining shred of… something, that was neither dead nor Widow. The woman's face contorted in frustration for an instant before she evaporated, the entire wasteland suddenly becoming blanketed in a flurry of snowfall._

_Olivia's view of the corpses was all but obscured, and soon enough they were completely covered, lost to sight beneath the white that encompassed everything. That warmth spread from Olivia's hand, and she turned to finally get a look at what could be causing it._

_Weiss stood next to her, hand entwined with her own and face in a somber smile, "What are you doing out here all alone?"_

" _I… I was…" Olivia could still feel the bodies buried beneath the surface. No matter what she did to cover them up, they would still be there, waiting to be revealed along with her past._

_Weiss raised a finger to her lips, silencing Olivia's stammering, and instead pulled her in for a hug. Lithe, soft arms wrapped around Olivia's back, and she couldn't help but return the gesture. It felt just like the first, both of them needing the contact for their own reasons. Though this time around… Olivia couldn't help but feel like she was getting the better part of the deal._

_Olivia closed her eyes, and the white light that surrounded her dimmed. As sight faded, she could hear a soothing hum pick up, its tones reminiscent of a song she'd once enjoyed._

Olivia opened her eyes, and could still feel the warmth of a hand holding hers.

Could still hear the soft song being hummed.


	46. Friendship

Olivia's eyes blearily opened to take in the world around her, sixth sense working in tandem to try and make sense of where she was. She and Weiss were in a small room, Olivia herself propped up on what appeared to be a hospital bed with a thin blanket laying overtop her. The walls were lined with a few counters along with various medical instruments, one of which was an IV currently dripping some type of blue liquid into her arm.

Olivia became aware of how her hand was entwined with Weiss's own and quickly let go, pulling away slightly but resisting the urge to wipe her hand off. The soft song that the heiress had been humming was similarly ended, Weiss's eyes fluttering open in surprise.

"Oh, Olivia! You're awake!"

Olivia brought a hand up to hold her head, feeling a headache beginning to pulse behind her eyes from the lights in the room, "What… what happened? How'd I end up here?"

"You don't remember?" Olivia could hear the worry in Weiss's voice, and she stood in order to reach over and lay her fingers across the faunus's forehead.

Olivia batted her hand off and scooted away slightly, shooting the other girl a look of annoyance, "What are you doing?"

Weiss paused with a worried frown and rubbed her hand absentmindedly, "I was checking to see if you still had a fever. How do you feel?"

Olivia's entire body ached. Her head was pounding, heart beating unnaturally fast, stomach protesting every small movement she made, and her limbs felt like jelly, ' _Not to mention whatever's wrong with my aura…_ ' Her sixth sense was alerting her to how it was fluctuating drastically, dipping low only for the needle in her arm to inject more liquid and even it back out a moment later.

"I feel great."

Weiss crossed her arms, striking a pose that she might have otherwise used while convincing Ruby to finish her homework, "No, you don't."

Olivia had the sudden desire to rip the needle from her arm and stand, but began feeling woozy the instant she started to move. Sheer force of will alone kept her from emptying her stomach, and she clenched her teeth shut for a few seconds before replying tightly between them, "No. No I don't."

"I'm glad we're in agreement," Weiss dropped the pose, then hesitated in moving her hand forward, "Are you going to stop fussing?"

Olivia narrowed her eyes, but remained where she was instead of pulling away, "Only if you tell me what happened."

Weiss rolled her eyes and reached forward, placing her fingers across Olivia's forehead once more, "I would have anyway, you dunce."

Olivia waited a few moments for Weiss to finish checking her temperature before looking at her expectantly once the hand was pulled away.

Weiss made a small 'hmm', sound in her throat, putting a finger to her chin in contemplation, "Well, you don't seem to have a fever at least. Now that you're awake I suppose the nurses should check on you again, and I'll need to message Ruby…" she tapped her chin, frowning slightly, "It hasn't been that long, though. She needs her rest. I suppose my promise was to send a message after you woke up, and that we never really specified how _long_ after…" Weiss trailed off in thought.

"Princess…"

Weiss came back to herself, eyes focusing back on Olivia, "Right! What's the last thing you remember?"

Olivia frowned in thought, mind managing to pull up bits and pieces of the dream she'd been having. Killing the bandits, speaking with Widow… standing in a field of white while hugging Weiss tightly… ' _That one has to be her fault. I mean, who holds your hand while you're asleep? Of course she'd end up in my dreams…_ ' The memory of the hug stood out most though, and Olivia found herself missing the feeling of those arms wrapped around her.

She coughed, pretending to clear her throat, "Um, last thing I remember, right…" Olivia thought back further, to the last thing she remembered while being _awake_ , "We were on a field trip to Forever Fall… collecting… tree sap?"

Weiss nodded, "With the infinite wisdom bestowed upon you while being deliriously sick, you thought it would be a _fantastic_ idea to wander off from the rest of the group and fall unconscious in the middle of the forest. The rest of us fought off a pack of beowolves and chased one before finding you."

Olivia groaned, "How bad was it?"

Weiss made a small 'hmph', "Well, I'll need to order another combat outfit, that's for sure. I expect many members of team Lion might do the same. I certainly wouldn't want to dress in one that's been covered in blood."

"Covered in…" Olivia shook her head, "That bad, huh? I'll admit, I wasn't feeling the greatest…" she felt her stomach grumble and shuddered, "...Still don't."

Weiss's expression softened, "Miss Goodwitch said it was a sickness that affects faunus far more than it does humans. After a little consulting with Blake, we figured out that you must have gotten it from your… ahem... _fling_."

' _Right… Melanie was taking care of her sister for a couple days before I went there…_ ' Olivia nodded, "Makes sense."

"Blake just went to get treated as well. They have an antidote from the sounds of it, but it only works more as a preventative measure. You're stuck on aura enhancers until your body can fight it off, unfortunately."

' _Blake is getting…?_ ' Olivia paled, eyes darting over to Weiss who flashed her a smile as if pleased with herself.

"Yes, I figured it out. Honestly, how long did the two of you think you could hide cat ears from your teammates? I might have figured it out sooner if Blake didn't spend so much time avoiding the spotlight as she does."

"Does Ruby know, then?"

Weiss shook her head, "She's still in the dark for the moment. Ruby was a little too… devastated... by everything that was happening to notice what Blake was doing next to her."

Olivia smirked, "Glad to know you care, Princess~ Guess that means _you_ weren't particularly upset?"

Weiss shot her a glare, "Don't be ridiculous. I just happened to be on Ruby's other side and caught Blake touching her 'bow'. That, along with the conversation she had with Miss Goodwitch was more than enough to tip me off. I'm not stupid, you know."

"Far from it," Olivia agreed with a small chuckle, "You're the smartest person I've ever met," she could see a small smile beginning to form on Weiss's lips and decided to backtrack, knowing a Schnee with an inflated ego could never be a good thing, "Still need to work on your skill in the _ring_ , though. No amount of page turning will ever bring you up to par~"

"If there's one thing you're an expert at, Olivia, it's ruining a moment."

"It's a gift~" Olivia laughed, then began to cough, feeling her gut wrench violently and a hot liquid attempting to come up her throat.

Weiss's eyes flashed in worry and she placed a hand on Olivia's shoulder, "Careful! You only just woke up… You lost a _lot_ of blood between the forest and here."

After a handful of seconds, Olivia's stomach calmed and she got her breathing back under control, gulping to force down whatever threatened to surge forth. The taste of acid remained in her mouth, burning the back of her throat enough to be an annoyance but not much more.

Olivia tried to clear her mouth a bit before speaking, "How much is 'a lot'?"

"As in… you would have died if we didn't find you when we did?"

Olivia couldn't help but laugh again, her own private joke causing her to gasp in pain yet still laugh past it, unable to contain herself. ' _Oh my Oum, imagine that! The Black Lotus killed off by germs when so many hunters tried and failed. I'm sure Widow would have been disappointed!_ '

The reminder of Widow brought back more of Olivia's memories, of how she had left the group to find a nice, quiet place to relax. Widow had found her out in the forest, already nearly passing out from the overwhelming heat and fatigue. ' _Did she leave me out there to die?_ ' Or had the resourceful woman found some other way to help her? Olivia doubted Widow would have ever simply walked out of the forest and asked for help from a bunch of humans, let alone a Schnee. Neither would she have left her to die either, though.

Weiss placed her hand on her hips, glaring down at Olivia fiercely while she laughed, "It isn't funny!"

Olivia fought to get herself under control, groaning as her chest spasmed a few more times. She waved Weiss off, shaking her head simultaneously, "I mean, it's _kind of_ funny, Princess."

"What in the world is so funny about dying!?"

Olivia chuckled lightly a few more times, ending with a satisfied hum, "You wouldn't get it." She glanced back around the room, knowing from her sixth sense already that what she sought wasn't there, "What did they do with my clothes?"

Weiss frowned, looking around the room before giving a small shrug, "Disposed of them, probably."

Olivia let out a sigh of annoyance, "I _liked_ that outfit…"

Weiss waved a hand nonchalantly, "We can get you more clothes. Better that than walking around as a carrier for the virus. You wouldn't want to risk other faunus's lives, would you?"

"Of course not," Olivia scoffed. She fidgeted with her blanket, then realized all she was wearing was a small dressing gown. Olivia's cheeks brightened slightly, and she let the blanket fall back into place, "Did Goodwitch or the nurses say how long I'd be stuck in here?"

"At least for the weekend, but you did wait longer than most other students do before reporting their illness. You might be in here a few days longer than that."

' _Oh no, but what about classes~_ '

Olivia's grin was interrupted by Weiss who beamed widely, "Don't worry! I'll be sure to bring all of your assignments and homework so that you can stay caught up!"

"Greeeat…" Olivia faked a smile for Weiss's benefit, then turned to scowl at the floor, ' _Juuuust what I needed._ '

"And I did promise to help you study, so…"

Olivia perked up slightly at that, having enjoyed their study session before. She then remembered her side of the deal, and rubbed the back of her neck, "Sorry we won't be able to train for a bit… I could give you a regimen, if you want?"

"Hmmm," Weiss thought on it for a moment before shaking her head, "I might train the wrong way if I do it on my own. I'd rather wait until you're there so that I know I'm not making any mistakes."

"That's… true, I guess. Wouldn't want to practice the _wrong_ way," Olivia felt a little better, though either way she was still letting Weiss down.

"Do you feel like you could eat anything?" Weiss asked.

Olivia felt her stomach protest at the mere suggestion, and shook her head back and forth in tiny motions, "Not a chance."

"Well, whenever you are…" Weiss left the offer open, sitting back down in her chair and getting comfortable. It was then that Olivia's eyes were drawn to the numerous other chairs decorating the floor around the bed, and she counted them out.

"Was… was _everyone_ here?" Olivia could hardly believe it. Nora and Ren made sense, perhaps Ruby… ' _Do the others… actually care about me that much?_ '

Weiss frowned, noticing the strange tone in her teammate's voice, "Well… why wouldn't they? They're all your friends, aren't they? Isn't that what friends are supposed to do?"

' _Sure, but so was Malachite, and she'd spit on my grave if it meant making a few extra lien. I doubt even Melanie would care, aside from having to find another girl to keep her company._ '

"I don't know… I guess… I haven't really had that kind of friend before now," Olivia confessed.

"That's…" Weiss frowned minutely, staring off into space for a moment before regaining focus, "Understandable. I didn't really have many friends of my own back in Atlas, either."

"Pfft, what? _You_ , Princess? But you're the life of the party!~" Olivia teased, smiling widely when she was rewarded with a blue eyed glare for her efforts.

"And what was _your_ excuse?"

Olivia chuckled darkly, "An overbearing mother."

"But didn't…?" Weiss paused in confusion, looking both curious and hesitant to continue with her question. After a gesture from Olivia, she finished it slowly, "...Didn't your parents die?"

Olivia nodded, "They did, but I was… adopted, in a way. Not in any legal sense of the word, but even so… We found each other through circumstance, and… I was foolish enough to trust her."

Weiss looked ready to pry further but, after a small shake of Olivia's head, dropped that line of questioning, "You talked a lot while you were delirious, you know."

' _Hopefully I didn't say anything too damning…_ ' Olivia tried to play it off and gave Weiss an expectant look, "Really? What did I say?"

Weiss shrugged slightly, "You were fading in and out, but it sounded like you were talking with your brother, mostly… Jace, wasn't it? Ruby mentioned hearing something about the comic books the two of you read as well," she smirked, "Must have been a crazy dream."

Olivia could imagine what part of the 'comic book' she might have been talking with Jace about, and decided against asking further. Drawing more attention to the name 'Black Lotus' would do nothing except endanger her secrets. She gave a hesitant chuckle, "Yeah, pretty messed up."

Olivia felt two familiar presences approaching the door from out in the hall, an idea coming to mind. The moment before the pair reached the door, she turned to Weiss with a wide smirk and raised her voice so it could be heard from out in the hall, "For the last time, Princess! You can't _snuggle_ with me!"

"What are you-?"

Weiss was interrupted as the door opened to let in Ren and Nora, the latter wearing a vivacious grin, "Oh, hoh? What's this I hear? I hope you know you'll need _our_ approval if you want to date dear Olivia, Weiss~"

Weiss's cheeks burned, her mouth working without any words escaping. Ren looked between Weiss's face and Olivia's, easily noticing the cheshire grin the faunus sported. He placed a hand on Nora's shoulder, "I don't think _Weiss_ is the one wanting to share a bed."

It was Olivia's turn to brighten, though not nearly as much as Weiss had. She shot Ren a nod of respect, "Fair play, Ren. That wasn't half bad~"

Ren's expression remained mostly neutral, though he did angle it slightly in joking confusion, "But… I wasn't kidding."

Nora laughed and backhanded his shoulder lightly, "Come on, now. No teasing the sick girl!" her eyes returned to Olivia, looking her over, "How are you feeling?"

Olivia shrugged, "Not great, honestly. The Princess here told me it was pretty brutal."

"Oh, yeah. I thought I'd never get that blood out~"

It was then that Weiss's breath caught, and she placed her hands on her hips from where she sat, "Nora! And… Ren, too. You really should dispose of those clothes!"

Nora waved a hand dismissively, "What!? No way! My outfit can't be replaced!"

"The bleach they supply to our rooms _is_ rather efficient at removing stains," Ren tacked on, "We spent half the night washing it out."

"Do you think it would work for my outfit?" Olivia asked hopefully.

Ren frowned, "No bleach is _that_ good."

The two settled into chairs of their own, willing to pass the time in the company of both members of team Rainbow. Olivia was grateful for it, and chatted away with the three of them for a while longer before Blake returned. The girl rubbed a hand over the crease of her arm as she entered, likely having received her injection there.

Eventually, Weiss texted Ruby to let her know that Olivia had woken up. The young reaper arrived in only a few short minutes, blowing through the door in a semblance infused flurry of petals. Her eyes fell on Olivia and she cheered, pumping a fist into the air.

"Hey, kid~"

Ruby zipped to the side of the bed next to Weiss and threw her arms around Olivia, hugging her tightly, "I knew you'd be okay!"

Olivia could hear the slight tremble in her voice, and wrapped her own arms around the girl comfortingly, "As if I'd get taken out because of a little _blood loss_. You're talking about _Olivia Mandevilla_ here. I'm made of tougher stuff~" Olivia grinned as Ruby pulled away, wiping a sleeve across her face with a small sniff, "I probably would've been fine even if you _hadn't_ found me."

' _Widow likely would have taken me with her to the White Fang camp. They'd certainly have some stolen aura enhancers on hand…_ '

Ruby punched her on the shoulder, "Not likely!"

Olivia gave her an offended look, putting a hand to her own chest, "You doubt my resourcefulness?"

Ruby scoffed, "What could you have possibly done?"

Olivia put a hand to her chin, and shrugged to the younger girl after a few moments, "I would have thought of something."

"You were a little too busy imagining yourself as a comic book character for that," Ruby chided playfully, "I bet the Black Lotus _would_ be able to get out of that situation, though. She _always_ pulls one over on Ozborne!"

Olivia could sense Ren and Nora turning to each other with worried glances, and forced herself to let out a weak chuckle, "Your little comic book character has nothing on me, kid. All I need is an eraser~"

"Pfft, you can't erase ink!"

Olivia grinned, "You can if you try hard enough."

She felt Ren lean sideways, cupping his hand to whisper into Nora's ear while pointing to the box that housed Ruby's comics. The ginger Mistralian had a look of sudden realization, eyes following where Ren pointed. She mimicked him, whispering in reply before the two of them nodded in agreement.

Olivia then paused in confusion herself, wondering why the box was there in the first place. She leaned over the side of the bed to look down on them, drawing the attention of Blake.

"I brought them down yesterday," Blake confessed, "and read some of them this morning. I hope you don't mind."

' _Just another person that will have an inkling of knowledge about the Black Lotus… Where's the harm in that?_ ' Olivia thought sarcastically, then spared her faunus teammate a small shrug, "Fine by me. What about you, Ruby?"

Ruby studied Blake closely for a few moments before speaking, "As your team leader, I demand you take care of them!"

"I'll keep them in mint condition, I promise," Blake replied gladly, "I'm almost done with another book. I'll keep reading the comics after that as long as I won't be getting in Olivia's way."

Olivia waved a hand, "No, you're fine. I've been a bit too busy lately to really sit down and enjoy them with some peace of mind, anyway. What with all of Oobleck and Port's homework…" she trailed off, feeling her body beginning to slacken tiredly and blinking away the haze that appeared in her eyes. Olivia breathed deeply, letting it out in a yawn hidden behind her hand, the vestiges still apparent as she began to speak once more, "I just haven't really gotten the chance…"

Blake heard everything and gave Olivia a worried glance, checking her over until her eyes fell on the IV. Olivia followed her gaze to the bag, now hanging empty from the pole next to her bed. The line itself leading into her arm was also empty, a small amount of blood having returned up the line.

Blake jumped up and excused herself, announcing that she was going to go find a nurse. Olivia struggled for the next few minutes, feeling herself becoming more drowsy and struggling to follow the conversation. Once Blake returned with the nurse, everyone else remained silent while she did a check up, flashing a light past Olivia's eyes and asking her how she felt.

"I feel just fine. Good as new, even."

Weiss shot her a death glare and interrupted the proceedings by clearing her throat, "Don't let her fool you. She told me only an hour ago about how terrible she felt. Olivia has a bad habit of not accepting help from anyone."

"I would never lie about my health, Princess," Olivia lied.

Weiss raised an eyebrow in disbelief, then turned that same look on to the nurse, "For all we know she could be flatlining and only remaining alive from sheer stubbornness."

The nurse chuckled, checking a few readings on the monitor, "Your pulse has dropped significantly and your breathing has slowed. Both clear signs of being tired," she tutted, giving Olivia a sly grin, "Can't fool me. Sorry kid," then turned to eye the rest of them, "Your friend needs sleep. I'd suggest you all leave for now. We'll see how she does off the infusion for a while, and administer further dosage if necessary."

Ruby began to pout, but upon noticing Olivia once more hiding a yawn, she gave up with a small smile. The young leader patted Olivia on the shoulder, "You get some rest. Team leader's orders."

"Well," Olivia couldn't help but yawn again, eyes fluttering closed while she fought against it, "If you say so…"

The group said their goodbyes and began to head out. Before she left, Blake snagged Olivia's scroll off the counter and handed it to her, in full view of the rest while hiding the small wink she gave, "Let us know when you're feeling up for another visit."

"Will do," Olivia nodded and set the scroll off to her side.

The nurse left along with them, shutting off the lights on the way out and returning the room to a dim state. Olivia's faunus eyes could still see everything in shades of grey, and she focused on her sixth sense all the way until her… friends… had left.

' _They're… they're the real deal…_ ' Olivia still couldn't quite believe that they had been so concerned for _her_. A part of her felt guilty, and after a few seconds she realized why.

' _I… don't deserve them…_ '

She wasn't cut from the same cloth. The others… they were all true heroes in the making, unbound by the blood that stained Olivia's hands. As easily as her blood had tainted them and their clothing, they had washed it clean. Meanwhile… it was only fitting that hers had been disposed of.

Olivia felt her scroll buzz and reopened her eyes enough to peek at it. A message from Blake was posted across the screen, and she picked it up to see what her fellow faunus had to say.

" _I'm glad you're okay, Olivia. Weiss just mentioned to us how surprised you were that we wanted to stay by your side. You might not realize it, but… you're a good person, too._ "

Olivia's hands shook slightly, invigorated by multiple other messages being received. She went down them one by one, from Nora, Ren, Ruby, and even Weiss.

" _Hey! You're gonna kick this cold to the curb, then we'll kick it down in Vale! No excuses!_ "

" _You may feel down on yourself, Olivia, but I assure you your doubt is misplaced. I remember the tough little girl that saved us outside that grocery store and gave us a place to spend the night, when Nora and I were at our lowest… We aren't just your friends. You are ours, as well. I'll never forget that little girl, and you should never forget what you mean to us, either._ "

Tears welled in Olivia's eyes, and she was forced to blink them away as she scrolled down further, first to Ruby's message and then to Weiss's.

" _Aww, Olivia! Of course I care about you! And not just because I'm team leader, either! Who else can I look up to? Who else will keep me safe? Weiss!? You're not just an essential part of our team, you're a part of our family! I know everyone would agree!_ "

Olivia rubbed the hem of her blanket across her face, trying to dry up the tears that had begun to flow freely. She had spent years looking for revenge, out for the blood of those that had taken so much away from her. The Black Lotus had hardened her heart, not allowing any to tread there aside from Widow herself. Now that she'd resumed being Olivia… that defense had deteriorated, leaving her weak to the affection being so blatantly put on display.

She continued on to read the final message from Weiss.

" _Oh, Olivia. You really are a dunce sometimes, you know that? I hope everyone's messages helped to clear up whatever doubts you may have had. If not, I could get Yang and Pyrrha in on it as well, maybe even get Ruby's father and uncle's numbers to see what they have to say? You might be blind to it, but I spent my entire life looking for the sort of relationships that you've already managed to create. These people care about you deeply, no matter what color your veins are or how sharp your wit might be._

_And if you ever need a… physical reminder, know that I'm always available for a hug. We can even pretend that you couldn't sleep without it, just so you can save face. I… really liked the one we shared before. I'll be disappointed if we never do again…_

_Sleep well, friend…_ "

Olivia reread the message a few times before typing a reply. She debated on what to say, writing out quite a few sentences several times over, only to delete them once more. Finally, Olivia settled on two simple words, so hard for her to say before but now immortalized between the two of them for the rest of time.

" _Thank you._ "

Olivia fell into a restless sleep a short time later, conscious mind eventually becoming overtaken by dreams as she revisited a familiar snowy white plain. Unlike before, however…

Her friends remained.


	47. Study Buddy

Olivia woke several hours later in excruciating pain, the heart rate monitor spiking at an accelerated rate and her body shaking uncontrollably. Her stomach felt as if it was trying to devour itself from the inside, and her attempts at crying out were interrupted by the blood that bubbled up in her throat. Olivia's aura was entirely depleted, incapable of summoning up the barest dredge to help assuage the pain.

The nurses were quick to arrive, alerted by a loud sound blaring throughout the halls. Two of them rushed in with expert grace, moving to hold down Olivia's arm while another drip of aura enhancers was attached. Bit by bit, the icy cold liquid being fed into her veins managed to suppress the fire within.

After a few minutes, Olivia managed to get her trembling body back under control and exhaled deeply. Everything ached, each muscle having seized in her throes. Looking herself over, Olivia grimaced. The front of her chest and hospital gown were stained from the blood she had coughed up, though the sheets and bedding appeared to be clean.

"Sit up, dear."

Olivia shook herself, numbed mind recalling the presence of the two nurses that remained. One stood with a wet handcloth and a small plastic bucket. The other held a new gown.

The more senior of the two nurses raised an eyebrow, then gestured towards Olivia's chest with her chin, "We need to get you changed and cleaned, dear. I can help you get that off if you don't feel able?"

Olivia grimaced anew and nodded towards the small rolling table nearby, "You can leave them there. I'll take care of it myself."

The younger nurse chipped in, a practiced smile plastered across her face, "We don't mind, really! We'll take care of you!"

"That won't be necessary."

The nurses' eyes widened, and the older of the two gave her a considering look, head tilted up and eyes looking into Olivia's as if gauging how strongly the faunus would insist. She must have seen something worth noting in Olivia's fierce gaze, as she nodded sharply in acceptance.

"As you wish, dear," the nurse set down the new garment on the small table Olivia had indicated, then waved the other nurse to follow suit.

The younger nurse looked between the two in confusion, but complied after a few moments' hesitation. She set the small plastic tub down along with the wet cloth, then rolled them both up to the side of Olivia's bed. Her eyes flickered to the faunus in concern, then back to her superior.

The older of the two placed her hand on the other's back and gently ushered her towards the door, then glanced back before closing it, "Do try to avoid making a mess."

Olivia stared blankly at the woman until she left, finally breathing out a sigh of relief once both had retreated back down the hall. She looked herself over once more, feeling the sore tension that still remained in her limbs, and shrugged mentally.

' _No way in hell am I letting some human treat me like a child…_ '

Olivia struggled to sit up on the bed and reached back, pulling apart the velcro seam that ran from the collar to the bottom hem of her gown. With some difficulty and a bit of shuffling around, she managed to get her right arm free, then paused in annoyance. The IV line stuck in her arm meant that she would need to lift the garment up along the tubing and then off the stand itself in order to pull it completely free.

' _Or…_ ' Olivia snorted in a small laugh, feeling with her sense how weak her aura currently was. It raised slowly and dipped sharply in equal turns, but as long as it never ran out _completely_ …

Olivia leaned forward more than before, summoning a single appendage into the confined space. She bent it backwards towards herself, tucking it into the opening for her left arm. With a quick swipe up, the fabric was cut cleanly. Olivia kept her other hand on it to stop it from falling on to her bedding, holding aloft the slightly drenched gown.

The young faunus took a moment to check herself over, seeing the hint of red that stained the lightly tanned skin on her chest. Olivia was doubly glad for her decision, realizing that the two nurses would have had a full view of her braless chest if allowed to stay.

' _Not that the younger one wasn't cute enough, but… at least buy me dinner first~_ '

Olivia laughed to herself and gave a rueful shake of her head, ' _Now on to the next problem…_ ' Her eyes scoured the room, finding the trash can that had been placed closer to the door. It was hands free, with a small foot pedal near the bottom so that it could be opened easily. Olivia summoned a second appendage along with the first, and had to lean forward just a bit more in order for it to reach.

With the tip of one appendage on the pedal, Olivia draped the ruined gown on to the end of the other and began to carefully move it across the room. She smirked, knowing that for anyone else it would be quite a strange sight, the cloth seemingly floating across the room by itself.

Unfortunately, Olivia's aura chose that moment to bottom out. The stained gown fell as her appendages vanished, striking the ground with a wet plop and a small spray of blood that gushed out the sides on impact.

Olivia's vision swam, and she had to sit back in the bed for a few long seconds while the pain threatened to return. She gripped her bed sheets tightly, feeling the mounting tension.

Then, as quickly as it had gone… her aura returned. The smallest amount, yet still enough to wash away the pain. Olivia breathed out, then summoned her appendages once more. In a few seconds, she had pressed down on the foot pedal, scooped up the garment, and deposited it into the trash can. The only evidence that remained was the blood that had seeped onto the floor.

Olivia sighed in annoyance. If she left the blood as it was, the nurses would surely have questions, along with potentially insisting they be the ones to change her if it happened again. ' _I'll have to clean it myself…_ ' she thought with a shake of her head.

Olivia grabbed the small wash cloth from out of the plastic tub and rung it out one handed, doing her best to make sure it was only damp instead of leaking. Once satisfied, she brought it to her chest and began to wipe herself down, making sure to get every red blotch that decorated her skin. It took only a few minutes to scrub herself clean. After one final check, Olivia deposited the now reddened rag back in the plastic tub.

' _They could come check up on me at any time…_ ' Olivia thought idly, eyes falling back on the bloodied spot on the floor. Unfortunately, an extra rag had not been provided, and Olivia wasn't sure how comfortable it would be to slip on the other gown while her chest was still wet.

' _I could take care of the mess in the meantime…? My appendages don't have quite that level of finesse, though..._ '

Olivia sighed, realizing she would need to get out of bed in order to clean the spot. As long as she did so quickly, she believed it would be alright. Her eyes fell on the needle sticking out of her arm, and she shrugged weakly, ' _It's not as if I'll have trouble getting it back in. Kind of hard to miss where my veins are when they stand out so much._ '

Fingers grasping the needle, Olivia pulled it free easily enough and watched for a moment as a small dribble of blood followed in its wake. Her aura closed the wound soon enough though, and all it took was a passing swipe with the rag to free herself of the crimson beads.

Olivia's muscles ached as she swung her feet over the side of the bed. She felt better than she had the day before, but was still nowhere close to being healthy. Olivia was forced to steady herself along the edge of the bed when she first stood, legs quaking under the sudden pressure of her body weight after being off her feet for so long. She dipped the rag into the water one last time, rung it out, and stumbled over to the blood on the floor.

The patch wasn't very large, all things considered. Atop the white tile though, it would have been impossible to miss. Olivia carefully lowered herself on to her hands and knees and began scrubbing away the blood.

Only a handful of seconds passed before she felt a familiar figure approaching, and her face paled a moment later.

"Excuse me! Sir!? You can't go in there!" Olivia could hear the younger nurse calling out, her presence drawing nearer in the wake of the other that was much more familiar to the faunus.

"It's alright, I know the kid!" a gruff voice replied, waving off the nurse before reaching the door. Olivia did the only thing she could, and dropped the rag while crossing her chest with her arms, doing her best to obscure as much as possible.

The door opened, and crimson red eyes looked first to the bed, then swept off to the side to see Olivia kneeling on the floor, covering her naked chest with both arms and glaring in return.

"Get _out_ , Qrow!" she exclaimed with reddened cheeks.

Qrow's eyes widened, and he immediately averted his head while backing out of the room, muttering "Sorry!" in a choked gasp.

The door closed soon after, and Olivia took her last chance to quickly scrub what remained of the blood before depositing the rag into the trash as well. She panicked as she felt the nurse drawing closer. Olivia hopped back up, snagged the replacement gown off the small table, threw her hands through it, and weakly vaulted into the bed without bothering with the velcro.

The nurse turned the door knob at the exact moment that Olivia pulled the thin blanket back up, using it to hide the fact that her arm no longer held the needle in it. The door opened, and the nurse peeked her head in, "I'm sorry about that! He said he knew where he was going and just walked off. Took me a moment to realize he was headed your direction, and by then…"

"I-it's fine," Olivia sighed, feeling the heat beginning to die down in her cheeks. She could still sense Qrow out in the hall, being very careful not to stand anywhere near the open door. Olivia looked past the nurse and raised her voice, calling out so that he could hear, "You can come in now, old man!"

Qrow poked his head around the corner, eyes averted for a moment while he checked on Olivia's state of dress with his periphery, "You um... decent now, kid?"

"Ever heard of _knocking_?" Olivia shot back, still mildly irked.

Qrow raised a hand and rubbed it against the back of his neck, sparing her an apologetic smile, "Sorry about that."

Olivia shook her head in exasperation, "It _has_ to run in the family. Ruby never knocked either that first night I stayed over…" she eyed him smugly, "At least this time I didn't break someone's _wood_."

"Ah, ha, ha…" Qrow chuckled nervously, "Wouldn't want that, now would we?"

"I don't suppose we would," Olivia agreed, then nodded her head, gesturing for him to enter. The nurse spared the two a disapproving eye and left, returning back up the hall.

Qrow stepped inside and closed the door behind himself, still with one hand raised to the back of his head, "How ya feeling?"

"One sec," Olivia pulled back her blanket slightly in order to grab the needle, then aligned it with her vein before jabbing it in. The sharp pain lasted only a moment, and was mostly lost among what aches she already felt. Immediately after, the chilling liquid began to once again enter her veins.

Olivia looked back up to Qrow, then pointedly glanced down at the hospital bed she was in, "Well, I won't lie… I've been better."

Qrow nodded, "Yang's retelling of it was _pretty_ gruesome."

"I don't really remember much after passing out."

"Would have guessed as much. I've been messed up a few times in my life, too," he winked, sitting down in one of the chairs and propping his feet up on another, "Most of which were from alcohol, but who's counting~?"

Olivia snorted, "Now _that_ I would pay to see. I bet you start hitting on anything that _moves_."

Qrow raised his hands, palms facing up in a 'what can you do' gesture, "More trouble than it's worth, usually. If a man ain't chasin' tail though, is he even living?"

Olivia couldn't reach far enough to pat him on the shoulder, so instead gave him the most sympathetic smile she could muster, "It's rough out there for you old timers. Might want to start telling them you're younger than you really are," she put a hand to her chin, looking him over, "Fifty or so, maybe? I don't see them being convinced otherwise~"

"I'm only forty-three."

"And I'm not that gullible~" Olivia laughed.

Qrow narrowed his eyes, then gave up with a huff, "Did you figure out who you got it from?"

"My side chick~"

Qrow's eyebrows raised, eyeing Olivia while trying to decide whether or not she was being serious. After a few moments, he smiled and gave a nod of respect, "Was it worth it?"

Olivia grinned, "Like you wouldn't believe."

It was Qrow's turn to laugh, deep chested bellows that could likely be heard by the nurses down the hall. He finished with an exasperated sigh, "Can't fault you for that! Know how long you're gonna be in here paying for it?"

Olivia shrugged, nodding over to the small container of blood mixed water, "They tried taking me off aura enhancers and it didn't end so well. A couple more days, maybe? I don't want to miss too many classes."

Qrow waved his hand dismissively, "Ah, you'll be fine. Us Mistralians can pull through just about anything. I'm sure Ruby won't mind bringing along any assignments you might have missed."

Olivia shrugged, "The princess was gonna do that for me, anyway."

"Princess?" Qrow frowned, unfamiliar with the nickname.

"The Schnee," Olivia corrected, "She's pretty quick to harp on anyone if they aren't studying or finishing up their homework before it's due."

"The one you were cozying up with at the house?" Qrow smirked, a small glimmer in his eye.

Olivia scoffed, "Unfortunate circumstances. She knows to keep her distance…" ' _Aside from holding my hand, and…_ ' the hug that Olivia wouldn't mind repeating…

Qrow raised his hands defensively, "Say no more, say no more. At least you seemed like you were getting along, right? That's a far cry from how you were before."

Olivia turned her head to the side, unwilling to admit that she'd been too quick to judge Weiss. There were many ways she could describe her, but… ' _My enemy isn't one of them…_ '

Olivia turned back with a sigh, "It's… working out alright for now. Jurries out on whether or not it'll last four whole years."

"All you can do is give it your best shot," Qrow shrugged, "It was a long time before Summer and Tai managed to butter up my sister and me."

"Kinky~"

Qrow snorted, "Hey. I've got my fair share of Beacon stories, most of which I've never got the chance to tell anyone younger."

"Because of Raven?"

"Heh, pretty much. Never knew how Yang would take it."

Olivia tilted her head in thought, letting out a small 'hmm…' as she did. Her eyes returned to Qrow, and she shrugged minutely, "I won't claim to know her better than you, but I bet she could handle it. She's a big girl, Qrow. You don't need to protect her from everything anymore."

Qrow rubbed the back of his neck, glancing off to the side, "You might be right…" He seemed to consider it himself for a few more moments, staring blankly at the floor before returning his gaze to Olivia with a nervous chuckle, "Still, we've got four more years before she's let loose from this place. I might wait a bit longer, ya know? For safety's sake."

"The longer you wait, the more excuses she might create to keep those childhood dreams alive… I'd rather clean a wound as soon as possible than let it fester."

Qrow sighed, "I'll… consider it. See what Tai thinks."

Olivia nodded her acceptance. That was close enough for her, at least for now. She couldn't quite put Yang in her own shoes, considering their circumstances were fairly different. Olivia couldn't help but wonder what her life would have been like if someone had warned her about Widow early on, though. What would have happened if she'd never influenced her life?

' _It would have saved me a lot of grief… and saved a lot of other people's lives…_ '

"Well, I just came by to check up on ya," Qrow stood as he spoke, seeming ready to leave now that he had something to think on. He walked over to the door and opened it, turning back to look over his shoulder with a small smile, "I'm glad you're okay, kid. No more scares like that any time soon, alright?"

' _Scares?_ ' Olivia smirked, "What? The big bad huntsman was worried for little ol' me?"

Qrow's smile deepened slightly, and he shook his head in a small motion while glancing down to the floor. Crimson eyes returned, staring into magenta. There was a warmth behind them, a look of compassion that caught Olivia completely off guard and forced the heat to return to her cheeks.

"Even big bad huntsman have things they want to protect. Catch ya later, kid."

Qrow closed the door behind himself as he left, leaving Olivia with slowly brightening cheeks and a hand that clutched the hem of her blanket tightly. When…

' _When was the last time someone spoke to me that way…?_ '

The words weren't unfamiliar. Widow had said similar things often enough over the last five years that they'd spent together. Yet somehow… Olivia _believed_ Qrow more when he said it… Widow's words rang as hollow and untrue in comparison, a mockery of the compassion that Qrow had just shown.

Feeling tired after her interrupted rest and quick excursion from the confines of the bed, Olivia rolled on to her side and closed her eyes, exhaling softly. The weight that urged her to sleep was fought in equal parts by the uncertainty and doubt pestering her mind.

Sleep did not come soon enough for the young faunus.

* * *

The next couple of days passed uneventfully. The members of team Rainbow and Lion took time out of their day to visit sporadically, checking in to make sure that the young faunus was still doing well. Ruby came bearing snacks, hiding them from the nurses in case Olivia wasn't allowed to have any. Blake came by now and again, the two spending much of that time reading in companionable silence, or discussing some of their time in the White Fang while Olivia made sure the coast was clear.

Yang and Pyrrha appeared to be getting along fairly well. The two partners had found kinship in their love of fitness, both spending a great deal of time in the gym or sparring together. Olivia had her suspicions, judging by how close the two seemed to be getting. As much as Yang enjoyed talking a big game though, Olivia got the distinct impression that much of it was only that. Talk.

Ren and Nora visited most of all, and always together. Olivia enjoyed simply listening to the stories Nora would spin about their times in Mistral, and the many, _many_ corrections that Ren would make along the way. The boy didn't have an _ounce_ of flare for the dramatic, a trait that Olivia was most agreeable with. Some of her best hours in the infirmary were spent with the two of them.

Weiss visited least of all, stopping by only twice during the weekend to check in and see if Olivia needed anything. Most of her day to day was taken care of by the nurses though, much to Olivia's frustration. They had found out from Qrow that she'd been out of bed when he first appeared, and had thus far nagged her incessantly about needing her rest.

Even so, Olivia found herself making small excuses so that Weiss would stay longer. The request for a notepad to be retrieved that she had no plans on using, stopping her to ask whatever inane questions she could think of… Olivia wasn't sure why she did so, but told herself that she was simply bored, and _any_ company was better than none at all.

By the time Monday rolled around, Olivia had been taken off the aura enhancers. Despite her best efforts, she was still too weak to leave the infirmary. As a result, she was forced to miss that day's worth of classes, with the promise of being tested the following morning to see if she was in shape by then.

And so it was that Olivia found herself sitting up in bed, a few hours into the afternoon. Her eyes checked the time on her scroll every few minutes. Classes had officially ended, and Weiss had promised to stop by in order to give Olivia her assignments for the day and help her through them.

Olivia picked up on Weiss entering the range of her sixth sense, walking down the hall with a set of books clutched in her arms. The heiress arrived and opened the door quietly, peeking in first to make sure Olivia was still awake and hadn't needed to rest since they'd last messaged each other.

"Good, you're still awake," Weiss asserted, stepping into the room and closing the door behind herself. She walked to the side with the table and lay the books down on it, spreading them out to separate her own from Olivia's, "We have just one assignment from Professor Port today. Oobleck gave a fairly lengthy lecture and then forgot to assign homework…"

Olivia smirked, "And you didn't remind him? You're off your game, Princess."

Weiss narrowed her eyes, staring off to the side as if recalling something in vivid detail, "I _tried_ to, but that blond bimbo put her hand over my mouth to keep me quiet."

Olivia laughed, picturing Weiss struggling to break free from Yang's powerful grasp, "Maybe you should take her up on her offer. She couldn't do that quite so easily if you weren't…" Olivia's eyes roamed up and down Weiss's body, grinning widely, "So frail~"

Weiss huffed, dropping Olivia's book into her lap with an excessive amount of force, "I'll have you know I _did_ take her up on the offer. I went with both of them the last couple of days, _actually_." Weiss's haughty glare morphed into a frown and her voice lowered, "Even if I didn't _stay_ as long as them, I still _went_ …"

Olivia raised her hands consolingly, "Not much chance you'd keep up with Pyrrha your first couple days, let alone _Yang_. You've just gotta do what you can, you know?"

"I'm familiar with the concept of _pacing_ myself, yes," Weiss replied, then shuffled one of the chairs closer to the small table. She opened up her folder and pulled out a sheet of paper along with a clipboard, handing them both to Olivia, "The assignment from Port, which shouldn't take us that long. Afterwards, I could try and recap what I remember from Oobleck's lecture…?"

"So everything?"

Weiss smiled, "So everything."

The two launched into the assignment, Weiss helping Olivia to find the answers within the textbook and making sure she got them right. The assignment itself wasn't overly difficult at first, but once they reached the portion asking about what variations existed in the myriad subsets of each species of Grimm, Olivia was well and truly lost.

"What features of the Anima beowolf might clue you in that it is not of the Sanus variety?" Olivia read the question out loud in annoyance, having no clue what answers the assignment might want her to give. In a moment of pent up frustration, she scribbled down ' _Wouldn't this be obvious since, you know. I'd be there? How many beowolves from Anima are you killing in the Emerald Forest!?_ "

Weiss noticed her furiously writing and peeked over, reading out the answer she had put down before sighing in vexation, "Really, Olivia?"

"Well? I'm _right_ , aren't I?" Olivia asked tiredly, "Have _you_ ever fallen asleep in Mistral, only to wake up in Vale?"

"No, but… the differences between the two are important for when you _encounter_ them. A beowolf from Anima has a body that is far more suited to remaining quadrupedal. Due to this, they're typically much faster. Conversely, the beowolf on Sanus are more bipedal, and have more strength in their upper body. A beowolf from Anima is easier to block, while one from Sanus is easier to dodge."

Olivia brought a hand to her face and pinched the bridge of her nose, "I've killed _both_. There's not much point in me knowing that if they aren't much of a threat anyway."

Weiss frowned, "It's _still_ important. What if we hadn't been there to save you, and you'd been forced to fight that beowolf without any aura? While you were sick? You would have tried to block a blow from it like always, when it would have been better to _dodge_."

"That's… such a niche circumstance. That was life's _best_ chance at killing me, Princess. I won't give it another."

"There's a lot that can go wrong, Olivia… and when it does, learning stuff like this will _prepare_ you for it. There's any number of things that could happen. Just because you're _used_ to being able to deal with them doesn't mean you always _will_ be…"

Olivia sighed, leaning back into the pillows behind herself while staring up at the ceiling. All of their studying was getting the better of her, all of her time pent up in the small room, in her damn restricting little bed. Olivia shook her head, knowing what needed to be done for her to relax once more.

"Alright, Princess. I need a break," Olivia's head turned to see Weiss giving a small nod of acceptance. They had been at it for a little over an hour already.

Olivia smirked, "Glad we're in agreement. You wouldn't mind going back to the room to grab some clothes for me real quick then, would you?"

Weiss frowned, "Clothes…? Why do you need clothes?"

"Well, it might be a little distracting if I sparred with you in a hospital gown, don't you think~?" Olivia laughed, seeing the hint of red starting to overcome Weiss's cheeks before she leaned forward conspiratorially, "I'm not even wearing a _bra_ , Princess. Have you no shame~!?"

Weiss's face deepened to a bright red as she turned her head away, arms crossing and a huff escaping from between her lips, "Y-you can't leave yet! You aren't even fully recovered! And _sparring_!? Even _I_ could beat you right now, Olivia!"

"Wanna put that to the test?" Olivia chuckled, enjoying the effect she was having on the heiress, "You were all talk just now about how I won't always be able to deal with what comes my way…" she stared straight into Weiss's eyes as the heiress turned back, "... _Prove_ _it_."

Weiss stared for a few moments, her brow furrowing in a mixture of annoyance and disbelief that Olivia would go so far while still hospitalized. Her competitive spirit and desire to be right won over, though. Weiss stood suddenly from her chair and walked straight backed to the door, stopping only to stare over her shoulder at Olivia.

"I'll be back in a few minutes. I'd suggest you do whatever you need to prepare in that time," Weiss's voice turned a touch colder, "I _won't_ be going easy."

Olivia smirked, "That's what I like to hear~"

"Hmph!"

Weiss left, fading into the distance while Olivia smiled after. Truth be told, she was feeling much better than she had earlier that morning, especially after having nearly an entire extra day off. Without the infusion of aura enhancers, her aura's condition had managed to remain stable, climbing back up to a respectable amount during the course of the last eight hours. Olivia could still feel some achiness in her muscles, and a knot in her stomach that refused to leave.

All in all… ' _I should manage just fine._ '

Weiss returned a few minutes later as she'd promised, carrying a small pile of clothes with her in a tightly wrapped bundle. She entered the room and dropped them unceremoniously on the end of Olivia's bed, then stood tapping her foot as if expecting the faunus to proclaim it all as one big joke.

Instead, Olivia hopped off the bed and grabbed the clothes, noting with a small amount of embarrassment that Weiss _had_ brought one of Olivia's bras as well. The faunus raised an eyebrow, staring at Weiss expectantly while the heiress could only return her gaze in utter bafflement.

" _Jeez_ , Princess~ I didn't know you were the _quid pro quo_ type. I might not have mentioned sensing what you did to yourself in front of that _mirror_ if it meant you were going to try and get a peek in exchange~"

"W-what!? _No!_ I-I was…!" Weiss brought her hands up to hide her face, then lowered one in order to glare and point, "J-just go change in the bathroom, you dolt! If you can even _walk_ that far!"

Olivia laughed and headed into the bathroom, making a point of locking the door behind herself as loudly as possible. She turned to set the clothes on the counter and then got to work, slipping the gown off once more and changing into the garments that Weiss had brought.

Thankfully, the heiress seemed to understand Olivia's tastes well enough. Though she was now sorely lacking when it came to her combat outfit, the black sports bra, form fitting dark purple long sleeve, and tight black pants were a good enough alternative. Fortunately, her favorite shoes had been rescued as well, completing Olivia's ensemble before she stepped back out of the bathroom.

Olivia gave a quick little spin as Weiss looked up, raising her arms enough to show off her entire body, "Well, how do I look, Princess? Ready for battle?"

"Y-you…" Weiss stared for a few moments before giving her head a small shake, "It'll do... I _suppose_." She turned her head away sharply and marched to the door, throwing it open while gesturing with her free hand, "After you."

Olivia raised an eyebrow, noticing the clear distress that Weiss was in, "Are _you_ feeling okay? I hope I didn't get you sick, too. At least it wouldn't be as bad though, right?"

"I'm _fine_ ," Weiss stated bluntly, then gestured once more, "Let's get this over with. The sooner I beat you, the sooner you're back in bed and _resting_."

"Oh? So confident~" Olivia remarked jokingly, heading out the door and waiting for Weiss to fall into step next to her, "You couldn't even hit me before, and now you think a little _cold_ will be my undoing?"

"It's more than just a little cold, Olivia," Weiss snipped, sparing her a pair of narrowed eyes.

Olivia only grinned in response and continued forward, walking side by side with the heiress until they reached the end of the hall. She threw her arm out, stopping Weiss in her tracks when she ran into it. Weiss opened her mouth, a worried glimmer in her eyes.

Olivia raised her hand to place a finger against the other girl's lips, then brought it back to her own to signal that they needed to keep quiet. Weiss simply stared back in confusion, so Olivia leaned closer to whisper in her ear.

"There's a pair of nurses up front, and I'm not actually supposed to leave, remember? We'll have to sneak past them."

Weiss rolled her eyes, then gestured for Olivia to turn her head before leaning closer in kind, " _You_ have to sneak. _I_ can walk out just fine. See you outside, _if_ you can even pull it off with the state you're in."

With that, Weiss stepped out past the end of the hall and into the open area of the waiting room. One of the nurses noticed immediately and gave her a small wave, which Weiss returned with a grin. The heiress flashed Olivia one last smile before stepping out into the campus grounds, a rush of fresh air flowing inside before the door closed once more.

Olivia suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and pulled her mind back to the task at hand. She smirked, senses feeling outward to focus on the nurses. Each of them sat behind the raised counter, with only their heads visible from further away. They spoke to each other candidly, telling each other about what they'd done that weekend and 'Oh, did you hear…?'

Olivia shivered, ' _If I ever catch myself having useless conversations about celebrities and their affairs…_ ' that would be the end. Olivia would need a third name, one to live out the rest of her life in shame and solitude while wondering how she'd managed to fall so far.

' _Anyway…_ ' Weiss was waiting, and every second that Olivia stood around was another that the heiress might hold over her head. ' _What took you so long?_ ' Olivia could already hear it.

Fortunately, the main area inside the front door was littered with rows of chairs, many of them near enough to the hallway that Olivia could dart behind them if given the chance. Waiting for a few more moments, she sensed one of the nurses pulling out her scroll to show the other a picture and took her chance, swiftly moving in a crouch to hide behind the seats.

Olivia moved along the line until she reached the end, then waited for the pitch of the womens' voices to raise in excitement before darting across to the next, then the next. Soon enough, Olivia was only a few feet away from the door. It was largely exposed, but after a round of rather raucous laughter, the spider faunus was stepping freely out into the awaiting air.

"Took you long enough," Weiss scoffed, arms crossed a fair distance away while looking back to Olivia.

Olivia let out a small 'hmph', "I'd like to see you do any better, Princess. With that white hair of yours, I doubt you could go _anywhere_ without being noticed."

"Fortunately, I have neither the need nor desire to skulk in the shadows."

"So you're a lights _on_ kinda girl? I like it~" Olivia teased. When Weiss only appeared confused by the remark though, Olivia laughed harder than she might have otherwise.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Weiss demanded, following into step beside Olivia as they continued on their way to the combat arena.

"I'll tell you when you're older," Olivia replied coyly, then turned her head forward to keep an eye out. Getting past the nurses would hardly matter if they ended up running into one of the teachers that knew who Olivia was. It was still only halfway into the afternoon, with a few hours of light left before the sun would set. As such, plenty of students remained outside the campus buildings, going about their business and passing the two teammates along the path they travelled.

The walk to the combat arena wasn't far, only a few buildings away. Olivia figured it would make sense to have it nearby incase someone was injured while sparring. She'd been in the business long enough to know there were some surprisingly easy ways that people could die, many of which were more than possible in the middle of armed combat.

The combat arena and adjoining stands were empty, leaving Weiss and Olivia to do with it as they pleased. Both headed off for the locker rooms, down the steps and across the floor that surrounded the raised arena.

Weiss headed a small distance away to her own locker to change into her combat outfit, while Olivia retrieved Oath from her own. She sighed as she held it, giving the blade a quick once over, "At least I still have you, huh?"

Olivia sensed Weiss glancing over at her and realized it would likely be better if she left so that the heiress could change in peace. Olivia flashed her a smile, then gestured towards the door, "I'll be waiting outside. Come on out when you're ready."

Weiss nodded her thanks and began to change as Olivia left, the faunus now alone in the eerily quiet arena. Olivia rolled her shoulders, feeling her muscles protesting against the motion and a dull migraine beginning behind her eyes. Her symptoms had only become worse since she'd left her bed. At the very least, the dull ache across her entire body wasn't quite debilitating.

Olivia vaulted on to the arena floor and moved to the far side, slamming Oath's point down into the tile so that she could stretch, trying to work out the knots and kinks that had built up over time in bed. Olivia was in the middle of reaching down to touch her toes when the door opened and Weiss exited the locker room.

Olivia could sense the heiress grind to a halt, and shifted slightly to look at her from around her own legs, "What's up?"

"N-nothing. Forgot, um… something," Weiss replied distractedly, then rushed back into the locker rooms.

Olivia shrugged and finished up her stretches, then turned back around and unburied Oath from the floor. It was a couple minutes later before Weiss returned, eyes glued to the floor as she hurried up the steps on to the arena platform.

Something seemed… different. Off, about Weiss. It took Olivia a few moments, along with a pointed stare, to notice that she had ditched her high heels in favor of a much more _practical_ pair of shoes. The heel was still slightly raised, but no more than those that Blake or Ruby wore.

"New shoes?" Olivia smirked, "Glad to see you're taking my advice to heart."

Weiss followed Olivia's gaze down to her feet, "Well… what's the point in having a teacher if you aren't going to take their advice?"

"I mean, I _was_ partially joking. Pyrrha does well enough with them, even if hers weren't quite as high as yours," Olivia tilted her head and held a hand up, trying to gauge their comparative height from over a dozen feet away, "Adorable. You're as short as me now~ Is someone self-conscious about their height~?"

Weiss firmly ignored her remark and turned her head to the side, looking up at the unpowered aura display next to them, "Are you sure this is safe? I won't be able to tell when you're close to hitting zero…"

Olivia popped her neck and gave Weiss a reassuring smile, "Don't worry about it. I can sense how much we have left easily enough. I won't go too far."

Weiss turned back to her and scowled, drawing Myrtenaster from her hip, "You'll have to warn me before _your_ aura breaks, then."

Olivia laughed and lowered into her combat stance, Oath held behind herself in preparation for whatever Weiss had planned, "Whenever you're ready, Princess."

An unsteady tension began to build in the air, both of the combatants staring each other down while Olivia waited for Weiss to make the first attack. The heiress shifted into her usual stance, Myrtenaster held in front and feet in a more relaxed fencer's pose. Her eyes focused intently on Olivia, time passing moment by moment while the faunus's heart rate began to increase along with her mounting anticipation.

The instant before Weiss attacked, her eyes narrowed. She swept her rapier into a quick slash, four bolts of ice dust streaking out in Olivia's direction. Invisible appendages sprung into existence, blocking the shots the instant before they could reach her while Olivia dashed forward.

Olivia dropped her semblance to instead apply it to her own limbs, feeling the sudden increase in strength and speed that allowed her to dart across the remaining distance. Weiss remained focused and steadfast. A black glyph appeared in space between them, slowing Olivia's forward momentum as she was forced to dodge around it.

By the time she had, Weiss had already shifted to another element. She swept Myrtenaster in a wide arc, letting loose a torrent of ice meant to capture Olivia in its clutches. Instead, the faunus jumped high, spinning once in the air to land behind the heiress. Olivia felt a twinge of pain shoot up her leg as she hit the ground, but ignored it in favor of slashing a long line across Weiss's back.

Weiss tumbled forward, earning an approving smile from Olivia when her aura only dropped a small amount. She had moved with the blow, lowering its effect by negating a portion of the force behind it.

Olivia was quick to follow it up though, dashing those few steps closer and slashing once more. Weiss managed to bring her rapier up between the two of them as she rose, partially nullifying the blow when steel struck steel. Myrtenaster was ill suited for blocking in that way, however, and much of Oath's blade slid past to score a hit on the other girl's shoulder.

Weiss retaliated, moving into her preferred range while making a few quick jabs with her rapier. Olivia blocked and parried, forced to go on the defensive as Weiss could simply attack more quickly with Myrtenaster than Olivia could with Oath.

' _Time to mix things up a bit, then,_ ' Olivia smirked, hopping back a step and hurling an electrified Oath while she did so.

Weiss was surprised by the sudden maneuver, but managed to sweep Oath to the side before it could make contact. The blade flew away, even as Olivia darted in closer to get to work with her hands. She had spent far longer fighting this way, and the immediate shift put her opponent on the defensive.

Weiss's eyes widened when Olivia's right glove began to glow with a purple light. She couldn't take her eyes off Olivia to search for Oath, as the blade was surely flying towards her at that very moment. Olivia took advantage of her divided attention, scoring a few more hits while she had the chance.

Weiss's eyes flickered to the side briefly, and she ducked just in time for Oath to streak through the air over her head. Olivia didn't catch it, instead choosing to once more turn off her glove and allow the weapon to fly off into the distance. Weiss was caught off guard by another right hook while watching it fly by in confusion, wondering exactly what Olivia was up to.

In only a few moments, Olivia's glove was alight once more, Oath spiralling into the fray and splitting Weiss's attention while the faunus continued attacking in close range with her fists. Weiss' mouth set in a grim line, understanding now the tactic that Olivia had devised.

Olivia could feel her muscles spasming from the effort, the sheer physicality of the spar requiring all she had in order to keep going. Her breath began to come out far more raggedly than it would otherwise, each blow lacking the power of the one before it.

To her credit, Weiss was managing to dodge Oath well enough while denying Olivia the full brunt of her attacks. Many continued to slip by, and the heiress's aura had dropped a substantial amount since the beginning of the fight, but she was holding on better than Olivia would have expected.

A glimmer of anger appeared behind Weiss's eyes, trapped between an electrified spinning blade and Olivia, her options were extremely limited. The heiress grit her teeth as the blade made its return, and in a move that caught Olivia completely off guard, lowered Myrtenaster in order to shoulder check the faunus in the chest.

Olivia breath came out in a ragged gasp, unprepared for the sudden blow to the sternum that knocked the air from her lungs. Olivia fell with the blow and deactivated her glove, sensing the blade's approach and knowing it would hit her otherwise.

Weiss fell with Olivia but came up in a roll, stabbing Myrtenaster down into the floor. Ice shot out from it in a frigid burst, a pillar erupting from the floor right as Oath passed. The pillar was perfectly timed to capture the blade, its momentum brought to a halt as it was encased in several feet of ice.

Weiss panted heavily, and stood on unsteady legs to inspect her work. Olivia followed with, testing Oath by activating her glove once more. The sound of ice cracking deep within could be heard, but it remained in place, trapping Olivia's weapon in its clutches.

"Well…" Olivia lowered back down into her fighting stance, hands at the ready while a grin spread across her face, "I'll have to admit I'm impressed, Princess. Nicely done."

Weiss got her breathing under control, and smiled back proudly, "I had to break your momentum. You taught me that."

Olivia smirked, "You're right! I guess I'm really the one that should be getting complimented here. Thanks, Princess~"

Weiss narrowed her eyes and returned to a readied stance, speaking in frigid tones, "You can thank yourself for your _loss_ , as well."

"I probably would have done that anyway~"

The fight began anew as Weiss launched herself forward, using a glyph to dash even faster with a strike aimed at the center of Olivia's chest. The faunus waited, then bent backwards in an attempt to dodge at the last moment. She'd forgotten to take her current condition into account though. Olivia's back groaned in protest, sharp pains lancing up her spine even as Weiss's rapier lanced into her chest.

Olivia was thrown backwards by the blow, her aura dropping sharply but managing to absorb the brunt of the damage. Olivia's instincts kicked in, her sixth sense searching out while she tumbled across the ground. Weiss attempted to capitalize on Olivia's apparent disorientation, and fired off a burst of ice dust in her wake.

Large stalagmites of ice flashed up from the floor as Olivia transferred both of her arm appendages into one, using the others to dig into the ground behind her and regain her stability. The ice protrusions neared, showing no signs of slowing as they threatened to capture Olivia as they had Oath.

Drawing her fist back in preparation for the ice to arrive, Olivia slammed it down into the tiles, creating a shockwave large enough to disrupt the ice that was closing in. Pieces of both ice and tile flew off in every direction, scattering into the air. Vision partially obscured in the moment, Olivia was forced to rely on her sixth sense to try and dodge the barrage of ice dust projectiles that homed in on her location.

This time, it was Olivia's leg that gave out. The muscles spasmed, refusing to function in the way they always had and leaving her a sitting duck the instant before the projectiles made contact. Olivia raised her arms to block, but only managed to stop two of the four from colliding against her chest. The blasts staggered her, leaving frozen, flower-like growths across her torso.

Olivia let her legs give out and fell backwards as Weiss flew through the air next, propelled by another one of her glyphs in an attempt to follow up her previous attacks. Olivia dodged the blow, and reached up with both hands and feet. Her hands caught Weiss's wrists, while her feet slammed up into the heiress's stomach.

Weiss's momentum carried her overhead while Olivia let go of the grip she had on her arms. Weiss landed roughly, rolling to a stop a dozen feet away. The air had been entirely knocked from her lungs, but even so, she staggered back to her feet, Myrtenaster in hand.

Olivia panted, trying to stand and feeling her leg protesting. It refusing to work before had been bad enough. Using her leg to kick Weiss had only exacerbated the issue. She managed to return to her feet but did so with a limp, incapable of putting too much weight on that leg, even after reshrouding it with an appendage.

"I won't lie… You're doing much better than I expected…" Olivia breathed out roughly, "I'm starting to think I was on to something after our first fight... You really _didn't_ have capable teachers before now."

"My father paid for the best money could buy…" Weiss argued, drawing herself up to ready herself once more.

Olivia scoffed, "Or did he just _say_ that while trying to sabotage your chances? He didn't want you to become a huntress in the first place, if I recall?"

Weiss's face contorted into a troubled frown, her eyes dropping to the tile beneath her feet while considering the words that Olivia had said.

' _Too easy._ '

Olivia took advantage of the distraction to use her appendages and launch herself across the intervening space, incapable of relying on her leg. Weiss was caught completely off guard, looking up at the final moment with widening eyes to catch the right hook that Olivia delivered. Both of their auras were low, and the strength of one appendage was all it took to drop Weiss's aura past fifteen percent.

Weiss was about to jump back to her feet and continue the fight before Olivia held a hand up, gesturing for Weiss to stop while falling back on to the ground herself, pain arcing through her body, "Sorry, Princess... That was lesson number… I don't know, you probably numbered them... Don't let your opponent distract you in a fight."

Weiss glowered, pulling herself back up into a sitting position and crossing her arms, "I'll _remember_ that."

"Make sure you do," Olivia said seriously, locking eyes with Weiss while she spoke, " _Grimm_ aren't the type to do that. _People_ are. And they are _far_ more dangerous."

Weiss's eyes clouded over, and she returned to the troubled frown she'd had before, "Did you mean what you said, though?"

Olivia sighed and turned so that she could lay down on her side and still look at Weiss, propping her head up with her hand, "I don't know. I haven't exactly ever _met_ your father, but judging by the way the SDC is run… I'd be willing to bet he'd go to any lengths to get what he wants. If that meant endangering his daughter to try and keep her home instead of running off…? _You'd_ have to be the judge of that."

Weiss propped her chin up with her knee and stared at the floor, her eyes searching as if looking for answers in the broken pieces of tile and ice that remained. Olivia left her to it, taking the opportunity to catch her breath.

After a few minutes, Weiss sighed and climbed back to her feet, bending over to offer Olivia a hand back up as well, "How close was I, by the way?"

Olivia accepted the hand that was offered to her and took a moment to check her own aura level. If Weiss's was at around fifteen percent… "Low thirties, I guess. Hard to give exact amounts, but your aura feels about where it was when Goodwitch called our fight. Mine doesn't tend to ever get this low, so…"

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah. Rub it in."

Olivia smirked, then glanced back over her shoulder to the spire of ice that remained, along with the weapon buried within. She turned back to Weiss with a twinkle in her eye and nodded to Myrtenaster, "Ready to start chipping away?"

Weiss grimaced, "What, you can't punch it out or something?"

Olivia laughed, putting a hand to her chest as if offended, "I'm _sick_ , Princess. I shouldn't be doing _any_ sort of physical exercise right now~!"

Weiss glared and began to mutter under her breath while she walked towards the block of ice. Olivia caught only a few words, each one a shock to be coming out of the heiress's mouth. Weiss stopped and spun the chamber in Myrtenaster before slashing it through the air. A wave of flame scorched out, creating a path of sizzling and steaming ice in its wake. The pillar itself was the main focus, and took the brunt of the heat. Long fissures appeared on its surface, cracks that ran the entire length from base to tip.

Olivia waited until Weiss had stepped aside before activating her glove for the final time. With a groaning snap, the ice broke free and allowed the electrified blade to arc back into Olivia's waiting hands. She caught it deftly and deactivated it, shifting it into its full length form to drape over her shoulders.

"I believe that was enough for one day?" Weiss asked without waiting for an actual answer. She began to walk back towards the locker rooms while Olivia limped after, taking care not to put too much weight on her bad leg.

Weiss opened the door and stopped, looking back to wait for Olivia. The faunus immediately began trying to play off her injury, but could only keep the act up for a half dozen steps before wincing at a particularly bad twinge in her leg.

"Are you okay?" Weiss asked worriedly, easily noticing the pained expression that Olivia wore.

"Oh yeah," Olivia scoffed, wincing once more as she put weight on her bad leg, " _Totally_ fine."

"Olivia."

"Yes, Princess?"

"... _Are_ you okay...?"

Olivia could see the concern on Weiss's face, her teammate staring back from her place at the door with her feet set to return to Olivia's side. With a grumbling sigh, Olivia turned her head away, voice in a low mutter, "It… might hurt to walk…"

Weiss retreated from her place at the door and returned to Olivia's side, stepping in close to offer herself up as a support. Olivia did so begrudgingly, wrapping an arm around Weiss's shoulder and repositioning Oath so that it wouldn't be in the way. The relief was nearly immediate, allowing Olivia to let out a contented sigh while they stood there.

"Was that so hard?" Weiss asked.

Olivia could only sigh once more, refusing to answer Weiss's question. Instead, she took a tentative step forward, followed by the heiress shifting positions to continue providing her support. It still took a minute to get to the door, but the lessening of the pain in Olivia's leg made it worth it to her.

Weiss held the door open and the pair of them shuffled in awkwardly, entering the room. Weiss guided the pair of them over to Olivia's locker, and helped her get Oath squared away before setting the faunus down on the bench.

Weiss gave a firm nod once Olivia had been situated and walked over to her own locker to put Myrtenaster away. She began to pull out her other clothes before realizing that Olivia was still there, sitting only a dozen feet away. Weiss glanced between Olivia and the clothes before giving her head a small shake and returning them to the locker.

"I could leave if you need me to," Olivia offered.

Weiss waved her hand dismissively, "No, that's fine. I'll come back and change after I've dropped you off at the infirmary. It's no big deal."

"Sorry."

Weiss shook her head while heading back over, "It's not your fault," she dipped down to get her shoulder into the pit of Olivia's arm once more and helped her up, pulling the faunus to her feet. The action elicited a groan from Olivia that she couldn't quite hold back, the pain reigniting across her entire body for those short few moments.

They began their slow journey, back through the door, up the stairs, and out into the afternoon air. Olivia was glad to note that the campus grounds were mostly emptier, many of the students having returned to their dorms, or headed down into Vale while the two had been inside the combat arena. The occasional student still passed by, and Olivia did her best to make it look as if she was just enjoying herself with an arm around Weiss's shoulder.

' _Wait… then people might think we're together…_ ' Olivia immediately stopped what she'd been doing before and made it _painfully_ obvious that she was injured. The fact that doing so actually made it more agonizing truly helped to sell the act. Even so, it was still _far_ better than the alternative.

Weiss huffed during one of these events, feeling Olivia's weight once more dipping awkwardly. "What are you doing?" she snapped.

"Making it look like we aren't together," Olivia explained, "It's just as good for you as it is for me. Imagine if your father heard rumors of you dating a girl, and a _faunus_ no less? Every paper from here to Atlas would be spreading the news. He'd probably pay the Atlas military to _rescue_ you from my dastardly clutches."

While Olivia had been initially joking, the prospect of having her face spread across the globe did have her keeping a sharper eye out. ' _If I see a camera I'm diving in the damn bushes_.'

Weiss's brow knit together, a troubled look crossing her face. She didn't say whether or not she agreed with the sentiment one way or the other, though. Olivia just assumed she had agreed. The last thing the heiress wanted was to have her freedom revoked.

' _Although, if she does get taken away…_ '

Olivia sighed, not bothering to finish the thought. It was hard to admit, but Weiss had grown on her far too much. Olivia didn't believe she'd be particularly _distraught_ if the heiress was taken away, but… there was the makings of a friendship between them, as tentative as it was.

' _And I have to admit, my curiosity is piqued. How much of a natural could she be at fighting if a single lesson and some tips was all it took to get that much out of her?_ ' Granted, Weiss had been fighting against others in their class in the meantime, and Olivia hadn't been at her _best_ , but… ' _There's no denying her potential._ '

Weiss slowed to a stop as they reached the front doors to the infirmary, her eyes darting between Olivia and the entrance, "So… how are you going to sneak back in? You aren't exactly in good condition…"

Olivia laughed, rolling her eyes at Weiss and beginning to walk forward, "Who says I have to sneak? They _want_ me here, remember?"

The pair stepped through the doors and into the open waiting room. Both of the nurses behind the counter turned to see who had entered, and both displayed equal amounts of shock when their eyes fell on Olivia.

The faunus smirked, "Hey, just went for a walk. Hope you don't mind~"

The nurses shared a look, some unspoken message passing between them. The larger of the two sighed dejectedly, then stood up from her place behind the counter and walked around to Olivia's other side, "It isn't the first time a student didn't know what was good for 'em. Bunch of foolish…" her voice lowered into senseless muttering as she ushered Olivia and Weiss to continue to the room.

The strain was relieved from Olivia almost entirely, the last thirty feet becoming akin to a walk in the park compared to what she had been forced to bear through before. The nurse got the door open, and both helped Olivia to the bed. With a little difficulty, she managed to climb back on to it, completely disregarding the fact that she was still wearing her regular clothes.

' _I'll be out of here tomorrow anyway._ '

Weiss sat in one of the chairs while the nurse checked Olivia over, doing a brief round of examinations before finally checking her aura levels.

"Just went for a walk, huh?" the nurse stated sarcastically, eyeing the numbers that had appeared on the monitor next to the bed. Olivia's eyes followed suit, seeing the large 'twenty-two' that was being displayed.

"Hah!" Weiss burst out, then covered her mouth with her hand when the nurse turned her eyes on her.

"Don't think you aren't to blame for this too, missy," the nurse chastised, looking Weiss up and down, "At least it _looks_ like you got a beating for your troubles. I'll let you off this time, but if either of you _ever_ sneak a patient out of here again…?" The nurse let the threat drift off, implicating that it was far too brutal to be verbalized, "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," Olivia and Weiss echoed. Weiss appeared to have taken the reprimand to heart, while Olivia was having trouble holding herself back from asking what the nurse would do, ' _Now is not the time, Olivia._ '

The nurse stared them down as she left, finally gesturing with two fingers to her eyes before pointing back at the pair of them. Olivia waited all of two seconds after the door closed before shoving a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter.

Weiss glared, "It's not funny, Olivia! What if we got a detention!?"

Olivia managed to reign in her laughter and raised an eyebrow, letting out her few remaining chuckles before replying breathlessly, "Then you'd have a perfectly silent place to study like you always do anyway? I don't think much would change as far as you're concerned, Princess."

Weiss frowned, realizing the truth of Olivia's words before giving herself a little shake, "We should still avoid _getting_ them."

Olivia raised her hands placatingly, "Hey, I don't like stuff like that as much as the next gal. I really don't think we need to worry anyway, though. We're at a school for huntsmen and huntresses. They'd _have_ to expect this out of us."

Weiss could only shake her head in response, not surprised by how unthreatened Olivia felt by the entire prospect of a detention. She stood up and glanced to the door, playing with the cuff of one poofy sleeve.

"Well, I'd better get back so that I can change. Ruby might have needed my help on that homework as well, so it'd be best if I made sure she understood it all…" Weiss trailed off, eyes glancing between Olivia and the door. She appeared to be nervous about something, or perhaps expectant? Olivia paused in confusion, racking her brain for what the heiress might want with her now.

Whatever it might be, Olivia couldn't quite make heads or tails of it. With a smile, she gestured with her chin towards the door, "Don't let me keep ya."

Weiss smiled tentatively, though she looked slightly miffed. She uttered a quick, "S-see you tomorrow. I hope you're feeling better by then…" before heading to the door.

' _Did she… want something more…?_ '

"Hey, Weiss?" Olivia spoke up right before the heiress could leave.

Weiss stopped in place, thrusting her arm out to stop the door and looking back to Olivia, "Yes?"

Olivia thought back on the last couple hours they had spent together, both studying and sparing in equal measure. It had been fun, just as much as any of Ruby's or Yang's visits, even measuring up with the time she spent with Nora and Ren.

"I had fun… Thanks for stopping by, even if it was just to hold up your end of the bargain…"

Weiss's face contorted, a whole host of emotions crossing it in the span of only a few seconds. It ended with her giving Olivia a cheery smile, "You'd better bring your A game on Wednesday. If what you said about my teachers is true… then I hope you turn out to be a better teacher than they ever were."

Olivia smirked, "No doubts there. See ya tomorrow."

Weiss nodded and left, shuffling away after the door had closed with a distinct lack of energy in her step. Olivia gave a worried frown of her own, but eventually shrugged internally, ' _Maybe she's just tired from the spar._ '

Olivia shut off the lights and pulled her blanket over herself, snuggling into the mattress below. Her body still ached, but taking so much weight off had helped immensely.

In no time at all, she succumbed to the overbearing exhaustion from the day's events.


	48. Self Discovery

"Did you go over everything with Olivia?"

Weiss made a small 'hmm?' sound in surprise, turning from her place at the desk to regard Ruby with a raised eyebrow. Her leader stood a few feet away with her hands behind her back, smiling expectantly.

"Of course I did. Did you finish _your_ homework?" Weiss asked seriously, aware that her partner had a penchant for 'forgetting' to do certain things.

Ruby smirked as if proud of herself and let out a quick, "Yup!" before nodding over her shoulder towards where Blake sat on her bed, reading, "Blake helped me out with some of it, but I managed to get most of the way through before I asked!"

"She was practically finished," Blake tacked on, turning the page of the comic in her hands, "I barely had to help at all."

Weiss regarded Ruby with a measure of respect, "Well, keep that attitude going forward and I'm sure your grades will improve. Can't have our leader falling behind, now can we?"

"You can count on me!" Ruby beamed, then tilted her head with a mild frown, "What have you been doing over here, though? You've just been staring at your desk for the last few minutes… Did something happen while you were out?"

' _You mean aside from all this… whatever it is I keep feeling?_ ' Weiss thought glumly. It had started when she was reading that book. Connecting with the characters, wanting to put herself in their shoes… then that _scene_ had happened, and Weiss couldn't quite get it out of her mind. Being around Olivia had only helped to reignite those feelings over the last few days, so she'd steered clear of her as much as she could.

Weiss was never one to ignore necessity, however, and making sure that Olivia didn't fall behind in their classes _had_ been a necessity. So what if she'd found herself enjoying it for other reasons? Was there something wrong with having _fun_?

"Weiss?" Ruby asked slowly, pulling the Atlesian from her brief reverie.

"Sorry. No, nothing happened. I've just… had a lot on my mind, as of late. You don't need to worry about us, Ruby. We're fine, really."

Ruby let out a long sigh, then gave a tight nod, "Good!" She pivoted and hopped up onto Weiss's desk, sitting next to her while looking down on the heiress with a concerned expression, "Anything you wanna talk about, then? You've been almost as reclusive as Blake lately, and that's saying a lot!"

Weiss sat back in her chair to give herself some distance from the younger girl, tipping her head to the side to avoid meeting her gaze, "I don't really have anything to talk about. Same old, same old. I'm not exactly the most _exciting_ person."

' _Maybe that's why she wouldn't want to…_ ' Weiss shook her head, snapping herself out of that odd train of thought. What did it matter if Olivia hadn't wanted to be seen together 'that' way? Neither did she!

"Weiss just needs time to think, Ruby," Blake came to her aid, raising her head from the comic in her hands.

Ruby looked between the two of them hesitantly, then gave a small shrug and hopped back down off Weiss's desk to lightly hit the floor, "Can't say I didn't try! Responsibilities of a leader, you know?"

Weiss stopped what she'd been about to say as Yang's voice could be heard calling out from across the hall, muffled through the wooden door yet distinct enough to understand clearly, "Ruby! We need another player!"

Ruby looked at the two of them with a sheepish grin, "And that's enough responsibility for one night! See ya!" She burst out of the room in a flurry of petals, leaving the door to slowly close shut once more.

Weiss shook her head with a quiet laugh. Her leader's antics had angered her at first, but she knew now that Ruby only ever had the best of intentions. ' _No matter how childish they might be…_ ' Considering the other three members that made up the team, she had been the only real choice that the Headmaster could have made.

The room was quiet for a few minutes, Weiss going back to her thoughts while Blake went back to her comic. After a while though, the faunus poked her head back up from behind the pages and cleared her throat to get Weiss's attention.

"Olivia said it was alright for you to keep reading that book, by the way. I talked to her about it the last time I visited. She just, um… doesn't want you to talk to _her_ about it…?"

Weiss felt her cheeks heating slightly and gave a tight nod before turning to face away from Blake, hiding the effect her words had. ' _Of course she wouldn't want to talk to me about it! At least, not about_ those _parts…_ ' On second thought it would likely be better to avoid discussing the entire thing, for fear of another reader overhearing their conversation and _knowing_ …

' _Do I even_ want _to keep reading it?_ ' Weiss needed to ask herself the most basic of questions in that regard. While the fights had been enjoyable and the dynamic between the two partners was one she envied, the fact that both girls were _more_ was a little bit… odd…

' _I don't have anything against people that are like that!_ ' Weiss thought quickly, then visibly slumped, ' _I just never thought that I would be, too…_ '

' _If I am…!_... _Am I?_ ' The question had been on Weiss's mind for a few days now. Judging by her reaction to seeing Olivia stretching, bending down so that her… _assets_ had been on full display when Weiss entered the arena… She had fallen closer to believing it herself.

' _Perhaps if I keep reading the book, that'll help me figure a few things out…?_ ' Weiss couldn't lie to herself. The idea of continuing where she left off _did_ excite her. She wanted to know what happened next, wanted to know what the full extent of the girl's 'family technique' entailed.

With a firm nod to herself, Weiss got up from her desk to go and grab the book. She had returned it to the place she'd found it, tucked away behind the bookshelf as if it had fallen by mistake. Weiss began to walk back to her desk before thinking better of it and veering off for her bed instead. She climbed in and made herself comfortable, propping herself up against the wall and pulling the blankets up to her chest.

Blake flipped the comic closed that she was holding and made a small 'hmm' sound before shuffling over and dropping off her top bunk. Her feet hit the floor with catlike grace, and she spared Weiss a passing glance before heading to the door, "I'm going to see what the others are up to. We'll probably be gone for a while."

"Oh, see you later then!" Weiss replied, thanking her lucky stars that Blake wouldn't be there to witness… what? Her reading?

Blake flashed her a grin before stepping out and closing the door behind herself with a gentle click of the lock. Weiss slouched down a little more in bed and opened the book back up, remembering the exact page number that she had been on before her minor freak out.

With only a quick glance, Weiss had found her place once more, and picked up where she left off.

_Feeling the burning desire to help her partner, Hana gripped the hem of Ako's skirt tightly and tore it open. There, revealed before her, was the source of Ako's need. Hana slowly lowered her head once more, lips finding their way to the small bud that lay atop Ako's petals._

_Her partner gasped, hand finding its way to the back of her head and stomach quivering as Hana continued her ministrations. Hana's tongue explored the entire length of Ako's slit, delving deep until she found the source of the magic that had left her partner in such a state._

Weiss shifted in bed, feeling her own nether region growing heated in response to the words on the page. She found herself imagining being in Ako's place, her legs spread while a girl with short black hair administered the same level of affection.

_Ako moaned loudly, pressing down on the back of Hana's head so that she would go yet deeper. The action elicited a primal response from Hana, her tongue now lapping vigorously along every exposed petal, drinking in the juices that were affecting her partner in such a way._

" _Oh, yes! Hana~!" Ako cried, arching her back while her free hand played with her breasts. Hana could already see the discoloration of her skin receding, heading further down towards where the pressure was now mounting. She would need to go harder, and faster to make sure the ritual finished correctly._

Weiss rubbed her thighs together, feeling the space between her legs beginning to grow moist. She had been… excited… like this before, but _never_ to this extent. Her mind searched, trying to remember the times that it had and what had inspired them, even as her hand traveled down the length of her stomach to dip beneath the hem of her own skirt.

There had been the movie about the two lovers, born to opposing families yet destined to be together. Weiss had felt this way when imagining herself as the prince, kissing his beloved awake. Then there was the time she had been at a gala, and spotted a wayward couple that had snuck off to enjoy indecent acts in the darkness of the theater. Weiss had felt a twinge of excitement, seeing the hand that went down the woman's shirt, wondering what it would have been like if it were her hand…

She realized her hand had moved down to gently play with her own petals, fingers slick with the juices her body had produced, and darted her eyes up in fear towards the door. Blake had said they would be gone for a while, though… Weiss's eyes returned to the page, wanting to see how far this would go. Her heart beat loudly in her chest, the risk of being caught only adding to the excitement of it all.

_Hana used one hand to hold Ako's legs apart, while the other wrapped around to rest atop her mound. Hana's thumb circled her partner's bud, increasing the mounting pressure that was building inside her. Ako's muscles began to spasm, in the throes of an indescribable pleasure._

" _Hana! I'm… I'm…!"_

_All at once, Ako's hand pressed harder than it ever had before, burying Hana's face between her legs as the magics sprayed free. Hana drank all she could, helping Ako's release with both tongue and thumb as she rubbed the small bud more roughly than before. Ako's powerful legs closed on either side, trapping Hana in place while the pressure that had been mounting was finally let loose._

Weiss arched her back, trying to keep her eyes on the page even as she felt herself drawing nearer to a release of her own. The space between her legs was wetter than it had ever been, her fingers and palm coated in her own juices as they rubbed frantically. A gentle whine built in her throat, escaping in small moans that she couldn't contain.

Weiss felt her pleasure mounting, envisioning that it was Olivia between her legs, doing all of this to her. The faunus with a tongue so quick to insult, now being used for nothing other than servicing the heiress and her desires.

' _Does that feel good, Princess~?_ ' Weiss's toes curled, and her muscles began to shake as the vision helped her to reach release.

Weiss could feel the juices flowing against her hand, could feel the inside of her panties growing soaked as she tried to gasp, but was far too breathless. Her fingers drifted up to her own bud on instinct, giving it all the attention it deserved in the long moments of her overwhelming orgasm. After what felt like an eternity, the pleasure finally faded, giving way to a painful oversensitivity, and Weiss's hand slowed to a stop.

Breath coming out in ragged gasps, Weiss slowly extracted her hand from between her legs and stared at the juices coating it. She brought her hand closer, an aching curiosity forcing her to slip one finger between her lips. Hana had sounded as if she enjoyed it, so…?

' _Hmmm…_ ' Weiss pulled her finger free with a wet pop, then came back to herself with a pair of widening eyes. Here she was, sitting on her bed that was now _woefully_ stained, and sucking on her finger _when someone could come in at any moment!_

Weiss jumped up and ran to her dresser, snatching out a replacement pair of underwear and her pajama bottoms before rushing into the bathroom to change. Her mind was in a panic, trying to remember what she had read on both feline and spider faunus. How good was their sense of smell? Weiss had no plans whatsoever of leaving her bedsheets as they were, but would Blake be able to tell regardless!?

Weiss got herself cleaned up, changed, then stood in fear, holding both her defiled panties and skirt in one balled up hand. Certainly, they would have to be disposed of. She could definitely recall Olivia remarking once or twice about smelling things with Blake, one instant being after she had gone to visit her 'girlfriend'.

' _Yup! Just gonna have to get rid of them!_ ' Weiss threw the balled up garments into the bathroom's trash can and pulled out the lining, tying it shut tightly before heading back out into the bedroom with it. She pulled her blanket and sheets off as well, then similarly bundled them beneath her arm and headed for the door.

' _I don't have a replacement for those… I'll just have to hope for the best, and use a_ lot _of bleach…_ '

One thing was for sure. Weiss had no plans on _anyone_ finding out what she had done.

* * *

Blake walked back into the dorm with Ruby a couple of hours later, immediately noticing the vanilla fragrance that the room itself had been drenched in. Weiss sat at her desk in a pair of pajama bottoms, yet still wore the top of her regular uniform. Her blanket was smoothly laid out, freshly cleaned if the stench of bleach was anything to go by, and Ninjas of Love was _nowhere_ to be seen.

Blake smirked, holding herself back from letting out a laugh that would _definitely_ give away that she knew _exactly_ what Weiss had done while they were gone.

' _Looks like even an Atlas elite can let loose from time to time~_ '

* * *

Olivia was tested the next morning to see whether or not she was well enough to leave. After doing some light work outs and being asked a laundry list of questions, the nurses finally gave their begrudging permission. Their only stipulation was that she wasn't allowed to take part in combat class, and she would need to stay on school grounds for her own safety in case her fever returned.

' _I'll accept one of those two things~_ ' Olivia hummed to herself as she left, still dressed in the long sleeve and tight pants Weiss had brought her the day prior. She didn't mind not being able to take part in Miss Goodwitch's class. The only one that posed a significant enough threat was Pyrrha, and she'd already made up her mind to never bother sparring with the Mistralian champion again, at least not in public.

Restricted from going down into Vale, though? Olivia wanted to replace her combat outfit, and after being locked up for most of three days in a featureless room, she _needed_ to go out. ' _It can wait until after classes, of course. That's_ it _, though. I won't wait a minute longer._ '

Olivia doubted that Ruby would take much coercing, the small reaper being her best shot at finding Madam Myrtle's shop again. The outfit she provided had been durable, perfectly sized, and cute, if she didn't mind admitting as much to herself.

' _My god, Vale has changed me…_ '

It had only been a month and a half since she'd first stepped foot into the city, since she'd had her day out on the town with Coco and Velvet. ' _If Lotus could see me now…_ ' She doubted her past, hoodie wearing self would approve, but then… what had she known aside from hatred and fear? Certainly not the joys of the way she looked, nor the _comfort_ of her own skin.

Olivia could feel her three roommates stirring awake in their dorm as she approached, and grinned as she slammed the door wide open with a loud thud, causing it to bounce off the wall.

"Did you miss me!?"

Ruby gasped and scrambled off her bed, falling to the floor before darting across the room and crashing into Olivia's chest along with a flurry of petals, "Olivia! They let you out!?"

Olivia draped an arm around Ruby to partially return the hug, eyes glancing to the other two as well while she spoke, "Yup! Passed their silly tests with flying colors. Nothing wrong with _this_ faunus."

Blake shared a momentary smile before lowering her head back down and draping her pillow overtop to cover both sets of ears. Weiss gave her a tentative smirk, rubbing the sleep out of one eye, "I suppose you lied to them, then? How's your leg feeling?"

' _Stiff._ ' "Totally fine!"

Weiss's smile fell until she was leveling a frown at Olivia that _oozed_ disbelief, "You know you said that yesterday in the arena, right?"

"Did I?" Olivia thought back to it and winced, recalling that those were indeed the exact words she had used, "It's true this time!"

"Uh huh," Weiss muttered before lying back down and rolling over, yawning while she spoke over her shoulder, "At least you made it all the way here alone. That's better than yesterday."

Ruby pulled away in confusion, looking between Weiss and Olivia, "What? When did you go to the arena?"

Olivia shrugged, pushing gently past Ruby into the room so that she could let the door close behind her, "I needed to cut loose a bit after all that studying. My brain was about to melt. That and Weiss couldn't wait to hit on me~"

"What!?" Weiss's head darted back up, looking at Olivia with an unreadable expression, "Don't you mean 'hit' you?"

Olivia smirked, "Ah, so you admit it then?" she turned to Ruby, "You heard her, Ruby. Weiss wanted to hit a sick faunus. I was right about her all along~"

"No-! You-... That isn't-!" Weiss ripped her blankets free and got up, giving Olivia a nasty look before heading over to her dresser and pulling out her uniform. She paused in place a moment later, letting her hands fall slack while turning to face Olivia.

"What did you just call me…?"

Olivia grinned, "What's the matter, Weiss? Can't believe I'd hold myself to my part of a deal?" she raised her hand to her chest as if offended, "Still thinking so _low_ of me~"

Weiss shook her head, eyes falling to the floor for a moment before looking back up. She appeared conflicted, fighting an internal battle before allowing herself to speak, voice barely above a whisper, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but… It didn't count..."

Olivia raised an eyebrow, "Why wouldn't it? You got a hit on me, didn't you? Several in fact, as much as I'm loathe to admit it."

"You weren't at your _best,_ " Weiss continued, voice and features appearing less conflicted with each passing second, "It doesn't count."

Olivia was partially taken aback. Was the heiress so prideful that she wouldn't accept a victory given the circumstances? Olivia had been surprised when Weiss hadn't brought it up herself the day before, nor noticed when Olivia had chosen to use her name, thinking that was what the heiress was waiting for.

"If you're sure…"

Weiss nodded acknowledgement.

"Alright, Princess. _As you wish~_ "

A slight smile curling her lips, Weiss headed past Olivia and Ruby into the bathroom, carrying her garments with her to get ready for classes. Olivia watched her go with a confused frown, but decided to simply chalk it up as something else she hadn't known yet about the heiress. Apparently, she took challenges _very_ seriously.

The group collectively got ready for classes, intent on being ready ahead of time. The topic of food was discussed, and their small group of four headed downstairs and across the grounds as one. Olivia felt a sliver of happiness working its way into her heart, enjoying the fact that she was finally out of the oppressive infirmary and with her teammates once more.

Olivia watched Ruby flitting about, Blake quietly keeping in step with them while burying her nose in a comic book, Weiss chastising Ruby for startling another student, then apologizing profusely on her behalf and forcing Ruby to do the same...

' _I missed this…_ '

Near death aside, Olivia's life had become so much simpler than what it was before. She didn't need to constantly watch over her shoulder, nor wonder if the contracts she accepted were only a thinly veiled attempt at collecting the bounty on her own head. Fights no longer required the loss of life… her hands were the cleanest they had been in years.

Olivia felt a group of familiar presences inside the dining hall as they made their approach, and dropped her dark thoughts to the wayside in preparation. They opened the door to find Team Coffee sitting around one of the long tables, tiredly munching away at their breakfast. Each had a steaming cup in front of them, along with two coffee pots set in between that had been mostly drained of their contents. As she entered, Olivia watched Coco beginning to fill her mug up once more before adding an excessive amount of sugar.

Velvet's ears swivelled atop her head, alerted to the creaking of the door as it opened. Her eyes fell on Olivia, and the previous exhaustion that had been there before was swept away in favor of bright eyes and an excited smile.

"Olivia! How are you feeling?"

Velvet's voice drew the attention of her teammates, each of them giving greetings of their own, if less enthusiastically.

Olivia crossed the short distance to stand at the head of the table, accepting the brief hug that Velvet gave her, "Never been better," her eyes wandered over the group, taking note of just how tired they appeared to be, "Why are you all up so early? You don't look the greatest."

Coco groaned into her forearm before rising up enough to speak, hiding the dark bags beneath her eyes with the sunglasses she wore, "Training with Carmine… Showing off our semblances… All that jazz… We're going on a mission with them and their leader wanted to make sure we were 'up to snuff', arrogant bitch…"

"Carmine?" Olivia raised an eyebrow, knowing she had heard the name in passing at some point over the last couple weeks. It took her a moment to think back on where she'd heard it before the dots connected and she had to stop herself from visibly paling.

"Yeah, some third year team that transferred from Mistral…" Coco sighed, taking a long sip of coffee before setting the mug back down roughly, "At least that Neo girl makes up for their leader. She's so _small_ , it's adorable~"

"I-I think I know who you're talking about," Olivia admitted, knowing that it would likely be more odd to _not_ have seen the miniscule third year around campus. Neo's age was dubious at best, given her size, "What's the mission, exactly?"

Coco was in the middle of taking another sip, so Yatsuhashi answered for her, "We're headed to a small town outside Vale. It's supposed to be a regular extermination mission from the sounds of it."

' _I need to talk to Cinder… Hopefully she doesn't have anything planned with them,_ ' Olivia thought worriedly.

She could sense the rest of her team heading back to another table after having gathered food for themselves, and flashed team Coffee a smile, "Well, best of luck. Doubt you really need it though, eh?"

"Damn straight," Coco grinned, raising a fist that Olivia bumped readily enough, "We'll show _them_ who's not up to snuff. Bunch of Mistralians thinking they're hot shit." Coco noticed the amused smirk that Olivia gave her along with the raised eyebrow that Yatsuhashi leveled in her direction, and shrugged nonchalantly, "Not saying _all_ Mistralians are that way."

Olivia chuckled, "No, you had it right the first time. I'm _definitely_ full of myself~"

"Hey, at least _you've_ earned it. Don't see many lasting that long against Nikos," Coco smirked, lowering her sunglasses for a moment to share a wink, "And you don't flaunt it everywhere you go," her eyes roamed up and down Olivia's body before she pushed the sunglasses back up, "As tragic as that is~"

Olivia leaned in closer to Velvet, whispering loud enough that she was certain the rest of the team would still be able to hear, "I'm starting to think she isn't just teasing~ Might want to start upping your game there, Vel."

While Velvet's cheeks grew heated, Coco snorted out in a quick burst of laughter, "You've obviously never known the joys of being with a rabbit faunus, kid. If there's anyone here that's been left wanting…~"

Velvet's eyes widened as they darted in Coco's direction, her hand moving up to cover her mouth and keep her from speaking further, "D-don't listen to her! You know how she is! I-I'm..." Velvet's voice drifted off into silence, far too embarrassed to speak further.

Olivia figured it would be best to stop their little game before her fellow faunus blew a gasket, and patted her on the shoulder before turning to walk away, "No worries. I know Coco likes to joke around," she gave a little wave as she left, calling out over her shoulder, "Bring me back a souvenir if you get the chance!"

Olivia allowed the frown she had been suppressing to spread across her face as she made her way over to grab breakfast for herself. Did third year teams usually chaperone for second years? Was it just a normal mission from the school, or did Cinder have something far more sinister planned?

Who would she side with…?

' _Hopefully I won't need to_ ,' Olivia told herself, not wanting to go any further down that rabbit hole. She was happy as she was now, and content to _stay_ that way for the foreseeable future.

Olivia rejoined her team, making sure to add Melanie to the list of things she needed to do that day. Going through the proper channels was the professional thing to do after all, and Cinder had said to use their mutual contact if she ever needed to speak with them.

A few hours at Junior's would only be a bonus.

* * *

Classes passed by quickly enough, both Port and Oobleck making a note to welcome Olivia back, albeit with mixed levels of affection. Olivia knew she wasn't exactly the best student, but it was the thought that counted, and she did her best that day to make up for her previous absence.

Combat class went by the same as it usually did, with Olivia only bothering to pay attention while members of team Lion and her own were taking part in the arena. It was mildly surprising to hear that Weiss had taken Olivia's place the previous day, fighting twice instead of only once, and did so again. Olivia cheered her on, and was glad to see that her efforts truly hadn't been wasted. Weiss handled herself better than ever, only allowing her aura to drop into the nineties over the course of both duels.

Olivia offered up what advice she could, pointing out the mistakes that led to Weiss giving up what few points she had, and several instances where she could have defeated her opponents sooner. Weiss gave Olivia her undivided attention, asking follow up questions of her own and asking about similar scenarios that had happened the previous day.

Olivia was more than happy to provide what answers she could, the two of them sitting side by side while they discussed various fighting tactics and different uses for Weiss's semblance. Olivia was in her element, and hardly noticed the time passing by until the bell had already rang, announcing that their final period was over.

"Hey, Ruby?" Olivia spoke up, breaking off her conversation with the heiress in order to wrap an arm around the younger girl's shoulders before she could get up to leave, "Do you want to head down into Vale with me?"

"What for?" Ruby asked, not appearing to be at all opposed to the idea, simply curious.

Olivia gestured down to herself, "I wanted to pick up another combat outfit. Wanna hit up Madam's Matchmaking with me?"

Ruby's eyes brightened as she flashed a smile, nodding once, "Sure! My skirt's been starting to fray around the edges and I've been meaning to get it touched up anyway."

"Where are you going?" Weiss asked from the side, leaning forward to include herself in the conversation.

"Ruby took me to a shop for my combat outfit before Beacon started. It's pretty nice, and the owner really knows her craft. I wanted to go there again for the replacement."

Weiss bit her lip, looking off to the side for a moment before turning back to regard Olivia with a pair of hope-filled eyes, "Do you mind if I come along?"

Olivia shrugged, "I don't see why not." She glanced over to Blake as well and raised an eyebrow, "How about you? Wanna make it a team outing?"

"I don't have anything else planned," Blake admitted with a small shrug of her own, "Where's it at exactly?"

"Heh, Ruby knows the way better than I do," Olivia grinned, giving the younger girl a quick shake while her arm was still around her. The faunus hopped to her feet and stretched, feeling how stiff her leg still was from the day prior and giving it an extra bit of attention.

Weiss frowned in concern, "Are you sure you'll be able to walk that far? There's a big difference between the campus and the streets of Vale…"

Olivia waved her off, "I'll be fine, Princess. Don't worry about it."

"I certainly hope so," Blake warned, sparing an eye for the leg that Olivia appeared to be favoring, "I won't be the one carrying you back."

Olivia pouted, "And here I was thinking we had something special~" She grinned at the blank expression that Blake gave her in return, "I'll be fine, really."

The group set off back for their dorm for a few minutes so that the others could change out of their own combat outfits, a delay that Olivia was forced to live with seeing as Ruby really was her only way back to the shop in question. She had never been great at finding her way through maze-like streets, and only visiting the shop once hardly helped her chances.

Soon enough though, team Rainbow had all gathered into one of the many awaiting bullheads and made their way down into the city. Ruby carried her combat outfit, bundled into a small bag in her hands. The young reaper and Blake were both armed, the only two that had bothered to bring their weapons with them on the outing for reasons of their own. Olivia had chosen to forego Oath, having already gained confirmation from both Adam and Widow that the White Fang would leave them to their own devices.

The city streets and sidewalks weren't nearly as busy as the last time Olivia had been down in Vale. It seemed Tuesdays weren't as popular, many citizens choosing to remain home during the weekdays or were simply still at work. Olivia was able to relax, knowing that the chances of her being recognized were even lower than usual.

"Not much further now, ladies," Ruby chirped, turning down yet another street as she led them towards their final goal.

Olivia was only just beginning to recognize some of the details, despite trying her hardest to memorize street names and turns. It had taken her _years_ to learn the city of Mistral like the back of her hand. She doubted Vale would be much different.

True to her word, it was only a minute longer and another turn before they found themselves standing outside the familiar shop, singular wooden door set between two large glass panes that displayed a myriad of vibrant outfits to choose from. Ruby rushed up the steps first and held the door open, ushering the others into the brightly lit establishment before stepping in herself.

The door jingled as they entered, and soon enough the multicolored beaded curtain in the back was swept wide, admitting the equally colorful Madam Myrtle into their midsts. Her eyes latched onto Ruby, a genuine smile coming to her face.

"My dear! I'm so happy to see you! I was wondering when you might be coming back in~" Madam Myrtle exclaimed. Her eyes roamed over the rest, smile only widening further, "And you've brought your friends as well, oh how delightful~! How may I help you all?"

Ruby rubbed a hand across the back of her head and gestured with her other towards the spider faunus, "We need a replacement outfit for Olivia, and mine needs a little work done on it," she looked to Weiss and Blake before giving a minute shrug, "Did you guys want to have a look around?"

Weiss and Blake shared a look before Blake broke off, moving to another side of the shop to see for herself what Madam Myrtle had to offer. Weiss remained, appearing content with looking over the contents of the store from where she stood.

' _To each their own._ ' Olivia turned back to find the larger woman's eyes roaming across her body, taking in the outfit she had chosen to wear down into Vale.

"I have to admit, dear. You're doing the world a disservice by not showing off those curves more. I know you were happy with your outfit before, but… would you mind if I made a few modifications this time around?"

Olivia frowned, stepping over in front of a mirror and imagining how her combat outfit had looked before, "I don't really want to show off more skin…" One hand reflexively lowered to her forearm, holding the sleeve in place and making it clear that that was what she was referring to. She turned back to see Madam Myrtle wearing a thoughtful frown, one hand raised to her chin.

After a few seconds, Madam Myrtle smiled once more and winked at Olivia, "Trust me, my dear. I'm sure you'll love what I have in store~" With that, she retreated into the back of her shop, leaving the three of them to look around while Olivia considered the possibilities.

After a few minutes, Weiss tapped Ruby on the shoulder, pulling her attention away from one of the mannequins and back to Olivia, who turned to face the pair as her sixth sense caught the brief exchange. Weiss stood looking her over, a slight tint of red to her cheeks.

"I've been thinking…" Weiss began, eyes drifting between Olivia and Ruby before speaking to their leader in particular, "Hasn't Olivia's outfit been missing something all this time?"

Ruby frowned, looking to Weiss and then back to Olivia in consideration. She appeared to be just as confused as Olivia, and tilted her head at the heiress, "What's she missing?"

"Well… Blake has her flower, you have your rose, and I have my family's snowflake… Doesn't Olivia need an emblem of her own?"

Ruby gasped, eyes widening as she looked Olivia over once more, "You're right! How did I not notice before!?"

"Do I really need one?" Olivia balked, sparring the two a mild frown of her own, "This is just another one of those things like naming a weapon, isn't it?"

"Well yeah!" Ruby chastised, beginning to pace back and forth across the space between Weiss and Olivia, "It's like your own personal symbol! Everyone who's _anyone_ has an emblem!" She stopped on her heel to look at Weiss, "What should it be?"

Blake had heard Ruby's sudden outburst and chose to move closer as well, standing slightly off to the side, "How about a flower? Her last name is Mandevilla, after all."

"No." Olivia denied that line of thinking more fiercely than she had meant to and immediately backtracked, raising her hands as if to apologize for her sudden outburst, "N-not that there's anything _wrong_ with having a flower for something like that, it just… isn't my style."

' _And I would always think of it as a black lotus, no matter what the design ended up looking like…_ '

"Okay, so no flowers…" Ruby pondered on it, tapping away at her chin for a few moments, "How about a spider web?"

"I'm… not really feeling it…"

' _Then I'd be back at square one, looking like I still worked for Little Miss Malachite!_ ' Even her colors would match the Mistralian mob boss's aesthetic at that point.

"Just a spider, then?" Weiss suggested, trying to offer up what she could.

"Hmm…" Olivia considered it, trying to imagine what a symbol like that might look like and where exactly it would even go on her outfit, "That… that might work."

The clacking of many beads announced Madam Myrtle's return, her hands draped with an outfit that looked to be a perfect match to the one that Olivia had owned before. She took it off her hands and looked it over, trying to spot any visible difference between it and the one she had already owned, before giving up and raising a questioning look to the older woman.

Madam Myrtle waved her fingers in a shooing motion, ushering Olivia to enter one of the changing rooms to try on the outfit for herself. She obliged, still uncertain what the older woman had planned.

After a few minutes spent changing into the outfit, and another spent looking at herself in the mirror… Olivia couldn't help but agree with the changes that Madam Myrtle had applied. Her veins were still visible to the same extent, appearing for a few inches from beneath her rolled up cuffs and disappearing beneath the fabric.

The first difference was the neckline of her shirt, dipping an extra inch down her chest in a more narrow V and allowing her cleavage to show more prominently. Olivia didn't consider herself the type to flaunt, and wouldn't have dreamed of wearing something more revealing than she already had if not for witnessing the proof of its appeal. It was a subtle change, but one that Olivia found herself approving of in the end.

The other difference was the material of her pants, now thinner and hugging more tightly, allowing her natural curves to retain their shape more easily. Olivia didn't have much trouble accepting that change, already knowing from her time with Melanie that that area of her body was one of her more desirable features. Accentuating that fact only made Olivia love the outfit all the more.

Olivia could sense that Weiss was the only one remaining outside of the dressing room, standing a little ways off to the side while patiently waiting for the faunus to finish. Blake, Ruby, and Madam Myrtle had all retreated over to the counter, and appeared to be bent over it while… drawing something…?

Olivia shrugged and opened the dressing room door, feeling Weiss practically snap to attention as the faunus stepped out. Olivia could feel her cheeks heating slightly, still unused to showing herself off to anyone in such a manner. She looked to Weiss hesitantly and shrugged, giving a slow spin as she had the day before in the infirmary.

"How do I look…?"

' _If anyone isn't going to approve, it'll be Weiss… She's by far the most prudish out of anyone I know…_ '

Weiss looked Olivia up and down, appearing dumbstruck for a moment before reclaiming her composure and averting her gaze, "Looks good. Little, um… tight… in places. If you feel comfortable in it then that's all that really matters, right?"

"Um, thanks, Princess," Olivia rubbed a hand across the back of her short hair and smiled, shifting her gaze over to the rest of her team and Madam Myrtle before raising her arms wide and calling out, "How's it look?"

Three pairs of eyes raised up from the paper they had been working on to look at Olivia, Madam Myrtle going so far as to let out an appreciative wolf whistle, "I knew it would look better on you, dear~"

"Yeah, I… think I could get used to it…"

"It looks great, Olivia!" Ruby beamed, snatching the paper off the counter and zipping to her side in a burst of petals, "We were working on your emblem! What do you think?"

Olivia's eyes fell down to the paper, seeing an assortment of various symbols that all depicted a spider in one way or another, "Did you draw these? They're pretty good."

Ruby smiled shyly, "Madam Myrtle helped some, but Blake and I worked on the initial design!"

Olivia took the paper from Ruby's hands, seeing the ecstatic smile she bore, and smiled in return, ' _How could I say no?_ '

She pointed out one of them in particular, then glanced in the mirror, "I like that one the most... Where are we going to put it, though?"

Madam Myrtle crossed the distance to see which one Olivia had chosen, one of the designs that had the sharpest set of legs among the batch and had been drawn in a more abstract style. She raised her eyes back up to Olivia in consideration, then smirked and gestured for the faunus to spin around.

Olivia complied, immediately feeling Madam Myrtle's delicate touch across her upper back. The woman's fingers gently moved across, far more soothing to the touch than Olivia would have ever expected. She could feel the fibers changing subtling, transforming in color wherever the woman's finger glided.

After a minute, Madam Myrtle pulled away, allowing Olivia free reign to inspect the work she had done in the mirror. On her back rested a perfect replica of the abstract spider on the page, if much larger. It's front legs reached all the way up to her shoulder blades, while the back legs reached all the way down to the hem of her black button up. The spider matched the color of her arm bands and top, a deep magenta that somehow managed to sparkle slightly when caught at just the right angle in the light.

"It's…"

"So cool!" Ruby finished for her, darting forward to get a closer look at the large emblem across Olivia's back. The faunus complied, turning to allow the rest of her team a better look at the work that Madam Myrtle had done.

"I like it," Blake stated with an appreciative smile, giving Olivia a warm nod when their eyes met, "It really does fit you well."

"Thanks, Blake," Olivia grinned, turning lastly to Weiss.

The heiress seemed to have been caught off guard, darting her eyes up to meet Olivia's with a hesitant smile, "Happy I could be of service."

Olivia nodded, "It was your idea in the first place. Thanks, Princess."

Weiss looked away and cleared her throat, moving away suddenly in order to step closer to the door, "Well, we've got what we came for. There's still homework that needs to get done, and twice as much from Oobleck's class at that. You can thank Yang for not letting me remind him yesterday."

Blake checked the time on her scroll and nodded, "We do need to be getting back soon. Was there anything else you needed, Olivia?"

Olivia shook her head, pulling out the wallet from the clothes she had changed out of, "Didn't you need to get your outfit fixed, Ruby?"

"Already did! Myrtle fixes up clothes just as fast as she changes their color!"

Olivia nodded and paid Madam Myrtle for both her outfit, and the repairs she had done on Ruby's, much to the other girl's protests. Olivia waved her off though, knowing that Myrtle's expertise didn't come cheap, even if you _were_ her favorite customer as she claimed Ruby to be.

Bags in hand, the four of them exited the establishment a few minutes later, promising to return if any of them wished to change their looks any time soon. Blake at least appeared to consider the suggestion, while Weiss seemed content with what she already wore.

Olivia continued with them up until they reached mainstreet, then held the bag of clothes out to Ruby, "Can you take these back up to Beacon for me? I have another errand I need to run before I head back."

Ruby raised an eyebrow, accepting the bag from Olivia, "Where do you need to go?"

Olivia shrugged, "Junior's."

Three faces frowned in a mixture of disapproval and disbelief, Weiss going so far as to speak up, "You still want to go back there? Even after what happened?"

"It's not as if I'm going to get sick _twice_. Besides, it wasn't Melanie's fault. She didn't know what her sister had."

"Still…" Weiss trailed off, looking off to the side as if disappointed in the choice that Olivia had made.

Olivia scoffed, "I'll be _fine_ , Princess. No need to worry."

"We'll see you back at Beacon, Olivia," Blake interjected between the two of them, wanting to break up any disagreements before they had a chance to truly begin.

"Yeah, see ya later," Olivia replied. She gave a small wave as she left, turning away yet keeping her sixth sense focused on her team behind her.

As soon as her back was turned, Weiss's eyes raised once more, following after Olivia even as both Blake and Ruby began to leave. After a few moments, Weiss breathed heavily and turned to follow their leader, an almost imperceptible slump in her step.

' _I guess she really is worried…_ ' Olivia shook her head, knowing that there really wasn't anything to worry about. The nurses had assured her that she wouldn't get sick again, nor would she relapse now that her aura was almost fully functional.

The heiress would get over it in time, once Olivia returned no worse for wear.

Right now… there were bigger things at stake…


	49. The Beginning of the End

The trees beneath the Bullhead whipped by, a blur of green that obscured any possible sight of the forest floor beneath. Neo stood near the open door, parasol held above her head with the handle resting in the nook of a strap hanging from the ceiling. It was too high for her to hold unaided, and she loathed the idea of relying on any others within the cabin itself.

The rest of her 'team' also stood, the whole pretentious lot nearest the cockpit in various states of unrest. Neo could tell that they were feigning complete composure, though knowing the plans they had in store was the only reason she was clued into that fact. For her, tricking people was the simplest act.

' _Even if my size does make it easier…_ '

The other team joining them on this venture, and the targets for their manipulation, consisted of three humans and a faunus. Team Coffee sat shoulder to shoulder in the only seating the Bullhead had to offer, groggily attempting to get in a few minutes of sleep despite the overwhelming roar of the ship's engines. Cinder had requested the doors be left open for exactly that reason, though the fools weren't aware of it.

Neo's eyes returned to the exterior of the ship, wondering how much longer it would be until they reached their destination. She hadn't been outside Vale for the past ten years, since the incident that brought her and Roman together in the first place. The small town they were going to sounded vaguely familiar, though Neo didn't care much for the surrounding countryside. 'Arcus' would be totally new to her, along with many of the others aboard the ship.

" _We'll be arriving shortly. Prepare what you need to,_ " a voice spoke over the intercom, the pilot giving them a heads up that they wouldn't have to wait much longer.

Cinder had been leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, but now stood straight to look over the younger team. Her eyes roamed across them with the smallest flicker of disdain, careful not to grow attached when some of them might not survive the afternoon.

"Alright, listen up. The reports have been sporadic, placing Grimm sightings at various locations around the town. When you arrive, Mercury will be in charge. I've already filled him in on what needs to be done, so take his orders as if they were my own."

The faunus girl, ' _Velvet?_ ', raised her hand nervously, "Where are you going to be?"

Cinder glanced over to Neo, sharing an unreadable message between them before acknowledging the girl's question, "Neo and I will be scouting ahead. We'll drop into the forest and meet back with you once we've gathered some intel."

"Just the two of you?" Coffee's leader spoke up with a frown, her eyes drifting over to Neo for a moment. Neo's hackles raised, recognizing the look of someone that doubted her abilities. It was a look often followed by terror, whenever the small girl had her way.

Cinder smirked, knowing the anger that Neo was being forced to keep bottled up inside, "No need to worry about the resident cinnamon roll. I'll protect her~"

Neo shot Cinder a glare, her hand tightly gripping her parasol while she wished sweet death upon the smug woman, ' _I'll bury all six inches of my blade in that stomach of yours if you aren't careful, Cinder._ '

Cinder only grinned harder, seeing the profound effect her words had on the mute. The members of team Coffee looked back and forth between the two with a measure of concern, though whether it was for Neo or Cinder, she couldn't tell. Personally, Neo was used to being underestimated. It wouldn't do any good to let others get away with disrespecting her, though. She at least needed to make her displeasure known.

Her team leader raised her hands after a moment, smug smile turning the slightest shade apologetic, "Sorry, Neo~"

Neo waited a few moments before giving a nonchalant shrug and returning her eyes to the forest below. They had spoken with their contact ahead of time, a woman that she had unfortunately already been acquainted with. Once they were close to the town, a signal was supposed to appear that 'would be obvious', as the woman had put it. As far as she was concerned, it couldn't come soon enough.

The cabin returned to silence for a handful of minutes, finally being interrupted by the intercom buzzing on once more, "Arcus is on the horizon. ETA, two minutes."

Neo's eyes scoured the forest floor below, wondering exactly what sign would be given to them. She didn't have to wait long, as a small speck of black flashed up out of the green canopy, following along beneath them. Neo flinched as a voice softly spoke in her ear, seemingly from nowhere, " _Follow the birdie._ "

Cinder appeared to have heard the voice as well, as she moved from her place near the cabin over next to Neo. Her eyes caught on to the adolescent Nevermore instantly, and mere moments after the voice had spoken, both watched the small winged Grimm dip back beneath the trees.

Cinder turned back around to give Mercury a tight nod, "Take care of them, will you?" She didn't wait for a reply before stepping backwards out of the Bullhead and plummeting towards the ground below.

Neo sighed at the theatrics and followed, opening her parasol part of the way down to kill her momentum while Cinder used a portion of her strange powers to slow herself. The woman disappeared beneath the canopy, only the smallest rustling of leaves showing signs of where she had gone. The canopy itself was far too thick to see past.

' _Might have given all of you away if it wasn't…_ ' Neo thought in disdain, gliding down past the trees to find herself in the midst of hundreds of Grimm. Beowolves, Ursa, Taijitu… those rolling boars. Neo didn't have much experience with the Grimm, and was by no means well-versed in the various types and breeds. Even she could tell that the amount gathered was overkill, though.

' _Those second years won't stand a chance… Neither will the town…_ '

Cinder was already waiting in the small clearing that Neo landed in, the space devoid of Grimm for the most part. They appeared entirely disinterested in the two of them, despite the aggressive behavior they would normally express. The entire idea of controlling the Grimm was still alien to her, but… ' _They can be useful._ '

Unfortunately, Cinder hadn't yet trusted her with the technique. Neo truly wasn't sure how she had accomplished the feat, or what she might have taught Emerald and Mercury in order to give them the same benefit. The miniscule illusionist simply couldn't be trusted. Her allegiance was not with Cinder, but with Roman, and the woman in question was well aware of that.

Cinder eyed the gathering of Grimm around them until a larger group began to shuffle away from each other, parting to allow their contact through. Widow wore a smug grin, giving the Grimm hardly any attention as she stepped lightly past them.

"Glad you could finally make it. I was starting to grow a little bored out here, you know? The Grimm might be useful, but they're _terrible_ at holding conversations~"

Neo watched Cinder draw herself up a little taller, not enough to be comical, but enough to give her an air of confidence and command. Both she and Widow radiated a dominant energy that demanded respect, a clash of wills that Neo had no desire to be a part in. She was well aware of both women's skills, and while no slouch herself, knew she didn't measure up to either.

Instead, Neo plastured a grin of her own across her face and assumed a relaxed pose. In reality, her body was ready to move at a moment's notice. If it came down to it, her money was on Cinder, and she made sure to emphasize that with the unwelcoming smile she sent Widow's way.

Cinder gave an apologetic frown, "My apologies. We needed to make sure our underclassmen were unfit for combat before venturing out. They were surprisingly resilient, despite us putting them through their paces."

Widow waved it off as if she wasn't truly bothered, "Well, what can you do? You wanted a team that the Headmaster would trust, right? There's no escaping it if they're a cut above the rest," she looked Cinder over carefully before continuing with a smile that nearly made Neo shiver, "How many?"

Cinder tapped her chin thoughtfully, "The rabbit faunus and the orange haired boy should suff-"

The sound of Cinder's scroll buzzing from her pocket cut her off mid-sentence. With a small sigh, she pulled it from her pocket to check the caller ID. Cinder frowned when she saw it, then disabled her camera and accepted the call.

"Melanie?" Cinder spoke the singular name, careful not to give too much away. Neo recognized it as one of Junior's bodyguards, a delightful pair of brats that had mistaken themselves Neo's equals once upon a time.

"U-uh, yeah. Lotus wanted to talk to you?" the girl spoke uncertainly.

"Put her on."

Though Widow tried to hide it, Neo could see the immediate interest she had in the conversation. Her body shifted slightly forward before she could help herself, attention piqued towards the scroll in Cinder's hands.

"Hey Cindy, this a bad time? Can't help but notice you have your camera off. Wouldn't be up to anything nefarious, now would you?" Neo recognized the female assassin's voice from their brief encounter. She'd made sure not to forget it, after a display like that.

Cinder flashed Neo and Widow a warning glance before replying, "I was beginning to think you'd never call. I've been respectful of your desires, so what's the occasion? Don't tell me you're bored of being a law abiding citizen~"

"It has its moments," Lotus laughed quietly, "I'm afraid not, though. A friend of mine mentioned they were going on a mission with you today… I was wondering whether or not _they_ were the mission, or… if you're really only out there to kill a few Grimm."

Cinder narrowed her eyes slightly, "And if they _are_?"

There was silence over the call for a few moments, then Lotus's voice, without the playful tone it had held before, "I would be… upset. Perhaps there's some arrangement we could come to?"

"Are you offering to work for me? Are you sure you want to risk that? It may be better to just look the other way. Many of my plans hinge on their… _emotional_ recounting of today's events."

"What would you ask of me in return?" there was a slight hesitation to Lotus's words, but they were firm once spoken. She had clearly resolved herself already to whatever Cinder might request.

Cinder grinned, and held up a finger once more to gesture for Widow's silence, "Swear yourself to me, as Mercury and Emerald have done. I am nothing, if not benevolent towards my followers. Help me in my goals, and I promise that neither I, nor my compatriots, will harm a hair on the head of anyone you care for."

"...What are you planning…?"

"We can go over the details later. For now, I'll need your word that you _will_ help me in my endeavors. Do so, and I swear that all of Team Coffee will survive."

"I'll…" there were a few moments of silence while Lotus seemingly debated with herself on her answer. Finally, her voice carried quietly over the scroll, "I'll help you. As long as my... friends... are left unharmed."

"You have a deal, then~ We'll set up an appointment to meet down in Vale later this weekend. I'll fill you in on the plan, and we'll work out exactly what part you'll have in it," Cinder smirked and held the scroll out, preparing to put it away, "Until then, I have a town to ransack. I look forward to working with you again, Lotus."

Cinder ended the call and moved to return the scroll to her pocket before freezing warily. A deep rumble rose around them, the growls of hundreds of Grimm that had all turned their eyes to the trio in their midsts. Neo raised her parasol, blade out, and stepped closer to Cinder while eyeing the Grimm around them. The entire sea of red eyes were focused on the pair, hungrily gnashing their teeth and raking sharp claws through soft dirt as they paced forward.

Widow's face was a tightly held mask, obscuring the fury that lay within as she forced herself to remain civil, "...I don't... appreciate... you _encouraging_ my daughter's _weakness_. Our agreement was for you to _break_ her of it, not let her fall even _further_."

Cinder glared as the entire mass of Grimm ground to a halt. They remained in place, growling low, some even whining with the promise of a kill so close within their grasp. The strain was evident to Neo, whatever contest of wills between the two forcing Cinder to strain herself so entirely on such a simple command.

"I _already_ have a plan for your daughter," Cinder's voice was slightly breathless, the effort of speaking while concentrating so entirely on their survival self evident, "She's already become too ingrained by her team's influence. Forcing her to work for me may help, but…" the Grimm took a unanimous step closer as Cinder trembled, "You'll _never_ get her back if you betray me now."

The Grimm halted once more, still on edge and ready to pounce at a moment's notice. Widow spoke quietly, the continued threat clear to all as she had eyes only for Cinder, "You _do_ have a plan?"

"I do."

"What is it?"

Cinder forced herself to stand straight and cross her arms, haughtily regarding Widow despite the danger they were in, "You'll get your _daughter_ when _I_ get what _I_ want."

Widow scoffed, "You make it sound so simple. As if you could carry it out at any time."

"I could," Cinder replied matter of factly.

Widow paused, staring at Cinder while looking for a hint of deceit. The younger women glared back, no longer budging in their contest of wills. The Grimm themselves started to back away, though whether that was through Widow relenting, or Cinder gaining some type of ground, Neo couldn't tell.

"You're certain you can get my daughter back?" Widow's voice was anything but certain, some semblance of doubt managing to creep its way into her mind due to Cinder's self assurity.

"I am many things. One of those is _resourceful_. Trust me when I tell you that recovering your dear Lotus will be rather simple," Cinder smiled despite their situation, "She'll be _exactly_ as you remembered her, questionable morality and all. Nothing she does in the meantime will matter in the end."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

The Grimm finally retreated fully, heading further back into the treeline and leaving their small clearing while Widow allowed herself to relax more than before. Her eyes remained on Cinder, though it appeared her curiosity was thoroughly piqued, "Well then, what are we waiting for? It's time to get this show on the road~"

' _That's one way to put it…_ ' Neo thought idly, returning to a relaxed pose herself as both women turned their gazes to her. She began with Widow, using Cinder as a reference since the other team would be in more direct contact with their 'leader'. In a brief moment of shimmering pink glass, Widow's body was transformed into that of Cinder's.

Widow looked down at her body and drew her weapons, now perfect replicas of the ones at Cinder's side. Her voice changed, becoming that of the younger woman's as well, an effect of her own abilities, "Will your semblance hold up in a fight? Not that I expect anything to land a blow on me, but it might appear out of place if your glass suddenly shattered to reveal my weapons in their stead."

Neo shrugged, then held up her own parasol before allowing her aura to encompass it. Just to demonstrate her point, she flicked it with her opposite hand, eliciting a few small ripples of pinkish aura across its exterior. Widow nodded her understanding, seeming satisfied after replicating the act. As long as her aura protected what lay beneath, the illusion would remain intact.

Neo turned to Cinder next, tapping her chin lightly while considering how to make her look. They hadn't discussed an exact disguise, but apparently the ruse would work as long as Cinder remained a woman and appeared to be in her twenties. Neo smirked, thinking of turning her into a hag while she had the chance if only to get her back for her earlier comment in the bullhead. Today's mission was important though. With a muted sigh, Neo created a cascade of pink glass that rippled down Cinder's body from head to toe.

Standing before them was the image of a woman, a few years younger than Cinder's actual age. Her features were striking, bold and slightly exaggerated so that Team Coffee would remember her well. A pair of piercing amber eyes rested beneath a mane of shaggy auburn hair that faded into gold near the tips. Her attire was form fitting, a mixture of black and gold filigree that appeared in swirling patches, reminiscent of flames burning in a blackened sky.

' _That ought to catch their eye~_ ' Neo smirked, admiring her handiwork while Cinder did the same.

Widow let out a small whistle from within her Cinder disguise, face shifting into an appreciative expression that Neo had never seen the _actual_ Cinder wear, "You doing anything later~?"

Cinder glared, crossing her arms in a pose reminiscent of her true self. Her voice remained the same, despite the change in her appearance, "Be careful not to embarrass yourself while acting as me. I hardly need any rumors floating around that _don't_ pertain to a crazed maiden on the loose."

Widow scoffed, "I was only _joking_. As if I would be interested in a _human_ anyway. I don't know what Lotus sees in you lot," she seemed to shiver, looking down at herself again, "Don't take it personally, but just looking like one of you is making my _skin_ crawl."

Cinder's glare continued for a few moments before she allowed her gaze to fall on the Grimm around them, "You and Neo should head back. I'll give you around thirty minutes before I attack, so be ready to put on a show. Emerald has been instructed to remain on the sidelines as much as possible to scare the townspeople with her own illusions. The more extravagant the tale, the better."

"We aren't wiping out the whole town?" Widow sounded disappointed, the hunger for blood clear within her tones, "How many should we leave alive?"

Cinder shook her head, "Our team has to appear victorious in the end. The more reputation we can gain in the eyes of Ozpin, the sooner my true plans can be put underway. Focus on pressuring the younger team as much as possible, then save them when all seems lost. All in all, we should keep the casualties at a minimum, if still believable."

Widow grimaced, appearing unhappy about the prospect of helping those they were trying to fool. She shrugged in the end though, setting her feet in the direction of Arcus and sparing Neo an eye, "Let's not keep them waiting then. Time to play the Hero," Widow did lighten up a small portion then, looking off into the distance, "Maybe I'll see if it's really all it's cracked up to be. Lotus wouldn't have left me for nothing, right?"

"It can be entertaining, for a time. I've never seen the allure myself, aside from basking in praise or making a few lien," Cinder chuckled humorlessly, "Having others grovel in fear is _much_ more exciting, if you ask me."

Widow grimaced, beginning to walk away as she spoke to Cinder over her shoulder one last time, "I never could stand begging. _Words_ have never saved anyone from my blades."

Neo spared an eye with the real Cinder, both watching as the Grimm parted to make way for Widow. Cinder leaned in more closely, speaking quietly while watching the spider faunus's back, "Keep an eye on her, and make sure she doesn't kill anyone on Team Coffee. I wouldn't put it past her to ruin my plans, in more ways than one. They'll prove useful in the future…"

Neo nodded and set off after Widow. She kept as far away from the Grimm as she could, the mass of black and white creatures slowly closing behind the pair as they walked through. It was a full minute before they were free, the forest opening up once more into an assortment of thick green foliage. The low muttered growls of the Grimm faded into the distance, as Neo finally stepped up to walk side by side with the current Cinder look alike.

Widow spared her an eye, seeming to consider the short girl for a few moments before speaking, "I was wondering where you'd gone off to. Roman wouldn't say, other than that another contact had hired you," her eyes brightened, a small grin working its way across her lips, "Speaking of Roman, you might want to give Lotus a little visit yourself. I met her a while back, and despite her current misgivings, seemed fairly keen on your dear employer meeting an untimely end. Now that she's agreed to help, you might want to make that particular connection clear. Wouldn't want your whole group falling apart, now would we?"

' _Lotus wants Roman dead?_ ' Visions of some invisible force piercing through the young boy and leaving a gaping hole in his chest flickered through Neo's mind in a panic. On top of her monstrous power, Lotus was also a spider faunus and wouldn't be affected by Neo's semblance, just like Widow hadn't. When it came down to it, there was no way she'd be able to stop Lotus from getting her way through force.

' _My only option is to make peace… What did Roman do to earn her ire?_ ' Neo would need to ask him personally, once the mission was over. Perhaps she'd tag along with Cinder during their little meeting. The woman had hardly divulged her true intentions to Neo thus far, though. It was possible she wouldn't be allowed to come.

' _At least I can get her number from that Melanie brat. I've heard the rumors of their promiscuity. There's no way she doesn't have a way to contact Lotus._ '

Neo nodded her thanks to Widow, who seemed mostly indifferent regardless. The conversation ended there, with Neo being no better of a talking companion than the Grimm in most cases. Widow appeared content to simply walk while humming lightly, a delicate smile playing at her lips. There was a slight skip to her step, and a hunger in her eyes that left Neo's stomach a twisting mess.

As ruthless as she could be, when it really came down to it…

Widow was something else entirely.


	50. The Golden Rule

Olivia tossed Melanie's scroll back to her and sat down on the edge of her bed, staring blankly at the wall while considering the consequences of the choice she'd made. Velvet and Coco were important to her, in a way. They were the first two in the city to show her how different life could truly be, the first to accept her aside from Nora and Ren.

Olivia enjoyed the occasional banter with Coco… was thankful for the older girl's attempts at taking her under her wing. A scrappy, hoodie wearing girl with a nonexistent eye for fashion. Coco hadn't cared in the slightest that Olivia was a faunus, had even seemed to go further out of her way _because_ of that fact. Would it have been the heroic thing to do to just let her die? To let her debts go unpaid?

Olivia also appreciated the words of encouragement that Velvet had always provided… She and Coco had been a dynamic duo, ushering the awkward assassin into an unknown world. A world filled with true kindness, instead of whispers and treachery. If it hadn't been for her fellow faunus's trust in Coco, Olivia never would have done the same.

And Yatsuhashi, the quiet giant that had persuaded Olivia to return to her dorm, had urged her to take that first step into acknowledging Weiss as a viable teammate, maybe even a friend. She still wasn't quite convinced that his presence there hadn't been planned from the beginning, but she'd be damned if she was going to complain about the results it had provided. Yatsu's words had spared her from weeks, months, perhaps even _years_ of hardship with the heiress. Out of the members of team Coffee, Olivia surely owed him the most.

' _Shouldn't I do whatever it takes?_ ' Wasn't the entire point of being a Hero to save the ones you cared about?

If it was anyone other than Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald that were threatening team Coffee, Olivia was certain she would have killed them outright. Murder was always the easiest solution to any problem. It removed all the variables, as Crim had taught her so long ago.

' _But I owe them, too…_ '

Without Mercury, and by extension Cinder, Olivia would still be rotting in that Oum forsaken city. She'd still be accepting contracts from Malachite, killing whoever brought in the most lien, straying further and further from the path of redemption until there was nothing _left_ to redeem.

She would still be blissfully unaware of Widow's treachery…

It was times like these where her understanding faltered, where the path of 'good' was no longer clear. Unfortunately… she couldn't even ask her friends for advice. If anyone could tell her what path was the more noble one to take, it would be them. They wouldn't understand, though. None of them had truly walked a mile in her shoes, except…

' _What would Blake say?_ '

If anyone's past was comparable to Olivia's own, it was Blake. Of course, the feline faunus had never murdered anyone as far as she was aware, but what if the White Fang asked her to return in exchange for letting Ruby and Weiss live? Would Blake go along with it, or fight back while risking her own exposure as an ex-terrorist?

' _It still isn't the same… Blake doesn't owe them anything…_ '

Olivia sighed heavily and laid back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling while Melanie stood just within her periphery. The girl was biting her nails worriedly, looking as if she wanted to provide some type of encouragement, perhaps even consolation, but didn't know how to go about it.

Olivia gave her a small smile and patted the space next to herself on the bed, shifting as Melanie lied down as well. She draped an arm over Olivia's torso, pressing herself close in what could almost be a hug if not for their awkward positions.

"Are you okay?" Melanie asked the question lightly, her eyes filled for the first time with concern for the girl next to her.

"I just… don't know what I'm going to do…" Olivia confessed, returning her eyes to the ceiling above, "I promised myself I was going to leave that life behind. I should have known it would find a way to dig its claws into me again. Killing is all I'm good for, after all. Whether it's people or Grimm… either way, I end up with blood on my hands…"

"Who says you need to kill?" Melanie asked, tilting her head slightly so that she could get a better look into Olivia's eyes, "All I heard her say is that you need to _work_ for her. She's trying to blend in at Beacon, isn't she? And she _knows_ that you don't want to kill anyone… right?"

Olivia scoffed, laughing softly, "What _else_ do you use an assassin for?"

Melanie shook her head, "You aren't _just_ an assassin. You're a student at Beacon, a Huntress in training! There's plenty of things she could use you for besides killing people!"

"That's a nice sentiment, Mel. I don't know how true it really is though."

Melanie drew her hand back and poked Olivia in the chest, eyes staring fiercely into her own, "You're the _Black Lotus_. No one _makes_ you do anything!"

Olivia chuckled dryly, " _You_ make me do stuff in this very room _all the time_."

Melanie rolled her eyes and poked Olivia in the chest once more, "You know what I meant. She may have helped you in the past, but that doesn't mean you owe her your entire _future_. There has to be ways you can be useful without resorting to more murder!"

"Like what?"

"I don't know! Offer to pick up her dry cleaning or something!"

Olivia began to laugh. Deep, incredulous laughter while imagining Cinder's reaction if the Black Lotus ever proposed something so ludicrous. It helped to lighten her mood, to see that, while Melanie's most recent suggestion would never see the light of day, there was _some_ truth to what she was saying.

Olivia's laughter subsided, and she rolled on to her side to reciprocate the hug that Melanie had been attempting previously. She pulled herself in close, letting out a final sigh into the other girl's long black hair while they embraced. It wasn't as comforting as the hug she had shared with Weiss, nor as intimate as what usually transpired between the two of them. Olivia still found herself enjoying it though, and let it continue in silence for a few long moments before finally pulling away.

"You're right. If Cinder wants me to serve, then it's going to have to be under _my_ terms… Thank you, Melanie..." Olivia smiled, mind already searching for other things she could offer in exchange for team Coffee's lives. There wasn't much, and many of her options depended on what _exactly_ Cinder had planned, but… ' _It's better than betraying my teammates… better than betraying myself…_ '

And as long as she didn't cross that line… Olivia knew she wouldn't hesitate to keep it all a secret from the ones so important to her.

' _Ignorance is bliss, as they say._ '

* * *

Velvet leaned against Yatsuhashi for support, her body numb and her eyes blearily refusing to remain open for long. The leader of team Carmine, Cinder, had run them ragged all morning after giving them only a few hours to sleep the night before. She'd said it was to simulate the type of field missions they would have once they were full fledged hunters, and promised that they would be fine as long as Carmine was with them.

Coco groaned next to her, leaning against Velvet in kind with her head on the faunus girl's shoulder. They'd had a moment of excitement earlier when the short girl Neo and Cinder had suddenly jumped from the bullhead. She supposed it was to be expected if they were scouting the area. Velvet was just glad she hadn't been chosen to go along with them. She doubted she had the energy for it at the moment, with even her faunus resilience failing to hold her over.

The bullhead began to slow, the roar of the thrusters quickly changing into a pitched whine as it began to near the ground. The ship rocked as it descended, forcing Velvet to grip Yatsuhashi through the worst of it. Coco held on to her as well, the pair using their much larger teammate as a support for the ship's descent. Fox only leaned slightly forward in his seat, giving a mental yawn that was heard by all three of them.

The ship landed lightly, it's pads rocking against the ground and giving one final sharp shake to those in their seats. Mercury opened his eyes from where he'd been standing, leaning against the wall near the cockpit with his arms folded. Emerald stood next to him, similarly unperturbed by the mission they had been sent on. It was to Mercury that they all looked, the one that had been left in charge in Cinder's absence.

"Alright, listen up. We're starting things off simple. While Cinder and Neo are out scouting, we're going to do a little reconnaissance of our own. We'll split up into pairs and check out the town, asking people about where and when they might have spotted Grimm nearby. Get a feel for the area. We'll meet back up at the ship in an hour, or when Cinder returns," Mercury spoke confidently while looking them over, his eyes shifting to Fox in particular, "Can your semblance cover the entire town?"

"Yes," the singular word was heard by all those in attendance, despite Fox's lips not moving.

Mercury nodded, "Right then. If there's any trouble, try and get word to Fox so that he can tell the rest of us. It's faster than calling with scrolls individually."

Team Coffee agreed and began to stand, Velvet flashing a smile to Coco to signal that she'd pair up with her. They were stopped a moment later as Mercury called out once more, the sound of the ship's engines only then beginning to die down, "Bunny girl, you're with me. Coco, you're with Em. Yatsuhashi and Fox, take the side we flew over," his eyes fell on Velvet, "You and I will hit up the South side, while Coco and Em go Northeast."

"Oh, o-okay!" Velvet agreed readily enough, giving Coco an apologetic smile as they all quickly exited the bullhead. Velvet hopped down, feet lightly hitting the hard packed dirt beneath.

The town itself didn't seem as grand as she'd hoped, it's streets remaining mostly unpaved and its buildings rarely rising higher than a single story. It spanned only a few hundred feet in either direction, the bullhead having landed near the center of town. The buildings were mostly tannish brown, dappled here and there by more vibrant colors that were all the more so due to their surroundings.

The people at least seemed finely dressed, hanging back a small distance until it was clear that the bullhead was from Beacon. Smiles grew and parents held back excited children upon seeing the Hunters in training exiting the bullhead.

Emerald sighed as she stepped out, throwing a glance in Coco's direction before gesturing off into the distance, "Let's get this over with. I don't want to be stuck here any longer than we have to be."

Coco waited until Emerald had turned away before lowering her sunglasses and giving Velvet a look of misery. Her eyes trailed over to Mercury, and she spoke to Velvet in a low whisper that only her extra set of ears would pick up, "She's not the only one that wants to get this over with sooner rather than later. Best of luck with yours."

Velvet smirked and gave Coco a light push in Emerald's direction, speaking softly in return, "Maybe she'll grow on you."

Coco stared blankly back in clear doubt before giving her head a brief shake and pushing her sunglasses back up. She turned and fell into step next to Emerald, speaking to her as the two of them disappeared into the crowd, "So, I saw the way you were looking at Cinder. At least you've got taste-"

"Ready?"

Velvet was pulled away from listening in on the conversation any further as Mercury spoke next to her, his arms crossed while he stared after the retreating forms of Yatsuhashi and Fox. Velvet breathed in for a moment, focusing back on the mission at hand. When Mercury's eyes swivelled back to her, she gave him a confident nod.

"Good," Mercury sounded anything but excited by their current mission, and uncrossed his arms to begin walking away from the bullhead, "I'll leave most of the talking to you."

"M-me?" Velvet asked timidly, eyes now darting about to the people she would be expected to question, "Why me?"

Mercury shrugged, "You seem like the type that's bad with people. You'll have to work on that if you want to make it as a Huntress."

Velvet got the distinct impression that Mercury was _also_ bad with people, if not for the same reason. His entire demeanor gave off the air of someone completely unapproachable, with no patience for idle chatter.

"And I suppose you're the poster child for nice, lengthy conversations?" Velvet remarked lightly, focusing in on a particularly large group of people that were currently being distracted by a blond woman. Velvet wasn't sure why, but she felt drawn to them, and set her feet in their direction while forcing Mercury to do the same.

Mercury chuckled, shooting Velvet an appreciative smirk before replying, "No. I suppose I'm not. Fortunately for _me_ , Cinder made me the boss of you lot. You have to do what I say~"

Velvet nodded in agreement, feeling what small irritation she'd felt beginning to drift away as they grew closer to the group ahead of them, "Well, you're right about that. If you don't mind, I'd like to start with her," she nodded her chin towards the blond.

"Yeah… that sounds like a great idea…" Mercury spoke softly in agreement, his eyes transfixed while a small grimace worked its way across his lips.

"Don't worry, Vera! I've already called ahead to Beacon to ask for some assistance. Whatever Grimm you've heard about won't be a match for them, let alone me!"

Velvet could now hear the conversation as she approached, the blond woman's words ringing with positivity. It was infectious, and Velvet found herself truly smiling, nervousness entirely forgotten. They wound their way to the edge of the crowd, now within range for Mercury to hear her words as well. The older boy appeared to be fighting a smile of his own, his brows knitting together in confusion and contrasting the upward slant of his lips.

"I'm sure you're right, Ariel! It's just, there were so many that I couldn't help but panic!" an older woman piped up, seeming reassured by the blond's words, "I should have known you'd already have the situation handled!"

The crowd murmured agreement, and Velvet found herself nodding along with them despite not knowing anything about the blond. She could hardly see more than the top of her head, obscured by the crowd as she was. Velvet's rabbit ears were perked, standing at attention and giving away her presence as a faunus for all to see. Yet the fear and trepidation from being around so many humans did not come. It was suffocated by a soothing calm that washed over her, like waves along a sandy shore.

The blond shifted her attention as many in the crowd began to depart, their fears eased by the presence and words of the blond woman. A pair of brilliant blue eyes found their way to Velvet and Mercury, a soft smile now visible after most others had dispersed.

"If you'll excuse me, it appears that my call was answered sooner than even I expected!" Ariel spoke happily to the few that remained and stepped past to stand in front of Mercury and Velvet, her eyes going back and forth between the two while sizing them up.

With the crowd out of the way, Velvet could finally get a good eye on the blond haired woman. Golden hair spilled over her back in long waves, her bright blue eyes seeming to pierce straight through Velvet and understand her entire being at a glance. The back neckline of her cloak was capped with white fur, the entire pristine length draping down slightly past her knees and silhouetting the piecemeal white and gold armor she wore. At her hip rested a long white sheath, the sword protruding from it having a golden crossguard, blue grip, and similarly golden pummel.

"I know everyone in this town, and you two certainly aren't from around here! My name's Ariel Arc. You're Beacon students, I presume?"

Mercury was busy shifting uncomfortably next to Velvet, so she took the initiative in speaking for the both of them, "We are! Happy to meet you!" she extended out a hand, a gesture that the older blond was quick to reciprocate, "My name is Velvet, and this is Mercury. He's a member of team Carmine, while I'm a part of team Coffee. The Headmaster saw fit to send two teams out, since your message sounded so urgent."

Ariel nodded, "Glad to hear it. Truth is, the reports have been fairly extravagant, but I've never known any of the townsfolk to outright lie…" she laughed briefly, "Not that they really _could_ lie to me." Her smile died as her eyes shifted to Mercury's face, a twisting knot of confusion, happiness, and anger.

"Stop it," Mercury's voice was muted, straining to come out between clenched teeth while he averted his gaze from the both of them, fighting against the overwhelming calm infecting the entire area.

Ariel raised an eyebrow, and suddenly the happy feelings that had been washing over them dissipated. Still present, but not to the degree they had been before, "Sorry about that. I can't really turn my semblance off all the way, only boost it when I need to. Are you alright?"

Mercury's face still twitched, but the anger that was there before seeped away as the effects began to wear off. He brought a hand up to his face, covering it for a moment while breathing deeply, "It's fine. I just… don't like being manipulated. What kind of semblance is that anyway?"

Ariel smiled sadly, and Velvet could feel a deep seated pain burning far beneath the surface, "My dad liked to call it 'The Golden Rule'. It helped keep my younger siblings in check… all seven of them. I make others feel whatever I'm feeling. Happy, sad, angry…" she glanced around to the townsfolk that had left them to their conversation, but still remained close by, "It's helped me keep the town calm, ever since I had to take up my father's mantle."

Velvet could feel the seed of loss growing, and stepped forward to place a hand on the woman's shoulder of her own volition, "I'm sorry for your loss. You seem to have been doing well until now, though! I promise we'll protect all of you as best we can."

"Thank you," Ariel replied kindly. The seed began to fade, slowly ebbing away into obscurity. If Velvet focused, she could still feel it nestled deep within. It's effects on her own mood were nonexistent though, and she quickly returned to an air of relaxation.

Mercury nodded his condolences, then caught Velvet's attention by swirling his hand in a gesture for her to continue.

"Right! About the Grimm… We were hoping to gather what information we could. Can you tell us about the recent sightings? Where they were, how many Grimm, what kinds… Anything that will help us?"

"Well, some of the tales have been pretty… out there, in terms of believability. Zhara told me she'd seen two King Taijitu moving through the forest together along with a pack of Beowolves," Ariel caught Velvet's questioning frown and grinned, "Four heads, not two. I already made sure of that."

"Alright," Velvet nodded, "We can take that on easily enough. What else?"

"Flock of Nevermores to the East. From the way Sable tells it, there must have been a few dozen," Ariel gave a small shrug at that, "I'd trust Sable's eyes on most days, but given the old coot's penchant for drinking, I'm at least hoping he was seeing double that day. Aside from that, there have been plenty of other reports on herds of Boarbatusks and Beowolf packs, all from different locations around the city. It's got most people on their toes, and I can't blame them…"

Velvet's face scrunched up in mild confusion, "I trust that you know the townsfolk better than I do, but… why wouldn't the Grimm have attacked by now, especially if so many have already gathered? Surely their instincts would have driven them here if there was that strong of a pull."

Ariel grimaced, and the seed surged forth once more. Velvet could feel doubt spreading through her mind, an overbearing self hatred following along in its wake. The edge had been taken off due to Ariel suppressing her semblance as best she could. With Velvet feeling the remnants to this degree, she couldn't help but let her heart go out to the older woman.

"I… can't help but feel like it's my fault…"

"It's… it's okay. You couldn't be responsible for so many Grimm appearing. It would take far more than a single person…"

Ariel laughed, though her voice lacked any real mirth, "That's the thing with a semblance like mine. Like I said, it spreads whatever I'm feeling…" her eyes raised once more, and she caught the sad expression on Velvet's face.

With a start, Ariel took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh, pushing her feelings into the background once more. She regained what composure she could, but was incapable of resuming the smile she'd had previously. Her hand drifted down to gently grip the sword at her waist, eyes trailing to follow.

"My little brother ran off to Vale a month ago, trying to become a Huntsman like he'd always dreamed of… My father went after him, since he didn't know the first thing about aura, let alone how to swing a sword. They… they both died. In a fire, if you believe the police…" Ariel's voice betrayed her own thoughts on the matter, as she shook her head with a small grimace, "Dad was one of the strongest Huntsmen to ever come out of Beacon. No mere _fire_ would have been enough to take him down."

Ariel sighed, "When we got the news, we were all inconsolable. I… I've tried holding it all in, as best I can," she scanned the streets around them, taking in the happy faces of those outside the range of her semblance. So many people, all depending on her to protect them from the Grimm that stalked their town, "I'm sure it's because of me. As much as I try to hide it, that pain has still twisted it's way into everyone else… It's my duty to protect them, as my father did for so many years before me… Yet all I've done is fail them..."

Velvet reached forward once more, this time taking Ariel's hand from it's shaking grip on her sword and clasping both of her own around it. She smiled warmly, fighting against the dregs of doubt and pain that still permeated the air, "We _will_ protect them. Team Coffee is made up of some of the strongest students Beacon has to offer, and Carmine aren't a bunch of slouches, either. Those Grimm won't stand a _chance_. Just you wait and see."

Ariel stared deeply into Velvet's eyes, a hesitant smile slowly working its way on to her lips, "I'll hold you to that."

Velvet lost focus as a voice spoke in her mind, the sound of Fox unmistakable, "Cinder and Neo have returned. She says they spotted quite a few Grimm of various types out in the forest. Everyone is to regroup on our side, and tell the villagers to take shelter as best they can."

Ariel raised an eyebrow while Velvet and Mercury remained zoned out for a few seconds, both finally coming back to the conversation at hand simultaneously. Mercury nodded to the blond, a look of resignation clear on his face, "Looks like the tales weren't entirely unfounded. Get everyone inside. It doesn't sound like we have very long before the Grimm come marching into your town and make a mess of the place."

Velvet spared Ariel a worried look, "How soon can you get everyone inside?"

Ariel's eyes darted behind her, to the tallest building that the town had to offer. Velvet hadn't paid much attention to it before then, but now she could see the large golden bell held within the top most tower, three stories above the ground unlike anything else.

"A few rings of that should get everyone inside. I'll join you as soon as I can!" Ariel had already taken off, shouting the final few words over her shoulder as she sped through town in the direction of the bell. Velvet could hear her shouting for others to get inside, her voice fading into the distance as everyone in her wake scrambled to do as they were told.

"Let's not keep Cinder waiting," Mercury said tightly, eyes also following after the blond until she finally disappeared around the corner. He turned to Velvet once she had, a sad smile of his own plain across his features, "I would hate to disappoint her, wouldn't you?"

Velvet gave a confident nod despite how tired she still felt, "We'll stop those Grimm in their tracks!"

Together, the two of them set off for the Northeastern edge of the town. Velvet felt herself growing nervous, but bit it back with as much force of will as she could muster. Her hand held on to her weapon tightly, a large stock of photos ready and waiting to be utilized at a moment's notice.

' _The Grimm won't know what hit them…_ '

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only 8 chapters behind FFN now :P


	51. Change in Plans

The bells rang loudly, echoing throughout the town and sending those still on the streets into a frenzy. Parents scooped children off their feet while men rushed to grab what weapons they could, boarding themselves into their homes with their families in tow. Mercury ignored them while he walked past, the bunny girl hot on his heels and looking as if she wanted to rush ahead.

"Calm down. Your teammate would let us know if it was really that urgent. No need to exhaust yourself just yet," Mercury chastised, growing mildly impatient with the girl's antics. ' _Honestly, shouldn't a second year be a bit more used to the Grimm by now?_ '

Velvet seemed to at least try and relax, letting her hands fall from the tight grip she'd had previously on her weapon's strap. Mercury eyed her camera for a moment before turning back around, the memories of her showing it off the previous day coming to the forefront. It was an interesting weapon, to say the least. Only made possible due to the girl's semblance, both unique and not at the same time.

' _If I could have copied my father's fighting style like that… well..._ ' Mercury held back the sudden urge to glare. ' _It would have saved me from a whole lot of beatings, that's for sure._ '

"Sorry, I'm just nervous… I've never protected a town before!" Velvet spoke with a hitch to her breath, her eyes darting around to the last few stragglers yet to vacate the streets. "Are you sure we shouldn't have them all go to the center of town or something? How do we protect them all at once if they're so spread out?"

"Put everyone together and they become a bigger target. This way, we'll smell just as juicy as everyone else," Mercury assured her absentmindedly.

' _That, and we'll be putting you through your paces anyway._ ' Widow wasn't the only one that had been given a Grimm beetle. He and Emerald had both been given one long since, the small creatures having melded into their bodies before they'd hired Lotus in Mistral. Once the younger team was sufficiently taken care of, the Grimm _would_ need to be let at least partially off their leash, and given free reign to cause mayhem among the citizens.

' _The blond might be a problem._ ' She appeared adamant to assist them, and had a semblance that had even managed to affect Mercury despite the 'conditioning' his father had put him through. Would they be able to go through with it if she was near, or would her desire to protect others infect them as well and ruin their plans...? He would have to bring it up with the others.

The two remained in silence for the final leg of their journey, only taking a few minutes to cross the remaining distance and find the rest already gathered near the edge of town. 'Cinder' or rather, Widow in disguise, stood furthest outside the town, looking back on the rest while Neo waited at her side. Emerald and Coco had already returned, the former flashing Mercury a look of absolute suffering after being in the other's presence for even a short amount of time. Mercury couldn't help but chuckle softly to himself, glad that the two had likely gotten along as poorly as he'd hoped.

Widow's eyes caught on to the two as they approached, mouth widening into a sly grin that Cinder wouldn't have typically worn, "Now that we've taken our sweet time, who'd like to start?" She raised an eyebrow, waiting for anyone to be forthcoming.

Velvet raised her hand tentatively, glancing to the others to make sure she wasn't interrupting anyone that may want to pitch in first. When no one else spoke up, she stepped slightly forward and returned her gaze to the fake Cinder, "We met an older blond that took it upon herself to defend the town." She recounted all the sightings they'd been told about, then finished with an opinion of her own, "I think it might be best if we spread out and cover as much ground as possible, while also keeping an eye to the sky."

Widow placed a hand to her chin while playing with one of the daggers at her waist, a thoughtful expression creasing her brow, "Spread too thin, and one side may get overwhelmed before we know it…" she eyed those gathered, "Which of you is the fastest?"

Each member of team Coffee looked to Velvet, the resident rabbit faunus and teammate with the most stamina of the group. Mercury supposed it was to be expected, given her faunus heritage. She had certainly taken the longest to exhaust during the drills they'd run Coffee through the previous night and following morning. Velvet gave a slight smile in response, but was interrupted by Emerald stepping forward in her stead.

Widow flashed Velvet a smile, "You're looking a bit too tired. I need someone that can last for the entire battle." She nodded to the green haired illusionist, "We'll have Emerald stationed near the center of town. If any of you bite off more than you can chew, get word to Emerald so that she can assist wherever necessary. Once you've gained a handle on the situation, she can return to her post and wait for any other calls."

Emerald nodded her acceptance, it already being an established part of the plan for her to use her illusions to stir up more trouble. With the members of team Coffee distracted by the Grimm, she would be able to move more freely. She'd also be able to control the Grimm in the other's absence, seeing as only three of them present were actually capable of the task. With Emerald in the center, that left two sides that would truly need to struggle for their lives in order to escape the battle unscathed.

' _Which ones are going to die, I wonder?_ '

Yatsuhashi followed up with what he and Fox had heard as well, Coco finishing up last. It appeared that much of their information was the same as what Velvet had already stated, if even more grandiose in its retelling.

"We'll have to keep on our toes if we're to keep the town safe," Widow stated once they were done, gesturing back over her shoulder towards the treeline nearly a hundred feet away, "Neo and I spotted quite a few Grimm on our trek through the forest. I don't know what's got them gathering in such a large number, but it isn't bound to be good. Be on the lookout for anything out of the norm. If there's a reason the Grimm are acting this way, it may be important that Beacon knows exactly why that is."

Widow was about to continue when a distant shout reached their ears. Mercury immediately recognized it as the blond, her striking figure appearing around the corner of a building only a few moments later. Her eyes fell on the group, and she called out once more, "Sorry I'm late! It looks like everyone made it inside alright. I had to double check on my family before heading out." Mercury could feel the woman's nervousness creeping into his mind as she approached, her semblance infecting his muscles with a slight tension that wasn't his own.

"And you are…?" Widow spoke with a curious frown. Mercury turned in time to see a brief glimmer of realization appear on her face before the facade returned, though he wasn't sure if it was recognition or something else entirely.

"Ariel Arc, at your service!" the woman chirped nervously, putting a hand to her pommel and giving a slight bow, "I was hoping to stand by your side and protect the town. Whatever help I can offer, consider it at your disposal."

Widow smirked, amused by some secret joke that no one else was privy to, "That's perfect. With you included, that means we can have two on each side of the town and one in the center as backup. I would have held down a side by myself otherwise, but this works too." She raised an eyebrow towards the weapon on Ariel's hip, "Are you any good with that thing?"

"I can hold my own," Ariel replied easily, giving the sheath a light pat with her other hand, "You don't need to worry about me slowing you down at all."

"Good to hear," Widow let out a small laugh, "Well then, I suppose it might be prudent to match most everyone up with a member of the opposite team. Ariel, you can hold down this edge of the town with me. Mercury, choose another to go with you. Neo, you do the same. Once that's done, I'll need to speak with the members of Carmine in private before we split up."

Mercury turned to Velvet and gave a small shrug, "Hope you aren't sick of me already."

"No! No, of course not," Velvet replied quickly. She tugged her camera higher up her shoulder and held it in her hands, standing firm despite the obvious nervousness she must be feeling. Mercury could at least appreciate her bravery in the face of unknown odds, and hoped she wasn't slated for death in the near future.

Neo chose Fox, leaving Yatsuhashi and Coco to team up on the final edge of town. Mercury had seen the two in action the day previously, and knew that they were likely the best bet when it came to holding their own against the tide. The girl's weapon and semblance combined could be quite devastating, while the tall Mistralian was more than capable of keeping the Grimm from getting to her.

Widow tapped her chin, looking the pairs over after they'd separated, "That should do nicely," she turned her back and began to walk away, calling over her shoulder, "Carmine, with me. I've got a few final tidbits of advice to share…"

Mercury and Emerald both spared a glance to Neo, only to receive an eye roll in return along with a nod in Widow's direction. Mercury sighed and followed after, falling into step with the other two. Widow only walked a short distance away, turning back around with a smug grin once they caught up.

"At least I'll be able to have some fun," Widow's eyes looked past to Ariel, the blond too busy introducing herself to team Coffee to notice. Widow gave a small grimace, turning back to those in front of her, "Cinder made a deal with my daughter. In exchange for Lotus joining your ranks… we aren't allowed to kill any of her little _friends_." Widow's disgust was apparent, her face turning into a half sneer in regards to the nature of her daughter's request, "The rabbit faunus I would understand, but _all_ of them…?" She spoke the last question with an edge of incredulity, a question directed more to herself than towards any of them.

' _Lotus is going to join us?_ ' Mercury could feel a glimmer of excitement deep down, mixed with a small pang of guilt. Lotus had finally gotten out, left behind the life that she'd despised since the first time he met her. Now with Cinder's plans underway, she was being forced to return to that life so soon… She was an invaluable asset, but at the same time… part of Mercury had been rooting for her, hoping that the young girl's dream would come true.

"The Maiden still has to be threatening, though. Does Cinder want us to let the Grimm further into town?" Emerald asked, sparing a glance behind them as well.

"Far enough for it to be believable. As much as it pains me to say it, you'll need to keep the majority alive to gain Ozpin's faith. Too many die, and you lot will seem too inadequate to be trusted."

Neo had been typing something out on her scroll, and held it up once Widow had finished speaking. She directed it mostly at Emerald, since she would be the one doing much of the fine tuning during the battle. " _Take it easy on my side. I'm not exactly equipped for killing Grimm. People are more my forte._ "

Emerald smirked, "What? The little enforcer doesn't want to play with the big bad beowolves?"

" _I'd rather not piss off Lotus by letting my partner die._ "

Widow laughed, "True. That would hardly help your case. Unfortunately, you picked the mouthpiece of the party. Cinder needs to make her debut on his side so that he can spread confusion to the others. It isn't every day you see a human commanding the Grimm~"

Neo crossed her arms in a huff, eyes darting to Mercury for a moment before pointing at him and back to herself. The gesture seemed clear enough, ' _Do you want to switch?_ '

Mercury shook his head with a smirk, "Not happening."

"When does Cinder plan on showing up?" Emerald asked, raising an eyebrow in Widow's direction and cutting off Neo's attempt at further argument.

"About ten more minutes," Widow's hand drifted down to run lovingly along the dagger sheathed on her hip. She looked up to them, a single eyebrow raising, "If there's nothing else…?"

Mercury gained her attention uneasily, getting the distinct impression that Widow already planned on taking advantage of the fact that she wasn't partnered up with any of the students, "Be careful with the blond. Her semblance is passive and infects you with whatever she's feeling. I don't know how well that might work on _you_ , but I figured it was at least worth mentioning."

Widow cocked her head to the side, staring off towards Ariel's back, "I did feel some odd nervousness when she approached," she waved a hand nonchalantly, a grin tugging at the corner of her lips, "Needless to say, that won't stop me from doing what needs to be done."

With nothing left to be said, Widow tipped her chin back towards team Coffee, all of which had finished speaking with Ariel and were now impatiently waiting for their group to finish up their conversation, "Head to your places," Widow commanded, a smile playing at her lips, "And remember to have fun~"

' _Right… 'fun'_ ,' Mercury's eyes found the eager eyes of Velvet, causing an odd tension to return to his chest despite Ariel being out of range. He slowed for a moment on the way back, confusion making his steps heavy while his mind searched for the cause of his trepidation. It didn't take long to realize why.

' _I hardly want to disappoint Lotus, either._ '

Keeping them all alive would prove to be harder than letting only a couple survive.

' _Let's just hope we didn't tire them out too much…_ '

* * *

Neo could sense the shifting of curtains and clicking of locks out of the corner of her eye, each house they passed still doing final preparations for the oncoming horde. She rolled her eyes in vexation, wondering how many of them would truly survive. Those nearest the center of town were far and away the safest. She didn't have much hope for those closer to the edge.

' _Who knows. We are supposed to come out of this as heroes, after all…_ '

Fox walked next to her, both verbally and mentally silent. His blank eyes didn't scan their surroundings, nor dart about with unease. Instead, he remained oddly stoic in his own way, seeming more at peace than the rest of his team. Neo could appreciate that, at least. It was far better than being paired up with Coco or Velvet, both of which had been bundles of anxiety when she'd last seen them.

Neo hadn't yet spoken to Fox, only received some of his earlier group messages that he had sent out. She wasn't _nervous_ about speaking for the first time in years… ' _Of course not…_ _There's just... nothing to say. I'll do this job, save his life if necessary, and we'll part ways._ ' There was no room for _socializing_ when so much needed to be done. Her focus was simply… elsewhere.

Neo realized she'd been eyeing the boy sideways for some time and quickly averted her gaze, instinctively raising her hand to mimic coughing into it in embarrassment. She paused halfway, knowing that with his blindness, he likely wouldn't have caught the prolonged gaze anyway. She sighed, or as close as she could manage, vocal cords refusing to provide the necessary strength.

" _Are we almost there?_ "

Neo practically jumped out of her skin, hearing the boy's voice inside her mind after both had been silent for so long. Her legs faltered momentarily, forcing her to awkwardly stutter step to avoid tripping over her own feet. She regained her composure and turned with a haughty glare, leveling it at the boy for a few seconds if only to assure herself that he hadn't seen.

The slight grin spreading across his features hinted otherwise.

"You shouldn't just _invade_ someone else's thoughts like that," Neo thought heatedly, ignoring her minor trepidation in favor of chastising her current 'partner', "Next time give me a little warning!"

Fox's head tipped in her direction, lips still stretched into a smug grin, " _I was only breaking the ice. See? Now we're talking_."

Neo folded her arms, looking away from the younger man to stare off at nothing in particular. After a few seconds, her hands began to droop, knowing that her typical act and facade were wasted on him, regardless of what impression she wanted to give. The only way to express anything to Fox would be through his semblance, whatever other senses he could muster aside.

"... Five more minutes…"

" _What?_ " a flicker of confusion crossed Fox's face, his eyebrow raising a miniscule amount while his gaze remained fixated on Neo.

' _Can a blind person be 'fixated' on something?_ ' Neo wasn't sure, but decided to clear up his confusion.

"That's how much further we have to go. Cinder and the blond woman remained on the northwest side. We're headed across from them, so there's a ways to go before we're at the opposite edge."

Fox mentally snorted, " _Perfect. Make the blind man walk the farthest._ " His thoughts dripped with sarcasm.

"You aren't completely blind though, are you? How else would you even be able to walk around town, let alone fight?" Neo couldn't help but admit to her own curiosity. It wasn't something she'd spared much thought towards, but now that they were 'talking' anyway…

Fox raised a hand up to tap his ear, " _A couple ways. ADA helps. She's a little device that acts like sonar. It isn't as good as actually being able to see, but I make due._ "

"What's the other way?"

Fox grinned once more, almost appearing proud of himself if Neo didn't know any better, "Aura Sensing. It wasn't easy to learn, but once you've got a handle on manipulating your aura, anyone can do it."

Neo narrowed her eyes in worry, wondering if that technique would allow him to see through the illusions she used to escape. For a moment, she even considered the possibility of Widow utilizing it as well, then thought better of it. As far as she could tell, the spider faunus used her own semblance in conjunction with her natural talents. Learning how to sense with aura would have likely been redundant as far as Widow was concerned.

' _I'll have to remember that. Who knows what the future will bring?_ ' Neo thought to herself, drumming her fingers against the handle of her parasol, " _I might even want to learn it myself. It could help keep me safe from a certain pair of assassins I know…_ '

"How long did it take to learn?" Neo asked, noticing that their mental conversation had dipped while she was caught up in her own thoughts.

" _A year, but I'd barely had my aura unlocked before I began. For someone with more experience to fall back on…?_ " Fox shrugged visibly, then brought his hands up to rest behind his head, " _A month of practice, maybe two? Of course, you'd need a capable teacher to guide you…_ "

Neo shook her head in amusement, "I suppose this is the part where you valiantly offer up your services, with no ulterior motives whatsoever?"

Fox gave an audible laugh, then fell back on utilizing his semblance, " _Who doesn't have ulterior motives these days? I wouldn't have offered if I thought you were that naive._ "

Neo slowed, her steps almost faltering once more at the boy's admission. She was so used to being looked down on for her size, the butt of every joke until cold steel cut their laughs short… It took Neo a moment to regain her composure, but once she had, she couldn't stop the slow smile that spread across her face.

"You might be the only person that hasn't underestimated me at first glance..."

Fox grinned, and brought one hand forward to wave past his vacant eyes, " _Juries still out, but I_ _ **might**_ _have cheated on that one~_ "

"Oh! Um-..."

Neo was saved from an awkward apology as Fox continued to wave his hand, now in a more dismissive manner, " _Don't worry about it. I've got enough people watching what they say around me. Any more and I won't be able to tell my favorite jokes~!_ " His steps slowed as he finished speaking, head swivelling from one side to the other while he frowned, " _Are we there yet?_ "

Neo turned away from him to look at their surroundings, then brought up a hand to mimic stifling a laugh. The surrounding buildings had opened up into a wider expanse, completely devoid of any features or landmarks that might have clued the boy into knowing that they hadn't reached the bounds of the city yet.

"We're in a plaza."

Fox slumped, his arms drooping down to his sides while his knees bent dramatically, " _Please don't tell me that means what I think it means…_ "

Neo flashed a smug grin of her own, "Are you telling a girl to keep quiet after she's only just started to speak~?" She tried to manipulate the connection, forming her thoughts into more of a conspiratorial whisper, and was surprised to find that it seemed to work as she'd hoped, "We're only half way~"

Fox groaned, slumping even further where he stood, " _Figures I'd find the one bearer of bad news that can only speak to_ _ **me**_ _._ "

Neo laughed across the connection, feeling her chest move in response as if she was physically laughing. It caught her off guard, but she tentatively continued, getting a feel for it. It was nice, mimicking laughter while actually making the sound across the connection. It helped to make it more real, in a way.

Neo finished laughing and gave her parasol a playful swing, setting it across her shoulders and beginning to lead the way once more through the town, "Sorry. You're stuck with me for the time being~"

Fox returned to a proper stance and cocked his head in Neo's direction, a small smile spread across his lips. He followed after, catching up to the shorter girl with his much longer stride, then fell into step next to her, " _I've had worse company._ "

Neo spared him a sideways glance, a warm, fuzzy feeling overcoming her after finally being able to speak again. She turned to face ahead, mind set on making sure she didn't disappoint Lotus, a soft smile playing at her lips.

"Me too, Foxxy. Me too…"

* * *

' _Ten percent, maybe?_ ' Cinder thought idly, leaning against a tree near the edge of the forest, eyes trained on the small town that dwelled within the clearing. It was a pitiful sight, like most towns that attempted to exist outside the bounds of the larger cities. Unlike many others however, Arcus had managed to remain standing for nearly seventy years. It was the perfect target, a way to remind both humans and faunus alike that the wilds belonged to the _Grimm_ , not mankind.

The Grimm themselves had taken up residence along the outskirts of the town, similarly hidden within the foliage as Cinder was now. She could feel them all out there, their hunger for death and destruction a constant beacon for those that were linked. Undoubtedly, Emerald and the others that had been granted the same gift would feel their approach, would know that the time was at hand.

' _Now then, if they followed their instructions correctly..._ '

Cinder had to only wait a few minutes more before Neo and Fox appeared, the orange haired boy being her first stop on her path of mayhem. Cinder could see Neo's eyes scouring the distant treeline, the only member of their team that wasn't capable of commanding the Grimm. ' _She has her tricks though, so perhaps this is best?_ ' Cinder mused in silence.

With one final glance back into the dimly lit forest behind herself, Cinder allowed her Maiden powers to surge forth. The influx of power was intoxicating as always, the pure heat flowing through her veins in euphoric waves, the world growing far brighter in contrast. Cinder allowed her eyes to light with power, and stepped out into the waiting sun. It had been some time since she allowed herself the pleasure of basking in the Maiden power's radiance.

Considering how limited her opportunities were to really let loose...

' _You'd better be worth my restraint, Lotus~_ '


	52. Walls Tested

The wind softly blew through the twisting streets, carrying with it the distant sounds of doors being boarded up, and the frightened shouts of people in their homes preparing for the worst. Widow sighed, leaning against a building at the edge of town, her focus less on the trees that held the waiting Grimm and more on the younger woman standing resolute nearby.

Ariel's glistening white cloak billowed in that wind. Her armor was similar to that of the boy Widow had killed, piecemeal and set overtop more normal clothing that lay beneath. Where his had been far more simple in design and outlined with a dull tan, hers was intricately crafted and lined along the edges with gold. It may have helped to keep the townsfolk confident in her capabilities, but Widow could only look at the woman and believe her inexperienced. Clothes and armor didn't remain clean and unblemished if they had seen real use.

On top of that, the woman's aura of fear was doing its best to try and worm its way into Widow's mind. She could feel the hint of doubt, grinding itself against the impenetrable wall of her own resolve. Considering the way she was standing, eyes unflinching from the treeline and hand clutching her sword's hilt in a white knuckle grip…

"First time?"

Ariel jumped slightly, pulling the sword from its sheath a hair and darting her eyes over towards the disguised Widow. She was tense for a moment, but after letting out a long breath and ridding herself of the red tinge in her cheeks, allowed herself to relax, "First time defending the town without my father, yes. He was always there, fighting by my side whenever the Grimm chose to attack. I've killed my fair share, but…"

"He isn't here to hold your hand anymore," Widow finished for her when she began to trail off. "What happened to him? Killed by the Grimm, I presume?"

Ariel scoffed, "My father would never fall to the _Grimm_. He was the strongest huntsman to ever come out of Beacon," her hand clutched the sword even harder, drawing it out the barest inch. "No. Someone... _murdered_ him, and… my younger brother."

Widow raised a curious eyebrow, surprised to see a sense of resolve within the woman herself, "Going to track down the one that killed them, then? What hope can _you_ have if he fell, despite being so great? Revenge is not always so easy."

Ariel's grip loosened, allowing the sword to whisper back into its sheath quietly. Her eyes fell to the ground, her voice lessening in intensity, "I don't want revenge. I want _justice_."

Widow smiled, "Where I come from, they're one and the same."

Ariel looked to her, a hint of doubt in her eyes, "I don't want anyone else to suffer as I have. Whoever did it… they would have loved ones of their own, right? All revenge does is create a cycle of hatred. 'An eye for an eye'. That's never the answer."

' _It doesn't matter as long as you kill those that seek vengeance,_ ' Widow inwardly smirked, careful to keep her expression neutral.

"What if the one you seek is stronger than you? What will you do then?"

Ariel frowned, eyebrows knitting together as she thought over the question, "I'll try my best. Good always wins in the end."

Widow couldn't stop from letting out a short burst of laughter, drawing a confused look from the younger woman. Widow waved a hand dismissively, working to get herself under control, "Sorry, it's just… I'm from Mistral. It may be different here in Vale, but where I come from, it is the _strong_ that survive. To focus on what is 'right' or 'wrong' is a _distraction_. Most learn that lesson soon enough. I certainly did."

"If… If you don't believe in doing _good_ , then why are you working to become a huntress?"

Widow shrugged, "I seek what I always have. To gain strength." ' _For myself, and for my daughter…_ ' "Those with strength make the rules in this world, and it is the _weak_ that must _abide by_ those rules. Perhaps currently, the strongest of Vale are what you would call 'good', but that may not always be the case. The only one you can ever truly depend on is _yourself_."

"That's…" Ariel's eyes fell to the ground for a moment, and Widow could feel that familiar melancholy resurfacing to claw at her resolve, "It's unfortunate that someone as young as you would think that way. There's more to life than the pursuit of power…" Ariel's gaze raised to stare compassionately at Widow, "Who… who hurt you?"

Widow tensed, hackles raising as she subconsciously straightened in her own defense, " _No one_ hurts me." She sneered, lashing out in retaliation, "If your _father_ had the same mindset, he and your brother might still be _alive_."

Ariel backpedaled, raising a hand to her chest with a gasp. Her eyes shimmered with pain from Widow's words, the claws now more fiercely attempting to pull down her walls. Widow hardened her heart, and crossed her arms to lean against the building once more, staring off into the forest.

Ariel managed to recover, slowing in her retreat and allowing her hand to fall by her side once more. She took a tentative step forward, blinking back the moisture that had appeared in the corners of her eyes, "It's alright... I understand." She continued to walk forward, her semblance's influence rising, "You don't have to talk about it. Whatever happened, happened. There's nothing you could do to change the past."

Widow's eyes narrowed, still refusing to look back over at the woman, yet feeling her approach. She drew into herself more tightly, clutching her own forearms while fighting against the effects of her semblance. The woman's heartache and compassion now beat against her resolve, trying its hardest to tear her down, to make her _weak_.

"You need to let it _go_. Let the past be the past, and move _forward_."

Widow could feel the echoes of her own misery being wrenched from the depths, from the deepest reaches of her own heart. The pain and anguish, unlike any other. Memories of all she had gone through, tucked away, never to be seen again. They flickered through her mind like a torrent, whipping her own suffering to the forefront.

' _Orson, laying in the cold mud only a few steps away. Just out of reach. Blood mixing with the puddles of rain beneath him. His eyes growing cold, even as he tried to reassure her that everything would be okay. The long nights, spent chained up to a post and used. Not a person, only a toy for the amusement of the humans. Desperately using her sixth sense to feel for something, any movement from the child that resided within her. Feeling… nothing…_ '

Anger boiled up to wash away and replace the pain she felt, ' _This girl doesn't understand true loss! She thinks she can teach me how the world works!?_ ' Widow's eyes snapped to Ariel, seeing the younger woman raising her arms as if to offer a hug. Widow's hand darted out, fingers clenching her tightly around the throat before spinning to slam her against the wall. Ariel's eyes widened in surprise, her own hands reaching up to fight against Widow's grip.

"I _have_ moved past it!" Widow shouted into her face, fingers tightening further as Ariel fought, arm raising so that her feet could no longer find purchase against the soil beneath, "I _will_ make myself stronger, make those I _care_ about stronger, until _nothing_ can ever threaten us again! You think you understand!? That the loss you've suffered is _anything_ close to my own!?"

Ariel choked, clutching Widow's forearm to try and lessen the tight grip around her windpipe, "Cinder, _please_. I'm only trying to help!"

Widow snarled, "If you want to _help_ , then keep your nose out of my business!" She spun on her heel and threw Ariel back across the street. The woman landed roughly, rolling through the grime, dirt now covering her previously unblemished clothing in large swathes. She stopped to cough roughly, rubbing her throat and allowing herself to recover before swaying to her feet.

Eyes blearily returning to Widow, Ariel steadied herself. Her eyes still held that same look of compassion, now mixed with the sting of her own failure. Slowly, Widow felt the pressure of her semblance dying back down, its claws retracting from her demolished walls. Ariel closed her eyes for a long moment, sighing in defeat.

"I'm sorry."

Widow returned to her previous pose, leaning against the wall with her arms folded and eyes glaring off into the treeline. She could feel the Grimm out there, waiting only for Cinder to command them forward. Death awaited the small town, and suddenly… Widow felt much less inclined to help stop it.

' _You think you're sorry now?_ ' Widow sneered, urging the Grimm to march through the trees, appearing in all their glory from the shadows and into the waiting sun. King Taijitu, Beowolves, Boarbatusks, and Ursa… A veritable legion of Grimm had emerged, ready and waiting to lay siege to their side of the town.

All swivelled their crimson eyes to stare at the younger woman that had thought to teach Widow a lesson, to teach _her_ what was important in life.

' _When you find out how truly wrong you are…_ _ **Then**_ _you'll be sorry._ '

* * *

Fox could feel the heat of the sun beating down on his neck, the slight breeze that whispered through town. Thousands of leaves rustled in the distance, a sea of green, or so he'd been told. It had taken quite a while to acclimate to Vale's terrain after living and training for so long in Vacuo. Not only the weather, but the massive influx of trees and vegetation had been difficult to get used to. It was an increase in obstacles that both his semblance and ADA needed to identify regularly.

Over the past two years however, Fox was proud to say he'd made quite a bit of progress. He had reclaimed his confidence in the field, distinguishing friend from foe with ease and spreading the influence of his semblance to many more at a time. He could scan further, and identify much more than he'd ever been able to previously.

At the moment though, with only a few hours of sleep and several more hours worth of training weighing on his mind and body, Fox had to doubt himself. The sensations he was receiving, the roiling mass of mindless Grimm signatures lighting up within the bounds of his semblance… ' _They can't be real… right?_ '

"Do you… see anything out there?" Fox asked over his mental connection, the girl he'd been enjoying his time with standing only a few paces away and similarly staring off into the woods.

" _Nope, nothing here so far,_ " Neo thought back with some small hesitation, likely noticing the uncertainty in his own voice, " _Why? What's up?_ "

"Well, don't panic, but… It feels like there are a _lot_ of Grimm."

" _What, like ten?_ " Neo's thoughts were playful and unperturbed.

Fox brought a hand up to rub against the back of his neck, "Bit more than that."

Neo raised an eyebrow, bending forward with her odd weapon clasped behind her back, " _Twenty?_ "

"Higher."

" _Thirty...?_ "

"You're getting there."

Neo's playful demeanor dropped, replaced with narrowed eyes that scanned the treeline, " _I knew I should have traded with Mercury…_ "

"And miss out on all the fun?" Fox waved a hand dismissively, hiding his own nerves behind a facade of lighthearted banter. "I… uh, might send in a request to Emerald for backup, unless you think you could take them...?"

" _Unfortunately, my skills reside in… other areas. I can hold my own, but I wouldn't say I'm the most well-versed in fighting Grimm._ "

"Emerald it is, then," Fox replied, beginning to search out across the myriad consciousnesses that dwelt within the small town. The range was large, spanning the entirety of the town itself. As long as someone he connected to didn't leave that range, he could remain linked to them. From what he could sense, Emerald was near the middle of town where she'd been directed to go.

"Hey, Em? Gonna need some help over here," Fox sent the mental message to each member of both teams, letting them know that Emerald's services would be unavailable for the foreseeable future.

" _No need. I'm on my way,_ " Cinder spoke up before Emerald could, forcing Fox to pause and tune out Emerald's response in order to hear the former.

"You aren't holding down the northeast with Ariel?" Fox asked in confusion.

" _She's got it handled._ "

Fox frowned, but gave a shrug regardless. Cinder was the one in charge, after all. Obeying their superior was just as much a part of the mission as killing Grimm. "Scratch that, Em. Cinder is on her way."

" _What!?_ "

Fox had to put a hand against his temple to keep from swaying as three voices hit him all at once, one belonging to each other member of team Carmine. "That's what she _said_. Don't overload the messenger."

Neo laid a hand against his arm in concern, yet was still rooted in place, staring off into the woods. Fox turned in tandem with what she said next, feeling both the Grimm with his semblance, and hearing ADA sounding the alarm simultaneously.

" _You know what? I think we're gonna need her…_ "

Fox could feel the army of Grimm stepping out from beyond the treeline, an insurmountable number between only the two of them. Through the haze of exhaustion, he could also feel something else, something… human? The aura of it was familiar, belonging to someone he had contacted with his semblance before. They had since left his range however, and were indistinguishable from anyone else aside from that detail.

Fox almost refused to believe it. A human, standing out amongst all those Grimm _without_ being torn apart? He spared a questioning glance in Neo's direction, "So uh, crazy question, but… Is there a _person_ out there? Ya know, mixed in with the Beowolves… and Ursa… and the Taijitu…?"

" _Yes…_ "

"And the Grimm are…?"

" _Not attacking her,_ " Neo confirmed worriedly.

Fox raised his hands up into a battle ready stance, feeling the Grimm beginning their approach, "I'm going to take that as a bad sign until proven otherwise."

Neo spun her parasol, opening it up to lay across her shoulder while shifting into a more defensive stance of her own, " _At least now we know what's been drawing the Grimm into the town…_ " she paused, eyeing him sideways, " _Just don't die, alright? I'd miss… being able to talk again._ "

"Wasn't planning on it!"

Fox grit his teeth and rushed out from the edges of the town, meeting the small sea of Grimm headlong in order to minimize damage to the town. Neo followed suit, remaining only a few steps behind as the tide came crashing against them. Fox became a flurry of fists, blasting Grimm into liquid chunks with bursts of his aura as his gauntlets collided with white bone and black fur. He fought on pure instinct, relying on his semblance and ADA to warn him of any threats.

Neo fought by his side, guarding his flank and expertly evading the Grimm that attempted to swarm her in kind. Beowolf and Ursa alike were cut down in large swaths, yet still they continued to come. Both teeth and talon missed him by only the narrowest of margins, threatening to tear him down at any moment.

Time passed by in a haze, the fighting becoming all there was in the world, all that he could focus on if he wished to survive. Fox hadn't kept track of how many he had killed already. Before long, he knew it wasn't going to be enough. His strength was failing, his energy spent, and they had not yet stemmed the tide of Grimm.

An Ursa's clawed paw caught him in the back, launching him forward and forcing him into a desperate roll beneath the strike of a nearby Taijitu. It's head slammed into the soft earth, creating a spray of dirt that would have blinded another man. Even with his increased awareness, Fox barely managed to land his next blow on the Beowolf that charged him before its claws could reach him.

" _Don't give up!_ " Neo's voice rang through his mind, high pitched with fear. Even as he had begun to slow, she fought all the more fiercely in his stead. Fox could feel her flitting about the battlefield, slashing the blade of her parasol through tendon and throat alike, leaving no openings for the Grimm to retaliate. She danced about, as graceful as a gymnast yet far more deadly.

Fox rallied his flagging strength and pressed on, though his muscles screamed and his aura flickered, he continued the onslaught against the Grimm forces. Each aura enhanced blow brought him one step closer to death, but each was necessary in order to survive. Sweat and black Grimm's blood wet his skin, the only remaining proof of the creatures he had already slain.

Even with Neo's encouragement, it wasn't enough. Fox's breath came out ragged. His chest rose and fell with each strangled gasp, arms shaking from exhaustion. The circle of Grimm closed, pressing their advantage and harrowing both Neo and Fox into an ever tighter space. Claws slashed through the air only inches away, while teeth snapped shut, the sound of clicking teeth far too close for comfort.

"Any time now!" Fox shouted with his mind, feeling the approaching form of Cinder through his semblance.

" _Sorry to make you wait~_ " Cinder thought playfully as she arrived, pulling free her oversized daggers and laying into Grimm with a ferocity that surprised even him. Cinder weaved through them without a care in the world, ducking beneath claws that could shatter trees and avoiding teeth that could pierce steel. If Fox hadn't known better, he would have guessed she also had an ADA of her own to avoid their attacks without seeing them.

Cinder severed limbs and throats in equal measure, cutting her way through the mass of Grimm until she fought at their sides. Fox could feel the grin on her face even as she continued her rampage, bolstering their defense with an overwhelming brutality that left him speechless. Any Grimm that dared challenge Cinder was turned to mincemeat in short order, just another pile of dissolving ash that she stepped over to get to the next.

Given time to catch his breath, Fox felt outward once more, trying to take count of all that remained. Only a dozen Grimm were left standing, soon to be eradicated. The woman that had been among them had moved closer, and now appeared to be waiting for the fight to finish before making a move of her own. Through the fatigue, he still couldn't get over the sensation that he'd met her somewhere before. Unfortunately, that included everyone he'd ever spoken to mentally. A long list to be sure.

Neo stopped next to him, catching her breath as well and watching Cinder finish off the remainder of the Grimm. She grimaced, staring at her leader's back with a look akin to scorn before also glancing past to the mysterious figure only a short distance away. Fox could feel her lowering her head towards the ground and shaking it, then lifting her parasol to lay across her shoulders once more.

Cinder had hacked and slashed her way through the Grimm, finishing off the final Beowolf with an almost contemptuous lack of fear for the creature's gnashing teeth. She separated its head from its body, whipped both blades to clear them of the blood they possessed, and sheathed them on her hips once more while the body collapsed at her feet.

Silence prevailed for only a few moments before the female figure moved, waiting for the air to clear of Grimm ash as she slowly strode forward. Fox could feel the assurity in her movements, the way she held herself with a confidence born of strength. It was impressive after the display that Cinder had shown. All the more reason to remain cautious of the person before them.

"Well done. You've managed to quell a small portion of my forces," the young woman spoke with sultry tones, mocking them with words that dripped with unmistakable sarcasm. "However, this town is slated for destruction. It would be _wise_ of you to flee."

Fox could hear the laugh threatening to make its way past the woman's lips, and tightly clenched his fist in anger, "Sorry, lady. The only one that should be fleeing here is _you_."

The woman's head turned towards him, a smile still plastered across her face. Her hand raised slowly, the once gentle wind now building to an unexpected ferocity. Fox could hear the distant rumble of thunder, even as raindrops began to shower the area. Both Neo and Cinder stared at the sky aghast, and within moments, the voices of his teammates began to pick up over his semblance.

" _Um, Fox? What's happening over there!?_ " Velvet's thoughts rang through first, clear with panic yet clouded by confusion.

" _Do you need help!? What's going on, Fox!?_ " Coco's thoughts pierced through as well.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Cinder exclaimed, warily backing up a few steps from the figure before them.

The woman laughed, raising her hand in their direction. Fox could smell the ozone mounting, hear the crackling in the air as ADA warned him of an attack he could not see. The instant before it struck, Neo rushed from the side and tackled him to the ground, raising her parasol between them and the woman. Cinder dove to the side as well as lightning flashed from the stranger's hand, striking the parasol with the sound of a thousand cracking whips.

The pair were flung backwards as the ground around them was blasted to pieces, showering them in dirt and stone. They tumbled across the grass in a mixture of limbs, coming to a stop nearly a dozen feet away. Fox groaned and stood shakily, helping pull Neo to her feet and feeling her arm tremble after blocking the attack. Cinder was already on the offensive, throwing herself into battle against the woman.

However, it was quickly apparent that lightning wasn't the only element at the woman's disposal. Flames arced from the woman's hands while jagged, icy pillars shot up from the ground, and lesser blasts of lightning fell from the sky. It was all Cinder could do to avoid being hit, let alone trying to land a blow of her own against the dangerous master of elements. Fox couldn't sense the use of Dust, and knew that no semblance would allow for such a wide array of abilities.

" _Get everyone here that isn't already busy. Now!_ " Neo thought fiercely, giving Fox one final look before throwing herself into the frey. She fell in line at Cinder's side, helping to alleviate some of the strain with the use of her parasol. Even with the two of them together, it wasn't enough. Fox could tell that his own aura was barely holding itself together, dull red hues flickering over his body in various places. Neo couldn't have been faring much better.

Opening up his mind to the members of both teams, Fox cast out his desperate call for aid, "We need a hand over here! Right now! Anyone you can spare!"

Fox raised his hands, waiting to hear back from the others even as he approached the battle being waged. With the large swathes of ground upturned, the spires of ice towering above them, and fires raging all around… he could only hope that help arrived in time.

* * *

" _We need a hand over here! Right now! Anyone you can spare!_ "

Velvet heard Fox's cries for help, even as her replica sword bisected a charging Beowolf. The hard light Dust in her hands hummed with a life of its own, casting a dull blue glow on all that were foolish enough to approach. A loud shot rang out nearby, Mercury's booted heel slamming against an Ursa's head and splitting its skull open into ashen chunks.

Not many Grimm remained, but those that did still posed a threat to the town around them. They had been pressed back, forced to retreat from the open plain and into the more cramped streets of Arcus. With so many Grimm threatening them from all sides, it had been necessary to avoid being swarmed.

Velvet's eyes returned briefly to the epicenter of the blackened sky, a swirling mass of thick clouds that flashed with lightning above where Fox and the others were. She was only allowed a moment before being pulled back into the frenzy that surrounded them, lashing out in her own defense against the monstrous Grimm that fought with both tooth and nail.

"Can you handle this?" Velvet asked, worried for the safety of her friend and teammate. She cut the arm off another Beowolf attempting to rake her with its claws, then finished it with a deft strike directly through its throat.

Mercury dropped low to kick a Beowolf's legs out from under it, then capitalized on its downed form by slamming his booted heel against its head with a sickening blast. Given a moment of space, he glanced in Velvet's direction to see the fear in her eyes.

"Yeah. I'll take it from here," Mercury spoke gruffly, intercepting a charging Grimm and leaving Velvet with a safe path back through town. "Give 'em hell, whoever it is."

Velvet allowed her Dust weapon to fade and pulled the strap of Anesidora further up her shoulder, turning back towards the gathering storm with determination, "I'll do what I can… Stay safe until I get back!"

Mercury laughed as Velvet set off into the distance, calling out loudly to her retreating form, even as the Grimms' howls rose in anguish at the sight of their escaping prey, "Don't know how likely that is, but I'll do my best!"

' _He'll be alright,_ ' Velvet assured herself as she ran, leaving behind the sounds of battle in a dead sprint. Mercury had proven himself to be far from a pushover during their brief time together. She was confident that he could pull through in the end.

" _I'm coming, Fox!_ "

Her eyes returned to the sky, shivering with trepidation at the mere sight of the swirling mass. Whatever Fox and the others were fighting… _that_ was the real danger. Velvet picked up her pace, and prayed to whatever gods that might exist for their continued safety until she arrived.

* * *

Mercury waited until Velvet was well out of earshot before slowing to a stop. The Grimm lumbered to a halt as well, glowering at anything and everything nearby while spittle fell from their hungry maws. Mercury let out a sigh of relief, and pulled the scroll from his pocket in order to message Emerald.

" _Bunny girl on her way. Be ready to support Cinder._ "

Mercury's scroll buzzed with Emerald's reply only a handful of seconds later, " _Aren't you supposed to be fighting the Grimm? I already know the plan, daddy's boy._ "

" _I AM fighting,_ " Mercury grinned while he typed, mentally commanding the Grimm to line up in front of him. He spun on his heel and blasted the first through the skull, waiting for its body to fall to the ground and dissolve before commanding the next forward. He returned to typing on his scroll while he waited, " _And daddy's boy? That's rich, coming from Cinder's loyal pet. How long are you going to pine after her before you realize she's just not that into you?_ "

" _Fuck you._ "

Mercury laughed, typing a quick, " _No, thanks._ " before hitting send and getting back to work. He began to take count of the remaining Grimm, even as the next in line was slain before him. As gung ho as the bunny girl was, her strength had certainly been flagging by the time Fox's call for help came through. Judging by the amount of Grimm that remained…

"I'll need to finish with you lot before I can make an appearance and help save our 'precious juniors'," Mercury spoke idly to the Grimm, making his way to the next in line. "So why don't we make this quick?"

He just hoped Cinder would practice a little restraint in the meantime.

* * *

The barrel's of Coco's weapon slowed to a stop, the ends glowing with a bright orange luminescence from the build up of heat alone. Across both the field and forest lay utter destruction. Black ash rose towards the sky, mixing with the smoking craters left behind in the wake of numerous Dust explosions. Fire, ice, and lightning. She had spared none of her arsenal when confronted with such insurmountable odds.

Her breath came out heavy with fatigue, nearly in unison with the much taller Yatsuhashi at her side. He had managed to protect her flank during the ensuing chaos, laying waste to all those that managed to slip through the cracks. Taijitu, Boarbatusks, Beowolves, Ursa and Nevermore's alike all lay in pieces, scattered across the battlefield, cut down before they could so much as lay a claw on the town under team Coffee's protection.

Yatsuhashi planted the tip of his sword into the ground, leaning on it for support while wiping the sweat from his brow and surveying the landscape. He gave Coco a small, self-satisfied smile. One of the rare instances in which he would actually show emotion.

Coco reached over and backhanded him across his chest plate playfully, "Not too bad for a couple of second years, eh? You think _Cinder_ could have finished as quickly as we did?"

"I doubt her weapons offer the same level of firepower as yours," Yatsuhashi agreed with much less of the smug air that Coco was currently exuding. "You are, however, out of Dust."

Coco scoffed, placing a hand against her hip and transforming her gatling gun, Gianduja, back down into its more purse-like form, "It was worth it~"

"We'll see. You never know when… you..."

Yatsuhashi's sentence slowed to a stop as he caught Coco's eyes staring past him into the distant sky. He turned as well, becoming equally transfixed with confusion by the giant mass of clouds that had suddenly gathered overtop the other edge of the city. They swirled in place, flashing from cloud to cloud while the sound of thunder boomed overhead.

" _Do you need help!? What's going on, Fox!?_ " Coco called out, waiting for a few moments without receiving a response. When Yatsu looked to her with a questioning gaze, she could only shake her head in response.

In a single instant, an enormous flash fell from the sky, followed by an overbearing clap of thunder that deafened them, even from so far away. Coco grabbed Yatsuhashi by the forearm and raised her other hand, blinking back the searing white, jagged beam that had become imprinted across her vision. "What the hell could have done that!?"

Yatsu turned back and shook his head, a barely noticeable panic in his eyes. If she hadn't known him so well, Coco wouldn't have been able to see it.

"We need to get over there. They may be in trouble."

Coco couldn't agree more. She took only a moment to glance over her shoulder, assuring herself that no Grimm remained before setting off at a jog through the city streets. Yatsuhashi was quick to fall on her heels, dragging the tip of his sword out of the dirt with ease and returning it to his back as they ran.

" _We need a hand over here! Right now! Anyone you can spare!_ "

Both heard Fox's cry for help, and doubled their pace despite all they had already been through. ' _At least now I'm lighter…?_ ' Coco thought in remorse, despairing over the thousands of rounds that had been wasted in the previous battle. Depending on the enemy, she wouldn't be much help to anyone there, other than as a distraction.

"We're coming, Fox! Hold out as long as you can!" Coco's mind rang out across the connection, promising that help was on the way.

"We'll get there in time, Coco," Yatsuhashi assured her, picking up his own pace to run alongside his shorter leader. Coco could see the way his face was now set in stone, determination clear for even those unfamiliar with the man.

"Damn straight we will!" Coco agreed out loud, but inside, she was anything but confident. If Fox was injured… Her eyes narrowed, refusing to think about it further while a slight snarl curled her lips.

' _I_ _ **won't**_ _let that happen._ '


	53. Echoes

Smoke and rising flames, the cries of those she was meant to protect cut short. Tears brimmed in Ariel's eyes as she desperately moved to the final Grimm, piercing her blood stained sword down through its neck with reckless abandon. After Cinder had vanished, the monsters had begun ignoring her entirely, spreading out to ransack the town itself and all those within. She had done the most she could, killed what she could…

It just hadn't been enough to save them all.

Arms and legs trembling from exhaustion, Ariel withdrew her blade from the Ursa's neck in a spray of black ichor, eyes surveilling the numerous bodies that surrounded her. Some dissipated, breaking apart into black ash that trailed up into the sky above. Others didn't belong to the Grimm, but to her friends and neighbours, townsfolk that had trusted her to protect them in her father's place.

Ariel fell to her knees, sword clattering loudly across the stones to rest in front of her. Her hand clenched into a tight fist, and she pounded into the dirt as her tears fell freely. So many… She could no longer look, no longer stare into the eyes of those she'd been too late to save. Their screams of terror and pain, frozen in place forever.

' _I'm sorry!_ ' Ariel curled tighter, drawing her arms in and closing her eyes while sobs racked her chest. ' _I couldn't save all of you! You trusted me… and…_ '

And Cinder had left her alone. Left her to deal with a sea of Grimm while the younger woman ran off to Gods know where. Blindly, Ariel's hand scrambled through the dirt, fist closing around the hilt of Crocea Mors, pulling it slowly back towards herself. She needed answers, and _justice_ for the lives that had been taken. What reason could Cinder have had for deserting her post? Had it been to teach her a lesson for attempting to help her earlier?

' _Inexcusable…_ '

The lives of others shouldn't be treated with such disregard. Ariel grit her teeth, and roughly brought herself back to her feet. Her eyes opened, taking in the carnage and devastation left in the Grimm's wake. In Cinder's wake. Dozens of _her_ people that hadn't known today would be the day they'd breath their final breath.

Ariel's eyes raised to the storm that crashed and thundered across the town, leaving crackling branches of light burned into her retinas. Her feet began to move of their own accord, firmly striding in its direction.

Whatever Cinder's reasons…

Ariel would make sure she paid for them.

* * *

Widow let out a deep breath, focusing on her sixth sense while in the midst of combat. She'd been extremely mistaken in believing that fire was all Cinder had hidden up her sleeve. Giant stalagmites of ice shot up from the ground, lightning flashed from the sky, wind whipped through all of it, and fire burned all around.

Widow reacted on instinct alone, given only the barest hint through her senses before another spike of ice would shoot up from beneath, or lightning would strike from above towards where she'd been standing only a moment before. She was constantly on the move, incapable of closing the few dozen feet between herself and Cinder.

Cinder hovered a few feet above the ground, the wind whipping up a torrent around her, eyes ablaze. She smirked at all of them, laughing deeply whenever one of the children that had joined was less successful in their attempts at evasion. Fox was already down for the count, taken out by a bolt of lightning that had caught him off guard. Neo stayed at his side, fending off the stray blasts of fire that Cinder unleashed in her direction, if only to to keep up appearances.

"Don't you have any ammunition for that thing!?" Widow shouted at the fashionable one, Coco. The girl was doing her best to dodge but little else, weapon returned to its ridiculous purse form instead of a weapon worth wielding.

Coco rolled out of the way of a streak of ice and returned Widow's gaze with an angry scowl of her own, "You think I wouldn't be using it if I _did!?_ "

' _Fair point,_ ' Widow hid her smirk while slicing a fireball in two. Though she was beginning to tire, she had yet to take any actual damage. Widow had known Cinder was going to trust her to appear the most skilled between both Coffee and Carmine. She couldn't help but think the girl had stepped it up a notch because of their earlier disagreement, though.

To her surprise, it appeared that the other most resourceful person there was her fellow faunus, Velvet. The girl's senses and combat abilities were dialed to eleven, each spike of ice or blast of fire met with a steadfast defense, each bolt of lightning met with empty air. Widow could still see the effect it was having on her, wearing her down to the point where her chest heaved and legs trembled at each step. Even so, Widow had to give respect where it was due.

"Keep it up! If we don't stop her here then the town falls!" Widow cried out, hoping to incite more panic.

Her words appeared to take effect, rejuvenating the students into pressing harder and taking more risks despite their failing strength. Yatsuhashi charged forward through a barrage of flames, swinging his massive blade to create a gust of air that saved him from the heat. Coco grimaced and followed after, swinging her purse to shatter spikes of ice in their tracks and protect her teammate's flank.

The replica weapon in Velvet's hands shattered on contact with a bolt that fell from the sky, but ultimately saved her from taking that damage headfirst. She dove out of the way of the next, creating a new weapon in the process. Widow narrowed her eyes minutely, recognizing the reverse curved blade that she now held.

Velvet rose back to her feet and drew her arm back before hurling the weapon through the air. It flew true, on a direct course for Cinder who was too busy with Yatsuhashi and Coco to notice.

" _Watch out~_ " Widow warned, using her semblance to speak directly to Cinder alone. The younger woman raised her eyes quickly and spotted the streak of vibrant blue energy headed in her direction. She raised one hand contemptuously, meeting the hard light blade with a torrent of flames that disintegrated it on contact. Once it had been dealt with, Cinder's eyes flashed in her direction, a silent thanks before returning to the battle at hand.

"We miss much?" Mercury asked, finally arriving with Emerald on his heels.

"Not really. Your classmates should fall soon enough. You're just in time to pick up the pieces~"

As if to prove her point, Cinder unleashed a much larger torrent of flames than any she had before. The members of team Coffee that still remained were caught up in the wave, thrown back by the blast to sprawl roughly across the ground. Coco lay motionless, her brown aura crackling for a few moments before fizzing out entirely. Yatsuhashi stumbled to his feet, throwing himself in front of Cinder's follow up attack on Coco's downed form. The bolt of lightning shattered his aura as well, a rush of bright green light flaking off his body from head to toe.

"Show time~" Emerald smirked, drawing both her weapons to charge in front of the two downed hunters. She was joined moments later by Velvet, the girl's body quaking from exhaustion. Even so, she hefted a hard light shield in one hand and spear in the other, steadfastly protecting her teammates.

"You ready?" Widow quirked an eyebrow to Mercury at her side.

Mercury took a moment to look over the surrounding hellscape, returning Widow's gaze with a quiet snort of barely suppressed laughter, "Would I ever be?"

Widow grinned, "I suppose not," and took off in a low sprint, daggers held out at her sides. Mercury fell into step behind, following her lead through the chaos.

Cinder pretended not to notice them, instead focusing on Emerald and Velvet. Widow watched her raising her hand once more, flames building in preparation to 'end' the faunus and her teammates. With a quick swipe of her left hand, Widow sent one of her own blades streaking out. It collided with Cinder's arm in the same instant as her attack was unleashed, knocking it to the side and sending the long line of flames on a path that narrowly avoided Emerald and the members of team Coffee.

In the next moment, both Widow and Mercury were upon her, turning the tides in their favor and forcing the 'maiden' to defend herself. With Velvet as the last still conscious, and Emerald perfectly positioned to use her illusions, their fight was sure to appear far more grand in the misled faunus's mind. They kept up the act however, continuing their battle and slowly retreating into the safety of the forest.

"Keep watch over the others! We'll take care of this!" Widow called out, trusting Emerald and Neo to keep team Coffee from following in their wake and seeing the true conclusion to their 'fight'. ' _That might have not even been necessary_.' Widow could feel Velvet drop to her knees, shaking from head to toe even as she checked on the health of her teammates.

Widow used her semblance to send both Emerald and Neo a final message, one that hadn't been part of Cinder's original plan, but one that she looked forward to the most.

' _Better for them if they listen~..._ '

Emerald and Neo both shared a worried glance, but with the battle moving its way into the treeline, didn't have time to argue against her orders.

The battle continued for a minute longer. Cinder waited until they had gone far enough into the woods before holding her hands up with a sigh of relief. The trees themselves were thick and numerous, entirely blocking them from the view of those that still remained in the field. Widow slowed to a stop, as did Mercury, each breathing out heavily and glad for the mock fight to finally be over.

Cinder smirked, a pleased twinkle in her eyes.

"I don't believe that could have gone any better~"

* * *

Ariel rounded the corner of the final building, eyes widening in horror upon seeing what remained of the southern fields outside town. It appeared as if gods themselves had battled along the outskirts, scorching the earth itself and leaving the enormous spires of ice in their wake.

' _Where's Cinder?_ ' her eyes scoured those that remained, not seeing the woman among them. It seemed as if most of the younger team was down for the count, while two of their elders stood guard over them.

Ariel continued on, running across the twisted landscape until she'd caught the attention of the faunus. Her ears perked up, and she spun on her heel with a shield raised in defense of her fallen comrades. Upon seeing who it was though, her shoulders fell slack once more, legs giving way as she sat down heavily in the muck.

Emerald turned as well, seeing Velvet's reaction to what she hadn't yet heard. Her eyes fell on Ariel, relief washing across her features, "They went further in! Please, go help them!" She pointed into the forest, in the direction of where the scorched earth led.

Ariel noddly grimly and continued past, hefting her sword and shield higher in preparation for what was to come.

"Neo, can you go with her? I'll keep watch over team Coffee…"

Ariel slowed long enough to look back and see the shorter girl give an uncertain nod before following. She caught up to Ariel, running only a few steps away as they entered the treeline. Flames licked up the sides of the trees, and leaves shook loudly in the gale above. The path the fight had taken was easy enough to follow, until…

All signs stopped, though the winds continued and the flames remained behind them. The forest ahead was clear, not a hint of battle nor stone overturned. Ariel frowned, and held a hand up to signal Neo to slow down with her. The girl complied, hunkering down as they continued forward cautiously.

"Now all that's left is for us to report the outcome~"

Ariel's eyes narrowed, recognizing Cinder's voice. Had they defeated the enemy? She crept closer, using the foliage ahead of herself to get closer in order to hear more clearly. Neo bit her lip, following her lead to the edge of a small clearing.

"Can you take it a bit easier next time? You nearly singed off my eyebrows," Mercury laughed with a note of trepidation.

"Oh Mercury~ Anything I did to you would _surely_ be an improvement. Have some faith~"

Ariel peeked her head around the edge of the tree, confusion palpable and anger ignited. ' _How can they be enjoying themselves after all that!?_ ' Her eyes fell on Mercury first, his back turned away. She leaned further, trying to get eyes on Cinder as well, only to find… ' _Two?_ '

Ariel blinked, trying to clear her vision. Surely there weren't…? But there was. One Cinder stood next to Mercury, back also turned, while the other stood further away.

The Cinder next to Mercury raised her hand, letting out a small 'Ooh!' and getting the other's attention, "By the way. I hope you don't mind, but I made sure to bring you a gift~"

Cinder raised a questioning eyebrow, "I wouldn't have expected something like that from the likes of _you_ … but I'll certainly accept. This _is_ a momentous occasion after all."

The Cinder next to Mercury laughed, "Oh, I'm sure you'll enjoy it." There was a momentary pause before the woman's voice changed completely.

"Oh Neooooo~"

Ariel gasped, spinning to face the shorter girl at her side. She was too late to defend against the boot that connected with her chest, knocking her through the bushes to sprawl across the ground. Ariel scrambled to her feet, now in the middle of the clearing and surrounded on all sides by the four of them.

Cinder glared, turning to stare at her double with cold fury, "What's the meaning of this!?"

The other Cinder smirked, raising her hands in a shrug, "You wanted it to be believable, didn't you?" She flicked a hand towards Ariel nonchalantly, "Well, now you'll have a body to display~"

' _A… a body…?_ ' Ariel raised her weapons, glaring back at the Cinder whose voice had changed into one that sounded far more mature, "Were you the one that left me!?"

"Indeed I was~"

"Why!?" Ariel cried out, keeping her body tensed. "So many… so many of them died because of you!"

The smug grin on Cinder's face slowly faded, replaced by narrow eyes that promised death, "They died because of _you_. Because you were too _weak_. I gave you an _opportunity_. An opportunity to show me that good _always_ prevails. That my own search for strength was a meaningless endeavour compared to your ' _justice_ '." She reached down to her hip, stepping forward with deadly purpose as her dagger whispered from its sheath, "This was your one and only chance to prove it."

Panic suffused Ariel at the sight of the woman's approach. The blade gleaming in what rays of light managed to filter through the canopy above. The other three simply stood, watching and waiting as the scene unfolded in front of them. Whoever they were, none of them had ever truly been her allies.

' _I… I won't die here. I refuse! My town, my family needs me!_ '

Ariel stared back at the false Cinder, feeling her heart trying to beat itself out of her chest but breathing out all the same in an attempt to calm herself. She grit her teeth, focusing solely on her semblance, dumping her aura into it in order to maximize its effect. Once Ariel felt it taking hold…

She sheathed her sword.

The false Cinder stopped in her tracks, mind certainly under the effects of an overwhelming desire for peace. Ariel cleared her mind of her anger and hate, exuding as much goodwill through her semblance as she could muster. ' _No matter what you've done, no matter the blood on your hands... you want to turn yourself in. Admit to everything you've done. Come peacefully…_ '

"What are you doing!?" the false Cinder spoke through gritted teeth, hand limply refusing to fully drop the dagger she held. Ariel heard something plop to the ground behind her, and turned to see Neo's parasol laid at her feet. The girl was attempting to fight the effects as well, but wasn't having nearly as much luck as her peers.

Ariel remained calm, refusing to give in to the anger quelled deep within, "Did you think my earlier attempt was the _extent_ of my abilities? That I'd thrown my semblance at you full force, right before a battle against Grimm when I would need my aura?"

The false Cinder's face tried to work itself into a sneer, but couldn't even accomplish that. She continued to try, anger trying to build but now suffocated by Ariel's semblance, "So _this_ is the ace up your sleeve, is it? How long can you hold this up?"

"Long enough," Ariel replied, then crossed her arms. She focused, adding more into her desire to tell the truth, and only the truth, "What's your real name? I highly doubt you're Cinder's _twin_."

She struggled against the effects, fighting every step of the way as her mouth betrayed her, scowling deeper as the truth was forcefully revealed.

" _Garnet._ "

"Well then. I have a few questions for you Garn-"

" _DON'T_ call me that!" she seethed. Her veins were beginning to protrude, popping out along her forehead and neck. Her arms trembled with suppressed fury, dagger still held, if only by two fingers.

Ariel paused, taking the request into consideration. ' _Peace… Don't intentionally do anything that might cause harm, either physical or emotional..._ '

"Alright. What do you want me to call you?"

"Widow," she seemed to almost breath out a sigh of relief before catching herself, resuming the fight against her own muscles to so much as glare at Ariel.

"What were your intentions here?" Ariel expanded the effect to the other three, including them in the desire to tell the truth.

The true Cinder spoke up first, caught in the swell of Ariel's semblance, "We needed to fool the other team. The entire attack on the town was merely a means to an end." She snapped her teeth shut a moment later, refusing to continue.

Ariel frowned, troubled by what she had heard. She turned to Mercury next, raising an eyebrow, "And the Grimm?"

Mercury twitched, "Controlled by us. We only wanted to cause enough damage to the town so that it would be believable. We planned on killing our fair share, then saving the other team from Cinder."

"So you were responsible for all that destruction outside town?" Ariel directed her next question back to the real Cinder.

Cinder's struggle was ultimately pointless, no matter how many seconds she managed to delay, " _Yes._ I was disguised as someone else… Courtesy of Neo's semblance."

Ariel turned to Neo next, gesturing over to 'Widow', "And you did the same for her?"

Neo nodded.

"Can you undo it?"

She nodded once more.

"You wouldn't want that," Widow interjected, managing to work a smirk on to her face.

"And why is that?" Ariel demanded.

The smirk only grew more fierce, "You won't like what you see~"

Ariel frowned, hesitating. Her curiosity was piqued, but Widow had likely admitted as much on accident due to Ariel's own desires. ' _If what I see will make me upset…_ ' On the other hand, she needed to know what the woman truly looked like. She could hardly let this farce continue...

"I want you to drop your semblance, Neo."

A cascade of brilliant pink glass shimmered down the form of the false Cinder, revealing a woman that was a few inches taller, with long, dark red hair and dressed in black leather. Even her weapon changed, shifting into a form that was far more twisted. It looked like it was meant for causing pain, just as much as it was for killing.

Her eyes though… They sparked a memory in Ariel's mind, one that she struggled to place. She had seen this woman before, but where?

Widow's smile only grew along with the doubt in Ariel's mind.

' _Ariel… Ariel…. Ariel!... Ariel!... ARIEL!_ '

Ariel gasped, throwing her hands up to cover her ears as the sound of her father and brother's voices began. They rose in volume and urgency, demanding her attention, pleading to be heard despite how desperately she tried to shut them out.

"S-Stop! Stop it!"

The voices cut out, but Widow's smile remained. She raised a single eyebrow, tilting her head slightly to the side, "You wanted the truth, didn't you? I could see you were struggling to remember me. Think back… I arrived at night. The same day as your father and brother left… All I had was one, _simple_ question… Weren't you the one that gave me the answer I was looking for?"

Ariel gasped, the pieces of her jumbled memory falling into place. A knock at the door, a huntress trying to find her father. Telling her that he had left for Vale that same day in pursuit of her younger brother…

"D-Did… Did _you-!?_ "

' _She did it, Ariel! She killed us! Please! Get revenge!_ ' her brother's voice returned, shouting directly into her ear before falling once more to a pained whisper, ' _It hurt so much… my body felt so cold… Just one cut across my neck… My hands were chained to the wall… I couldn't even stop the bleeding… She made dad watch me die… Then she finished him off too..._ '

' _KILL HER, ARIEL!_ ' her father's voice, demanding that blood be spilled.

Anger welled up in Ariel's heart. She knew the voices weren't real, knew that her family couldn't possibly be speaking to her from beyond the grave, but her heart ached more and more, and with each passing moment, the tentative grasp she maintained on her semblance slipped further.

Widow's hand no longer shook, her grip firm upon the sickening dagger in her hand. ' _That was it… that was the one that killed them…_ ' Ariel's hand trembled, moving across her body to rest on the hilt of Crocea Mors. Her father's sword, and for one short day, her brother's…

The voice that belonged to Jaune devolved into a quiet, echoing sob... ' _Why, Ariel…?'_

' _Why weren't you there for me…?_ '

' _It's your fault we died…_ '

Ariel's hand pulled the first few inches of Crocea Mors free from its sheath...

Even as Widow's dagger buried itself in her still beating heart.

Ariel gasped out in shock, tears streaming down her face, staring into the furious gaze of the older woman. Her hands left her weapon, raising up to futilely hold Widow's arms, to stop what had already happened. Her mind struggled to process it. The pain blooming in her chest. The heat of her own blood running down across her skin, staining the white she wore.

"Only the _strong_ survive," Widow whispered between clenched teeth. Then, with a heart-wrenching twist of her dagger…

 _Everything_ faded to black…

* * *

Neo let out a trembling sigh and bent down to recollect her parasol, Hush, from where it lay near the recently deceased. They had all heard the voices created by Widow to torment the other woman into relinquishing her semblance, if only for an instant.

That's all it had taken in the end.

"That was far too close for comfort, Widow," Cinder spoke up in annoyance, glaring at the woman as Widow wiped her dagger clean on Ariel's cloak.

Widow shrugged, showing none of the emotion she had previously, "So it was a tougher gift to give than I'd originally planned. Are you going to accept it or not?"

Cinder struggled for a moment, caught between berating Widow further and making up for lost time. With a sigh, she finally gave up. "And I suppose you're going to take this woman's place to continue the ruse?"

"At least until you're all gone. I'll make sure the body 'disappears' once team Coffee and some of the townsfolk have seen it. They'll certainly be able to corroborate your story with a bit more authenticity by then."

"And your explanation for Ariel's disappearance shortly after the fact?"

Widow smirked, "She wanted to track down her father and brother's murderer. What better time than after the Grimm have all been cleared from the area?"

Cinder sighed, shaking her head before directing her attention to Neo, "Get it done. The others will surely start to worry if we aren't back soon."

Neo made as if to groan, despite no sound coming out of her mouth. She rolled her shoulders and crouched down next to the dead woman first, creating a shimmering dance of pink glass across her form that turned her into a replica of the woman Cinder had been disguised as. She stood back up, feeling her aura take another sharp dip, but still with enough left to do what needed to be done. In only a few short moments, Widow was once more obscured, now the spitting image of Ariel Arc.

"Mercury, if you would be so kind…" Cinder gestured down to the body.

"Yeah, I've got it," he huffed, grabbing the body near the hips to heft her across his shoulder. "Pity the illusion doesn't make her armor weigh any less."

' _Oh, right-_ ' Neo grabbed Mercury's attention and tried to pantomime that he should be careful in handling the body.

He frowned, "Are you offering to carry her?"

Neo slumped dejectedly and shook her head, taking a moment to pull out her scroll and type a quick message, " _Be careful with the body. She doesn't have any aura to protect the illusion. Don't drop her!_ "

"Ah, gotcha," Mercury replied after reading the message, shuffling the body a bit further up his shoulder.

" _Remind me never to pick you as my partner for Charades._ "

"Ha. As if I'd ever bother trying with our team. You'd never know whether or not Emerald was cheating."

Neo frowned in thought, then shrugged her begrudging acceptance. It wasn't as if they could trust the thief _not_ to try and give herself the upper hand.

Cinder and Mercury started to lead the way, with Neo falling into line next to Widow a few paces behind them. The woman's face was nearly unreadable, if not for the clouding of her eyes that showed she was deep in thought. Her gaze swept up to Cinder's back as they began to walk back past the flames, remnants of their earlier battle that were yet to be extinguished.

Widow glanced to Neo, catching her eye for an instant before the younger girl could look away, "I'm going to need your help with something in a few days. Will you be free this weekend?"

Neo raised her hands palms up, waving them up and down slightly as if juggling scales. ' _I might be able to make time._ ' She raised an eyebrow. ' _Why?_ '

Widow stared at her quietly, seeming to carefully weigh whatever she wanted to say next. Seeing the treeline approaching, she made her decision, "I don't suppose I'm the only one that wants to know more about the powers that Cinder possesses? I'll admit, I was curious when I saw them the first time. Now that I know their full extent, though…"

Neo couldn't convey her response well enough through gestures alone, so instead pulled out her scroll once more, " _She hasn't trusted me with that information. I am curious…_ "

Widow smiled secretively, "In that case, I think we may be able to help each other out… I could even put in a good word with my daughter when it comes to your dear Roman's standing... Do we have a deal?"

Neo stared at Cinder's back for a few moments. Her own chances at changing Lotus's mind were slim, at best. If the assassin's mother was the one doing the convincing… She turned back, staring directly into Widow's eyes for any hint at deceit. Widow returned her gaze unwaveringly.

Neo gave a sharp nod in return.


	54. Denied

The trip back to the dorm was uncomfortably silent. Blake kept an eye on her leader, seeing the girl fretting quietly due to the mood her partner was in. Weiss walked a little ways behind the two of them, alternating between a glare for the ground at her feet, and a crestfallen expression that tugged on the faunus girl's heartstrings. Blake had some inkling as to what Weiss might be going through, but it appeared as if their leader wasn't experienced enough in the ways of the heart to understand.

"H-Hey… Weiss?"

"I'm _fine_ , Ruby."

They were the last words spoken during the remainder of their trip once Olivia had left them, off to enjoy a few hours away with the other girl she was having a more intimate relationship with. Olivia likely had no idea the mess she had caused with what would have usually been so common an event. Now Blake was left to pick up the pieces, the only one qualified through past experiences of her own to talk someone through heartache.

The only issue was… ' _Do I even want to encourage Weiss to pursue Olivia…?_ ' Blake was well aware of at least _some_ of Olivia's past. They had both been members of the infamous White Fang, and even though Olivia had left the organization far earlier than Blake herself had, the spider faunus firmly retained all that past resentment because of her own, bloody past.

Olivia had managed to get better over the last few weeks, letting her previous reservations regarding the heiress fall to the wayside in favor of their team's cohesion. Blake might have even dared to say they were becoming friends, despite Olivia's fierce denials to the contrary.

' _What if Weiss_ did _manage to win her over, but then things didn't work out…?_ '

The chances of it all ending in disaster were unmistakably present, and rather high, if Blake was to trust her own judgement. The aftermath of a failed relationship between the two could leave their team in an even greater mess than it had been initially. As far as Blake was concerned… that was an unacceptable outcome.

Even still, glancing back while Weiss was busy once more staring at the pavement with such forlorn features… Blake knew she would need to tread carefully in her attempts to persuade Weiss against trying anything with Olivia. It was certainly the first time the prim and proper heiress had ever even had a crush. On the other hand, if Blake _didn't_ act quickly, then the situation was sure to boil over sooner rather than later. Weiss wouldn't know how to confront those feelings, nor how to confront Olivia over them.

A swift Bullhead returned them to the Beacon campus while she was still deep in thought, none of the girls wasting any time in returning to their dorm room. Blake grabbed the comic book she was currently in the midst of reading and retreated to her top bunk, content to survey the heiress further while thinking of how to approach the issue. Weiss sat at her desk and pulled out the homework they had been assigned from Oobleck, dropping her history textbook with more force than was necessary before hefting it open.

Ruby stood somewhere in the middle, uncertainly darting her eyes between Weiss's back, her own desk, and the door. Her feet were set to retreat from the situation, while her hand trembled in its desire to raise and offer Weiss the comfort she needed. Blake could see the pressure mounting, Ruby's constant need to be a worthwhile leader conflicting with her own social ineptitude.

Blake decided to take matters into her own hands before her leader could potentially make things worse. Ruby's boundless optimism and tendency to look past Olivia's faults wasn't what was needed here. "Ruby?" Blake spoke up, quietly grabbing their leader's attention.

Ruby outright flinched in surprise, spinning on her heel to stare at Blake timidly. She was biting her lip, nearly drawing blood if not for her aura's current activation.

"I think Yang wanted to talk to you about something. You shouldn't keep your sister waiting too long," Blake lied for Ruby's benefit, giving their leader a gentle smile and a nod towards the door.

Ruby breathed a muted sigh of relief and nodded in return, sparing Blake a pleading pair of eyes for her to do something that would help with whatever Weiss was going through. Blake made a shooing motion with her hand, and turned her eyes to the heiress's back while Ruby gathered a few items and left.

The only sound that remained was the turning of pages, and the quiet scratching of Weiss's pen on her paper. Her mood seemed to have improved slightly, the classwork helping to take her mind off the real issues weighing on her mind. Blake was content to leave it alone for a few more minutes. To wait for an opportune moment.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Weiss had other plans.

"Stop staring at me," Weiss muttered, quiet enough that even Blake had trouble hearing it. The heiress had stopped in her writing, and was gripping her pen tightly with dainty fingers, knuckles white.

"I… don't know what you mean…"

Weiss grimaced as she turned around, staring up at where Blake sat perched on her top bunk, "I might be _human_ , but that doesn't make me _dense_ , Blake. Even I can tell when I'm being stared at… You haven't flipped the page on your comic book for a few minutes. I _know_ you're a much faster reader than that."

"I'd never think of you as dense, Weiss…" Blake thought over her response for a moment, then continued, "You're right. I'm sorry for staring, but… I'm worried about you. I'm not stupid either, and even Ruby was able to pick up on the bad mood you've been in since Olivia left. Do you… do you want to talk about it?"

Weiss turned back to her homework, but neither flipped the page nor continued writing with the pen that was long forgotten. After a dozen seconds where Blake feared she wouldn't respond, the heiress finally gave a loud huff and buried her head in her hands. It took her a minute to finally speak, and when she did, it was in a quivering tone.

"I just… realized some things about myself recently…"

Blake waited calmly, surprised by the sudden shift in the heiress's attitude. ' _This goes beyond just realizing you have a crush…_ '

"I… umm... I'm…" Weiss trembled where she sat, terrified of speaking further. She dropped her head down into her forearm, hiding her face from view while light sobs racked her body.

The truth of the matter clicked in Blake's head like a flipped switch. She was off her bed and at the heiress's side in an instant, wrapping her in the best hug she could manage due to their awkward positions, "It's _okay_ , Weiss. Take your time... We're friends, right? You can tell me anything. I _promise_ I won't judge you."

Weiss lifted her head slightly at that, looking into the worried smile that Blake leveled in her direction. Tears had already welled up in her eyes, her lithe body shaking from head to toe. Weiss managed to calm down a little, giving Blake a tentative nod of acceptance.

"After… reading that book… the one that Olivia let me borrow…" Weiss spoke slowly, her confidence raising the tiniest amount as she continued, "There was a scene in it. A… scene between two girls… I…" she trembled once more, eyes flinching away from Blake's own, "...I liked it… a lot…"

Blake nodded her understanding, but deep down was sorry for the humor she'd found in the heiress's acts that night. If she had known what Weiss was really going through… it seemed more obvious, in retrospect. The copious amounts of scents used to cover it up should have clued Blake in to how ashamed Weiss really felt. Far more than was necessary, even for a first time.

Blake turned Weiss in her chair so that she could administer her hug more properly, clutching the heiress tightly around the chest and refusing to let go. After a few moments of hesitation, Weiss reciprocated, and Blake could feel the warm drip of tears from where she had buried her face in the faunus's neck.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of, Weiss. You're a perfectly normal, healthy woman. There's nothing wrong with liking other girls, especially not in that way. Anyone that tells you otherwise is an idiot, and don't you forget that."

Weiss nodded against her neck, clutching even more tightly at the reassuring words that she'd undoubtedly wanted to hear. Blake brought one hand up and gently ran it down through her hair, doing her best to soothe the heiress further. ' _Now for the difficult part…_ '

"And, this might just be a wild guess, but… you like _Olivia_ , don't you…?" Blake remained as neutral as possible in her attempt to draw out more from Weiss, hoping now that she'd opened up, she wouldn't be able to stop herself from going further.

Weiss was silent for a long while, continuing in their embrace and seeming to not mind the hand still gliding down through her silky white hair. After it had almost felt like too much time had passed, Blake felt the other girl's chest bubbling once more, this time in a humorless laugh.

"I'm an idiot."

Blake sighed, stopping to pull back and hold Weiss by the shoulders. It allowed her to stare into the other girl's red rimmed eyes, to see the pain and confusion that remained. "You're not an idiot, Weiss. We don't get to _choose_ who we fall for. Our hearts do that for us. What we can do… is decide whether or not our hearts are _wrong_ …"

Weiss looked away towards the wall, refusing to meet Blake's gaze as her face contorted in doubt, "You mean that Olivia and I wouldn't work out together… right?"

"I think…" Blake paused, choosing her words carefully, "I think there's too much keeping the two of you apart. Admittedly… mostly on Olivia's end. A friendship between a faunus and a Schnee was _already_ a longshot. Now that you have it… do you really want to risk breaking all of that apart? What happens if it doesn't work out, and you end up back at square one? What do the next four years look like for our team?"

"I wouldn't want to damage what we already have…"

Blake nodded, glad that Weiss hadn't been blinded by her own desires, "Olivia is a complicated person. There's no telling what she would do, but… my lien would be on her turning you down outright. She's willing to put aside her differences enough to be friends, despite how much she denies that fact. If you were to press the issue and try to take things further…?"

"It would only strain our friendship…" Weiss agreed quietly, still staring towards the wall. She turned finally to regard Blake again, eyes pleading for help, "But what do I do about my feelings? Every time I look at her now…" her cheeks reddened, gaze darting away in embarrassment, "I… I can't help it…"

Blake thought about what would be best. Encouraging Weiss to hold out hope might only make her resentful in time, each visit to Melanie carving a wider and wider gap between the two teammates that would bleed into their friendship. At the same time, Blake knew from personal experience how powerful a first crush could be, to what lengths you might go to overlook the things they'd done.

"Maybe… keep an open mind. There's plenty of fish in the sea, as they say. And while you're doing that… get to know Olivia better. Find out her likes and dislikes, her hopes and dreams… The two of you could be even less compatible than you realize. It would be better to find that out before things got more serious. We've been a team for less than a month, after all."

Weiss sighed, raising one sleeve to wipe away the tears in her eyes, "Thank you, Blake. I'll take your advice into consideration. You're… you're probably right. I've never felt like this about anyone before, so I'm likely the least experienced on the team aside from Ruby." She shook her head dejectedly, "How pathetic is that…"

"Not at all," Blake assured her. "People discover new things about themselves all the time. I can only guess at how sheltered your life might have been before Beacon… It's not your fault, Weiss."

Weiss finally smiled, the first she'd shown since before Olivia had separated from them, "What did I do to deserve you? A Schnee, being comforted by a faunus," she laughed mirthlessly, "I never thought I'd see the day."

Blake pulled her in for a hug once more, one that the heiress reciprocated immediately. When they parted, the faunus shook her head in amusement, "All you ever had to do was be yourself. That's more than enough for me." Blake stood and began returning to her bed, glad that her advice had been taken to heart.

"As long as we're telling secrets, is there anything you wanted to get off your chest as well?" Weiss asked quietly, turning back to her homework whilst dabbing at her face with a sleeve.

Blake paused, thoughts of the White Fang flickering through her mind. "...Maybe someday, but… not today."

Blake could feel Weiss's look of surprise leveled at her back, but ignored it as she jumped up into her bunk once more to continue reading. Much of the advice she'd shared was relevant to her own predicament. Revealing something like her history with the White Fang was too much, too soon.

' _Once Weiss knows me better…_ '

Blake would share her own secrets, in time.

* * *

Olivia stretched with her arms raised above her head, letting out a delicate whimper as the bruises across her body began to heal. Melanie lay on the bed, idly watching while enjoying the afterglow of their sexual endeavors. Olivia sighed in relief as she felt the pain ebb away, and began the usual task of putting her clothes back on for the other girl's enjoyment.

Arriving at her socks and shoes, Olivia turned to sit on the bed and reached down, only to find two arms once more wrapped around her shoulders. Melanie spared her a pout from the side, rubbing her chest against Olivia's back in a clear invitation, "Leaving so soon~? I thought we could enjoy ourselves a little longer…"

"I would love to, really," Olivia replied honestly, flashing the other girl a smirk while her eyes roamed, "But… I _am_ worried about my friends. I trust Cinder… or rather, I trust her not to flake on a deal… Still, I want to make sure they're alright."

Melanie let out a small 'hmph' before sitting back and crossing her arms, drawing attention to her chest as if to show Olivia what she would be missing out on, "That's fine. I need to shower and start my shift anyway…"

The ringtone on Olivia's scroll interrupted her reply, and she paused long enough to check the caller ID before grinning slightly. Turning away so that Melanie wouldn't be exposed in the shot, Olivia accepted the call.

"Hey, old man~"

"Hey, kid. Heard you were out of the infirmary. Figured your teammates would all be either too young or too uptight to have a proper night out. Want to get some drinks?"

Olivia laughed, "You're a bit too old, not to mention a dude. Sorry to burst your bubble, Qrow, but I'm just not that into you."

Qrow glowered for a few moments before rolling his eyes, finger moving towards the button to end the call, "Alright. Forget I asked-"

"Wait-wait-wait!" Olivia held a hand up, smirk fading to be replaced by a genuine smile. "As luck would have it, I'm already _at_ a bar. You should be able to figure out the one, right?"

Qrow squinted, finally making out some of the room's details. He grinned and let out a low whistle, "Man, you sure don't waste time."

Olivia shrugged, "A woman has her needs. How soon can you get here?"

"Should only take me a few. Save me a seat and I'll buy the first round."

"You can buy the second. Lord knows I could use a drink right about now."

Qrow winked, finger returning to end the call, "You've got yourself a deal. See ya soon, kid."

Olivia repocketed her scroll as the call cut out, humming happily to herself now that she had a chance to see Qrow again. Team Coffee's safety was still near the forefront of her mind, but she could make time for him. She doubted Cinder would go back on her word.

A quiet, "Ahem", interrupted Olivia's humming, as she realized that Melanie was still there behind her and would have heard the entire conversation. "So… you can make time for him, but not me?"

Olivia had finished with her shoes and stood once more to spin around, raising her hands placatingly, "It's not like that! I just don't see him all that often, so I wanted to make the most of it!"

Melanie glared, nakedness entirely forgotten in the spiteful wrath that appeared to be brewing. "What about your friends? Didn't you need to check up on them?"

Olivia scrubbed a hand against the back of her head, "I do, it's just…" Her words dwindled into silence, already seeing the direction the conversation was going, and knowing she didn't want it to go there.

"I'm just less important."

"Mel…" Olivia took a few seconds to put her thoughts in order, wanting to assuage the girl's anger as gently as possible, while also making it clear what the two of them were in her mind. "We already had our fun for the day, didn't we?"

Melanie simply stared at her, face unchanging for a half dozen long, drawn out seconds. Finally, she turned away, muttering something under her breath that Olivia couldn't quite make out. Melanie hopped off the bed and strode to the bathroom, pausing with her hand on the door after she'd entered it. She looked back, and Olivia could see some of her frustration falling away to be replaced with something else.

"I need to get ready for work."

The door was slammed shut before Olivia could reply, hand raised even though she was uncertain exactly what she'd been planning to do. ' _Doesn't she know this was only ever supposed to be casual?_ ' Olivia wasn't in the market for anything serious. Her current commitment was to Beacon and her friends, a dream she had held tightly to for _years_ despite the odds. _Nothing_ was going to get in the way of that.

With a sigh of vexation, Olivia double checked to make sure she had everything and headed downstairs, into the flashing lights and loud music that pervaded the space. Even on a weekday, the club managed to draw in a sizable crowd. Many were dancing and having a good time instead of drinking, allowing Olivia to find two seats that were still open.

"Hey, Junior!" Olivia called out over the crowd, cupping her hands together to get his attention. The mountain of a man searched for a few seconds before finally spotting her further down the bar, waving her hands to be seen past the group nearby.

Junior lumbered over, already cleaning a glass in his hands to set down in front of Olivia. He reached up and grabbed a bottle of whisky, pouring it into the glass and pushing it across to her. Olivia accepted it with a grateful smile, downing it in one shot.

"Heard from Mel that somethin' happened to put you in the hospital. Didn't think the Grimm could get the better of someone like you," Junior raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Olivia scoffed, pushing her glass back for another shot, "The Grimm never could. I just had a fever~"

Junior snorted and began to pour, "Must have been some fever."

"You could say that," Olivia agreed. She pulled the glass back to herself once it had been filled again, then nodded with her chin towards the other glasses on the rack behind him, "Pour me out one more, if you don't mind. Got a friend coming that should be here any minute."

"A friend from Beacon, or…?" Regardless of her answer, Junior did as she asked and poured out another shot, sliding it over next to the first.

"Something like that..." Olivia swirled her own glass, looking down at it in thought, "Speaking of Mel, though… Has she been talking a lot about me?"

Junior frowned in worry and held his hands up slightly, motioning that Olivia should calm down as if he thought she might be angry, "Nothing you wouldn't want spread around, if that's what you mean."

Olivia shook her head, "No. I know she's smarter than that."

Junior let out a relieved breath, then shrugged, "Mel _has_ brought you up a lot in the last week or so. When she was excited about getting to see you again, then when she was worried 'cuz you were sick."

"She's getting too attached, then," Olivia sighed, placing her chin in one hand, elbow propped up against the bar. "I was only ever looking to have some fun here, not get into anything _serious_."

"Is that so bad?"

"It is when you're me. I don't exactly have the best luck when it comes to these sorts of things."

' _And Widow would probably kill her if she ever found out. A_ human _falling for me. Might as well sign her death certificate myself while I'm at it._ '

"You want me to talk some sense into her?" Junior continued scrubbing the same empty glass as they spoke, a worried frown on his face.

"...It would be better that way. At least make sure no one's encouraging her, either. No way anything involving me ends happily. I'll tell you that much."

Junior gave a quiet 'hmph', "Don't sell yourself short, Lotus. Still… I'll try to make sure she gets the message. You wanting to cut things off completely?"

Olivia balked, "Let's not be _too_ hasty. I still enjoy my time with her, in _and_ out of bed. It just shouldn't go any further than that..."

Junior was quiet for a time, ignoring the calls of other patrons while idly cleaning the same, singular glass. He finally sighed, raising his eyes back to Olivia with a clouded expression, "Just don't hurt her."

"That's what I'm trying to _avoid_ ," Olivia promised.

Junior nodded and left to fill other orders, finally placing the empty glass back on the rack. Olivia watched him go with a worried frown. ' _He knows her better than I do, so he should be able to handle it._ ' Still, it felt a little too impersonal, perhaps, to leave that conversation up to someone else. ' _I'll make it up to you, Mel. I promise that, too._ '

Fun was _fun_. That's all it ever _needed_ to be. You didn't need to get into a relationship to have it, especially not when it was bound to end in disaster or even death, like what had happened to all of Olivia's loved ones up until that point.

' _You either learn from experience, or you're doomed to repeat it…_ '

Olivia felt Qrow's approach long before he'd spotted her. He sat heavily, immediately noticing the two glasses that rested on the counter. "Please tell me one of those is for me."

"Hmmmm," Olivia downed one while keeping a firm hand on the other, turning after to shoot Qrow a devilish smirk, "Do Peeping Toms deserve gifts, I wonder?"

"Ah c'mon, kid! That was an accident!"

Olivia snorted, pushing the glass over to him, "I suppose I'll forgive you. Was probably the only action you've gotten in the past fifty years anyway~"

"I'm forty-three," Qrow replied, taking the shot like a champion and slamming the glass back down on the bar. He raised a hand, waving Junior over far more easily than Olivia had. Once the large man arrived, Qrow spoke up once more while sliding his lien across the counter, "We'll have a couple more of those each."

"Coming right up," Junior spoke gruffly, uncertain of whether or not he should appear too friendly with Olivia in front of the older man. Olivia shot him a wink to tell him he was on the right track, then returned to the conversation at hand.

"How goes life outside Beacon? Must be terribly boring now that you don't have Yang and Ruby running around the house."

"If by boring you mean peaceful, then yeah, you nailed it in one," Qrow laughed, downing the first glass he was offered. He sighed afterwards, idly playing with the empty glass, "Honestly, I've been too busy to really stick around the place all that much to begin with. If anything, it's Tai that's had the run of the place in our absence. That little surprise party you lot threw was the last time I was there."

Olivia frowned, "What's been keeping you so busy?"

Qrow waved his hand absentmindedly, "Just Beacon business. That and the White Fang have been acting up a lot more. Their murder count's gone through the roof, last few weeks. Oz thought there might have been a connection, but..." he shrugged, "Nothing I've been able to piece together."

' _Like Cinder hiring my mother to keep you distracted…?_ ' Olivia thought dejectedly. She'd never seen Qrow get into a proper fight, but both adults had a substantial amount of aura compared to most. If Qrow did catch up and it came to blows between the two of them…? ' _Sorry, Qrow. My money is on Widow…_ '

All the better that she was a master of stealth, then. The likelihood of her ever even being on the same city _block_ as him were close to…

To…

' _God damn it, Widow…_ '

The woman's presence pinged in her sixth sense, alerting Olivia to her mother's presence in the crowd behind her. Widow was moving just within the bounds of Olivia's range, headed for the stairs up to the private staff quarters. For an instant, Olivia worried she was going after Melanie, but quickly discarded the notion as foolish. There was no way she'd know what Olivia had only just learned herself.

"Sorry, Qrow. I'll be right back," Olivia excused herself, patting him on the shoulder briefly before hopping off her stool and heading for the stairs. She could see Widow walking up them, long, straight red hair swishing across the back of her black leather clad shoulders.

Widow disappeared into one of the side rooms, the one that Olivia had killed Cardin in. She followed cautiously, aware that her mother likely wouldn't have anything devious planned in such a scenario, but still less than thrilled to be seeing her there of all places.

When Olivia opened the door, it was to find Widow lounging against the back wall, arms crossed with a smug grin across her face. She appeared completely at ease, though knowing Widow, that could easily be only an act.

"Really, Lotus? I wouldn't have thought you the type to go after older men~" she teased, pushing away from the wall to walk closer to her daughter.

"I'm just full of unpleasant surprises. I must get that from you," Olivia shot back.

Widow rolled her eyes at the backhanded insult, "Please, Little Spider. There's no need for that. How have you been? Your aura feels mostly intact, if not completely regenerated. Are you eating enough?"

Olivia crossed her arms, "I'm fine, thanks for asking. I must say, your concern seems to be a bit late, though. Last I recall, you ditched me to die in the forest. My _teammates_ had to find me."

"After they…?"

Olivia frowned, "After they what?"

"That is the question~"

"They found me after they were attacked by Grimm."

"And…?"

"And…" Olivia's frown deepened, remembering the story as it had been told, a jumbled mess between all of her friends. "And they chased a Beowolf to me…"

Widow smiled viciously, "You're welcome."

Olivia took a step back towards the door, " _You_ sent it? How!?"

Widow stepped across the intervening space slowly, swaying as she did and raising a finger to trail it across Olivia's shoulder. She flinched slightly, hair and goosebumps standing on end, "Were you unaware of Cinder's connections to a certain faunus we're both familiar with? Turns out, they serve the same master."

" _Tyrian?_ " Olivia frowned, shying away from her mother's touch. "Is _that_ how they paid you to work for them? Train up the White Fang, set them loose, and suddenly now you can control the Grimm as well?"

Widow paused, "It was… one of _many_ incentives, yes."

Olivia couldn't help but admit to her own curiosity, despite how abhorrent she found the idea itself. "How do you do it?"

Widow smirked, "I knew you'd be interested." She returned to stand in front of Olivia and leaned forward, gesturing with one finger towards her heart. "Use your sixth sense, dear. Feel out, and find what doesn't belong."

Olivia frowned, but did as she suggested. She closed her eyes, feeling out with her sixth sense and focusing in on her mother's chest. At first, there seemed to be no difference, but then…

A tiny creature moved inside, darting across Olivia's senses before once more coming to a standstill. Afterwards, knowing what to look for, she could still feel it. Something that, as Widow had said, didn't truly belong.

"Is… is that…?"

"A Grimm. One that has bonded with my body and makes the beasts believe I'm one of them. I can control the Grimm at my leisure, directing them as I please," Widow smiled in delight, and Olivia could feel the small Grimm scurrying around inside of her in response.

It made her sick.

Widow was too enthralled to notice. She clasped her hands together in a singular clap, laughing giddily, "Oh, you wouldn't believe how _thrilling_ it is, Little Spider. Even without the control, I can _feel_ how the Grimm has changed me. It courses through my very blood, giving me strength like I've never had before! Once you're done with this foolish dream of yours and-"

"It isn't foolish."

Widow paused in her rambling, eyes returning to Olivia in momentary shock, then frustration. That eventually gave way to a forlorn sigh, her mother faking a smile for Olivia's benefit, "Yes, darling… It's your dream, and I will let you live it until its eventual conclusion. When that happens-"

"It won't."

Widow glowered, placing both hands on her hips, "Really, Lotus? Have things not already begun to fall apart? Why are you here in the company of an old man if your _friends_ are so dear to you?"

"I needed to get into contact with Cinder. My teammates and I are getting along just fine. _Better_ than fine, even. We're one of the top two teams in the first year, maybe even the entire school!"

Widow brought a hand to her face, "That was a foregone conclusion no matter what team you ended up on, Little Spider. I doubt anyone other than the teachers themselves could survive a brush with the Black Lotus. Even then, their chances are dubious at best. Once they inevitably find out who you truly are, that brittle friendship will shatter into dust."

"I'm not having this argument with you again. You can't change my mind, and I know I'll never change yours…" Olivia turned away, eyes on the door out of the room. "Are we done here?"

Widow let loose a long, drawn out sigh, "You're right on that, at least. However, I did have one other reason for coming to find you. The girl, Neo. You know of her?"

Olivia nodded, not trusting herself to speak further.

"Well, she's a friend of Roman's. I owe the girl a favor, and promised I'd make sure _you_ were aware. If you _did_ have plans on exacting revenge... make sure you're prepared for the fallout."

' _Neo is a friend of Torchwick's?_ ' Olivia thought on the new information for a few moments, but ultimately decided it didn't change anything. She didn't have any plans to outright kill Roman, not unless he happened to attack her friends again, especially Ruby. As long as the thief stayed out of her way, she'd stay out of his.

"Thanks for the warning. Anything else?" Olivia spoke in a clipped tone, making it clear that she'd rather not be there any more.

Olivia could feel Widow slump tiredly, "No, that was pretty much it. I really _am_ glad you're alright, Lotus. I've seen that sickness take many faunus lives in the past. You wouldn't have been the first to fall to it, and _certainly_ wouldn't have been the last. I… was scared for you, when I saw you like that in the forest."

Olivia sighed, "Well, I'm all better now. Nothing to worry about."

Widow shook her head, "I'll _always_ be worried, Little Spider. That's what mothers are for, after all. Sorry to disturb you while you were with a friend... Have fun."

Olivia pushed the door open and left, leaving her mother alone in the room. She paused outside the door, closing her eyes for a moment to let herself relax. It would hardly do to return to Qrow when she couldn't keep a smile on her face.

As it turned out, she didn't really need to worry. By the time Olivia returned downstairs, Qrow was already in the midst of leaving, on the edge of his seat and waiting for Olivia to appear before dashing over to her.

"Sorry, kid. I gotta go! Oz needs me right away, something about a town that was attacked… I'll message you later!"

Olivia could only watch as Qrow made a beeline for the door, slamming through it past the confused guards, disappearing out into the Vale night air.

' _Did something happen to Coffee…?_ ' Worry clutched at Olivia's heart, steeled by years of death, now softened by the warmth of her peers. With one last stop by the counter to finish off her drink, she followed Qrow into the night.

* * *

' _So… this 'Qrow' fellow is high up enough that even the Headmaster trusts him?_ ' Widow mused, standing at the top of the stairs and watching as her daughter quickly left in his wake, heedless of the raven haired girl dressed in white that rudely brushed past her to head downstairs.

' _Perhaps Neo will be able to fulfill her part of the deal sooner than expected…_ '

Widow smirked as she dialed the girl's number, ready to put her plans into action.

' _Oh, this is going to be fun~_ '


	55. One Step Forward

Velvet's ears drooped entirely, head following suit while her body slouched in exhaustion against Yatsuhashi's side. Her teammate supported her without complaint, the pair of them slowly rising up through the CCT, carried by the central elevator that would lead them to its highest point. Both Coco and Fox had been ushered to the infirmary once they arrived, neither in critical condition, but both in need of medical attention. The nurses had assured her that they would make a full recovery.

They were lucky to be alive, all things considered. Velvet was eternally grateful to the team that stood within the elevator with them, each member of Carmine still standing where all of hers had fallen. They weren't entirely unscathed either, some wear and tear was visible across all of them, but their superior experience had granted them victory. Velvet had thanked them repeatedly during the flight back, and now after finally being called upon by the Headmaster, was only wishing for her bed.

Velvet's ears twinged only slightly upon hearing the elevator doors chime, announcing they'd arrive at the Headmaster's office. The doors opened with a slight rush of air, revealing the man himself as he sat behind his desk, fingers laced. The Headmaster gave them a welcoming smile, standing upon seeing the doors open to gesture towards the seats that awaited them across from his own.

Yatsuhashi guided her inside, using a gentle hand on her back to usher her into the office. The members of Carmine followed after, Emerald ready to reach out and catch her at a moment's notice. Velvet smiled her thanks, managing to take a deep breath and stand up straighter.

It had been a long day.

"Welcome, students," Headmaster Ozpin was the first to speak as they took their seats, offering up a set of cups that had been set out for their arrival. Velvet's nose twitched, smelling the enticing aroma of coffee wafting from within them. With a polite smile, she accepted one of the cups and sat back in her seat, blowing on it softly to cool the contents.

A few members of Carmine accepted as well, all of them taking a moment to get comfortable. Once they had, Ozpin continued with a weary sigh, "I see the events of this evening have taken their toll on you all. Still, the news that your injured members will make a full recovery _is_ a fortunate one. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to hear your reports on what happened. Then I'm sure you would all like to get some much needed rest."

Cinder smiled, allowing the cup to lower from her lips before speaking, "Thank you, Headmaster…" her brows crinkled slightly, an apologetic frown crossing her face. "Unfortunately, I don't believe our time here will be quite so fleeting. Defending the town was not as… straightforward, as one might think."

"Oh?" Ozpin raised a questioning eyebrow, allowing a twinge of surprise to cross his face, "Did you encounter more than the Grimm during your time there?"

Cinder nodded her head, "As out of this world as it might sound, the rest of my team and team Coffee will be able to corroborate… The Grimm were not alone. A… woman... was leading them in their assault against the town."

Emerald snorted, "More like a walking natural disaster."

Ozpin seemed to pause in thought, lowering his cup to clink against the desk in front of him, missing the coaster by a wide margin. Thinking he might not believe them, Velvet decided to speak up as well in their defense.

"It's true, Headmaster. She was throwing lightning and fire and ice… I don't know what kind of semblance it could have been, but she would have needed an entire SDC cargo container worth of Dust under her skirt to pull it off. We barely made it out alive. _Wouldn't_ have, if not for team Carmine."

"I see…" Ozpin raised his hand to cough into it abruptly, giving the truth of their statements the consideration it was due. "And, you managed to drive her away from the town...?"

Velvet shrunk at that, glancing over to see Cinder shrinking in on herself as well. The normally confident woman rubbed one hand along her other arm, incapable of meeting the Headmaster's eye. Velvet felt sorry for her. She counted herself lucky that she'd not been forced to take a life yet.

"She didn't _escape_ , Headmaster… I… I killed her," Cinder's voice came out in barely more than a whisper near the end, eyes glued to the floor at her feet. "I had to. She wouldn't stop, and my teammates couldn't have lasted much longer… she was just so powerful… I saw an opportunity and... and I took it…" Her voice trembled.

Ozpin's eyes widened, showing his own remorse that a student had to resort to such a thing. "I'm sorry to hear that, Miss Fall. Truly, I am. What… and it must be asked… What happened to the body?"

"We brought it back to the town," Emerald spoke up, ready to take charge while her leader was in such obvious grief. "I… didn't think it would be a great idea to bring it with us, though. Not with… well…"

"I understand," Ozpin interjected, eyes only for the leader of team Carmine. He allowed his gaze to sweep back across the rest of them, "What of the Grimm, and the town? How many casualties did you sustain?"

"Twenty-three," Yatsuhashi spoke sadly, picking up where Emerald had left off. "Most of our perimeter was successful in defending their borders. When Fox alerted all of us to the woman's presence however, Cinder took it upon herself to step in and help them. The side she was defending… didn't fare quite as well without her." Yatsuhashi firmed, fingers clenching tightly with his arms crossed, "If it were not for her decision, both my teammate Fox, and her own teammate Neo, would have died. I hope that you do not blame her for her actions."

"I do not," the Headmaster shook his head. "It is an unfortunate loss, and Beacon will be sure to offer what assistance they can to those grieving." He looked across them one final time, waiting to see if there was anything further they needed to say. After none spoke, he gestured to the elevator, "If there are no specifics left to report, then you are all free to leave. Please... keep this woman's existence quiet for the time being. I will send someone out to investigate and retrieve the body, so that we might understand what it is we're dealing with. Until then…" He flashed them an apologetic smile, "I would like to speak with Miss Fall alone, if you don't mind."

Velvet looked to the girl with a frown, worried that she might be punished despite the Headmaster's assurances to the contrary. The calm expression that he leveled at all of them in return helped to assuage those concerns, though. With a relieved sigh, Velvet allowed Yatsuhashi to help her out of the chair, placing her empty cup back on its coaster before nodding her thanks for the older man's generosity.

The other members of team Carmine still looked worriedly back on Cinder as they left, less sure of her fate. Velvet refused to believe that the Headmaster would do anything to punish her. They may have had less experience with the man, having only transferred into the school for their current semester, but Velvet had two years worth of occasional conversations with him. Ozpin was far too kind to treat Cinder harshly, whether or not he believed her at fault.

Still, as the doors closed and the elevator began its descent, Velvet wished her luck.

She couldn't imagine having that sort of responsibility on her shoulders.

* * *

The doors closed, hiding the other students from sight as they began their journey back to the base of the tower. Ozpin breathed out a long sigh, bringing up one hand to rub his face and readjust his glasses. The girl, Cinder, still had yet to look him in the eye. She remained where she was, staring at the floor in apparent fear of what he might say.

Regardless, his question needed to be asked as soon as possible. The transferring of Maiden powers could go several ways, after all. If Cinder had been the one to kill her…

"Do you know why I asked you to stay, Miss Fall?"

"...Yes…" she spoke quietly.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow in surprise, confused as to what purpose she believed it to be, "And why is that?"

"You're going to kick me out of Beacon, aren't you? I killed that woman… and let so many others die so that I could save my teammate…"

Ozpin shook his head, "Not at _all_ , Miss Fall. I was not lying before. I do not blame you for the decision you made. It was tough, as many are for those in positions of power. It is the fate of leaders that they be put in situations such as this. If you had not deserted your post to rescue the students under your charge, the woman could have easily overrun them and caused untold casualties. Those that you were guarding personally may have survived, but others would have died in their stead. You will receive no punishment from myself or any of the faculty for your actions."

Cinder finally calmed at that, raising a pair of weary eyes up to Ozpin's own. "Why, then?"

"I needed to ask another question. One that may seem confusing, but if you'll bear with me…" Ozpin readied himself for disappointment, but wholeheartedly hoped that the young woman before him would prove to be the next Maiden. "Do you feel... _different_ , since the conclusion of your fight?"

"Since I killed her, you mean...?" Cinder replied quietly, hand once again rubbing up and down her arm.

"Yes," Ozpin answered gently. "Since then."

He held his breath, waiting for her inevitable response.

After a few moments had passed… she nodded.

Ozpin suppressed the smile that fought to appear on his face, instead remaining as stoic as possible, given the situation. "May I ask _how_ you feel different?"

Cinder opened her mouth to speak, paused, then shrugged minutely, "There's… a _heat_ , inside of me. I don't know how else to explain it. Even with everything that's happened today, after what I did… I still feel refreshed. As if I'm full of energy…"

Ozpin nodded, allowing a small smile to crease the corner of his lips, "Despite the unfortunate circumstances that have brought it about, I am _glad_ to hear you say that, Miss Fall." He laughed, unable to contain himself after dealing with so much despair and uncertainty for the last two months. At a confused look from Cinder, he raised a hand to wave it back and forth dismissively.

"I'm sorry for my outburst, Miss Fall. It's just… do you believe in destiny?"

Cinder nodded, "I do, Headmaster."

Ozpin smiled, "Well then, if you might allow this old man a few more minutes of your time… I'd like to tell you a little story. One that I am rather fond of. It begins, unlike many others, with a lonely old wizard that has secluded himself in the woods…"

* * *

Olivia exited the club only a handful of seconds after Qrow, yet found herself dumbfounded as to where he'd gone. The older huntsman was nowhere to be seen, no flash of greying hair or red cloak to give away his presence. Cursing under her breath, Olivia set off at a brisk walk in the direction of the bullheads. She wasn't too worried for team Coffee's safety, considering the deal she'd made with Cinder. Even so, verifying their conditions for herself would help to put her mind at ease.

After all, it wasn't as if Cinder had agreed to _forego_ her plans altogether...

" _How did your mission go?_ "

Olivia sent the message off to Velvet, hoping for a response from her fellow faunus. There was no telling what else may have happened during their trip off Beacon grounds, the outside world being far more cruel and unforgiving. Cinder had been planning on their deaths, so had others ended up taking their place? Olivia couldn't imagine that sitting well with any of the members of team Coffee, let alone the kind and nurturing Velvet.

A response did come once Olivia was already on board a bullhead, nervously tapping her foot, scroll still held tightly in her hand and her eyes glued to the door. She instantly read the reply once it came, hoping for the best yet knowing that it wouldn't be.

" _We're okay. Coco and Fox are spending the night in the infirmary, but they should make a full recovery. The nurses wanted to keep them there just to be safe. Yatsu and I are back at our dorm, getting ready for bed…_ "

' _Cinder did put them through the ringer, and that was before they'd even left on their mission,_ ' Olivia thought, letting herself relax upon hearing the news. It wasn't the best she could have hoped for, but it was far from the worst as well.

" _Do you want to talk about it?_ " Olivia shot back without much hope. It could be left until tomorrow, all things considered. Still, she wanted to return the same kindness and compassion that Velvet had shown her. She owed her that much, at least.

The bullhead landed by the time Olivia's scroll began to vibrate, a call coming through from Velvet instead of another message. She stepped off the ship and walked a small ways from the path before accepting, putting some distance between herself and the other passengers that had been onboard.

Velvet's face appeared on screen, only partially lit by the light of the scroll, the darkness of her room silhouetting her figure. She was lying down, ears completely slack against the pillow beneath her head. One look told Olivia exactly how tired the faunus must be, her eyes struggling to stay open and a yawn crossing her lips.

"Hey Olivia…" Velvet breathed out quietly, taking a few elongated blinks while trying to focus on her scroll.

"Hey Velvet. You look _exhausted_."

Velvet let out a soft laugh, "Like you wouldn't believe. That mission was way more than we bargained for."

"What happened? Are you okay?"

"Physically?" Velvet shrugged slightly, "Just tired…" The troubled look in her eyes was clear enough though, the faunus hesitant to continue. "There were so many Grimm… and-... well…" She seemed to struggle with something, eventually giving up with a sigh, "The Grimm were bad enough on their own. We… couldn't save everyone. If it wasn't for Carmine…"

Velvet's eyes grew wet as she blinked faster than before, struggling to keep her tears at bay. Olivia could hear her breath coming out slightly ragged, a hitch in her throat, "I've never felt closer to dying... Fox was down, then Coco and Yatsu… Carmine saved us though. I don't know what we would have done without them…"

' _You wouldn't have been in any danger in the first place…_ ' Olivia thought in annoyance, recalling what Widow had told her earlier. If the mission had been that dangerous, then it had obviously been a setup by Cinder. If she could control the Grimm like Tyrian, then the entire attack was likely orchestrated by her from the beginning. They could have ended it at any time, bringing team Coffee to within an inch of their lives before withdrawing the beasts…

From the sounds of it, that's exactly what they had done.

' _Why? What could Cinder's true goal be behind all this? Who was it that she killed before Beacon, and how is it related to the school itself?_ Is _it related?_ '

Olivia had plenty of questions for Cinder once they met on the weekend, her initial thoughts likely only scratching the surface of what needed to be asked. Right now however, Velvet was in pain. Emotional, if not physical. Olivia wasn't the best when it came to soothing over someone's worries… She'd never really practiced it before… but she'd be damned if she wasn't going to try.

Olivia raised a hand to rub it against the back of her head, sparing the girl an apologetic smile, "Sorry Velvet, I'm not the best when it comes to this sort of thing. I'm really glad you all made it through in one piece...! Is there… Is there anything I can do for you to help? Anything at all? Name it, and I'll get it done."

Velvet's eyes grew clouded, her tired mind thinking of what Olivia might be able to do for her. After a few seconds spent in silence, she returned her eyes to Olivia's own, dark brown pleading with magenta, "It might be a bit much to ask, but… could you watch over Coco and Fox tonight? Their rooms are right next to each other in the infirmary. This… this is the first time she and I have been apart since… since we started dating a year ago. And with what happened today…"

Olivia shook her head, gesturing Velvet to silence so that she could give her fellow faunus a confident smile, " _Nothing_ will happen to her. To either of them. You have my word. I'll be there all night until you wake up. You can count on that."

"Thank you, Olivia," Velvet sighed, finally allowing her eyes to drift shut completely. "I've been trying to sleep, but…"

"I understand. Goodnight, Velvet. You can rest easy, knowing I'll be there for them."

"I… know you will…" Velvet's head slumped to the side, face partially buried in the pillow while her hands fell slack. She mumbled a few final words, most of it unintelligible. The only two that managed to get through to Olivia left her rooted to the spot.

"...good...person…"

' _I'm not,_ ' Olivia sighed while staring sadly at Velvet, sleeping soundly knowing her teammates would be safe until she saw them again. ' _I don't know what a good person would do in my situation, with everything going on… Cinder working with the Grimm, and Widow with the White Fang… They wouldn't do what_ I'm _doing, though… They wouldn't be doing_ nothing _._ '

Olivia closed out of the call, then set out for the infirmary while going through her contacts once more. She didn't want her team to be worried either when she didn't return for the night. Her first message went to Ruby, telling the leader that she was fine and not to expect her back. The second went to Blake, telling her fellow faunus the _actual_ place she would be.

' _Ruby would get upset if she knew that Coco and Fox were in the infirmary. Blake won't be as much, but she might think I was getting up to something if she didn't know I was still on school grounds._ '

Ruby's reply came through first, telling Olivia to stay safe and warning her not to be late in the morning. Olivia promised that she wouldn't be, hoping to alleviate the younger girl's fears. She pushed open the front doors to the infirmary after hitting send, eyes raising to the two figures she'd already known would be there due to her sixth sense.

Olivia recognized both, her own stay having been long enough for each nurse on staff to do their rounds while she was there. She walked near the front desk, but not quite all the way, "Where are the two students that were admitted earlier today? Coco Adel and Fox Alistair?"

"Down the hall to your left. Rooms B7 and B8," the nurse replied, raising an eyebrow curiously, "Are you stopping by to check on them, or…? It's getting rather late."

Olivia shook her head, "I'll be here all night."

The nurse frowned in clear disapproval, "It's a school night."

"And I'll be here," Olivia repeated, turning to leave while the nurse stood, mouth slightly agape with a retort dead on her lips. ' _You'd think they would have gotten used to me by now. It's not as if I ever made things easy on them while_ I _was a patient._ '

Olivia shook her head, feeling the nurse eventually sit back down and return to her quiet chat with the woman next to her. After only a few dozen steps down the corridor, Olivia could feel Fox's presence, then Coco's ahead. She walked to each of their windows in turn, peeking in past the edge of the blinds if only to make sure they weren't worse off than Velvet admitted.

Both appeared to be fine however, simply resting and regaining their strength after what must have been an exhausting day. Their auras were stable, if a little low, but they were still dressed in their combat outfits. ' _So they didn't suffer any real wounds. That's good to know._ '

Content with her brief inspection, Olivia instead searched for some place to sit. She spotted a bench a little ways down the hall and grabbed it, coating her arms with her semblance to more easily move it between the two rooms. She set it down with a quiet thud, the sound echoing through the space, but not loud enough to draw the nurses' ire.

Olivia lied down on it with her feet dangling off the side, content to remain there for the night. She had gone without sleep plenty of times in days past, so wasn't worried about whether or not she could remain awake this time around. The bench itself may have been uncomfortable to remain on for so long normally, but a small amount of her aura dedicated to the issue made it feel soft enough.

' _Classes tomorrow might be rough, and… I haven't done the homework that Oobleck assigned yet… Weiss should be able to help me with that in the morning, so I'm not too worried. It was part of our agreement, after all._ '

She could also use her challenge for the week against someone weaker, if the situation called for it. Olivia doubted that it would.

The vibration from her pocket drew her attention away from her plans for the following day, instead returning to the previous conversation she had started with Blake.

" _Thanks for letting me know. What happened to Coffee? Are they alright?_ "

" _Their mission took a turn for the worse. Everyone's fine, if a little shaken up. The third year team, Carmine, kept the Grimm from overrunning them all, but the town didn't escape unscathed. Velvet asked me to watch over her teammates, so here I am._ "

" _Do you mind if I tell Weiss where you're at? I can already tell she thinks you're still down in Vale with Melanie. I don't think that's a very good assumption for her to have at the moment._ "

Olivia nodded silently to herself. The heiress was rather prudish in that regard, and wouldn't like the idea of her teammate potentially being late for classes again. " _That's fine. Just don't tell Ruby. I don't want her to worry. Oh, and while you're at it, tell Weiss that I'll need help with Oobleck's homework in the morning. Can't really get to it at the moment._ "

A few minutes passed before Blake replied once more, " _You'll have to tell her that second bit yourself. She's headed down there now._ "

" _What? Why?_ "

" _You'll see. Goodnight, Olivia._ "

Olivia rolled her eyes, sitting up on the bench in preparation for Weiss's eventual arrival. " _Night, Blake._ " She sent the final message before pocketing her scroll and sitting back, head turned to the side to rest on the wall behind her, expecting to see a pajama clad Princess rounding the corner at any moment.

She was not to be disappointed in that regard, as the sound of the front doors opening could be heard echoing down the hall, seconds before Weiss appeared into view. She wore a loose, light blue t-shirt and a pair of white pajama bottoms. The sound of her slippers followed wherever she stepped, a delicate flopping sound as the bottoms rose to meet her heels. Most odd of all, she carried what appeared to be a large, stuffed bag in one of her hands.

Weiss's eyes looked down either hallway from the front entrance, disregarding the nurses completely once she'd spotted Olivia. The faunus sat up straighter, raising a hand to wave in greeting as Weiss began to make her way over, bag swaying with every step.

"To what do I owe this honor~?" Olivia asked once she'd drawn nearer.

Weiss huffed, "Well, you just got out of here yourself. I… thought you might want these." She tossed the bag she'd been carrying onto the bench next to Olivia, its contents landing with a soft plop. She glanced inside, then laughed lightly when the contents were revealed.

"I didn't really plan on _sleeping_ , so the pillow and blanket weren't necessary. Thanks for thinking ahead for me though." Olivia smirked, words sincere. She grabbed the bag and set it down by her feet, rising back up to pat the bench next to her in a clear invitation. "You're welcome to stick around if you want, otherwise… You'll know where I'm at." She shrugged.

Weiss appeared indecisive for a moment, head glancing back towards where she'd come from. After some silent debate, she instead shrugged in return and moved next to Olivia, sitting neatly with her hands in her lap, as opposed to the faunus's sprawling slouch.

"I'm surprised you were so worried for them. I didn't know you were so close," Weiss admitted, sending Olivia a furtive glance after nodding towards the doors opposite them.

"I'm doing it more so for Velvet than them. Coco and Fox are strong, and their auras are stable. _She_ was worried though, so I promised I'd watch over them for the night," Olivia admitted.

"That's rather kind of you…"

Olivia laughed once, "I owe them, honestly. If I hadn't met them at that diner…" ' _Then I would have killed Qrow, for one. But they've helped me in more ways than that…_ ' "Let's just say I have a lot to thank team Coffee for. Yatsu was actually the one that convinced me to climb back into the dorm…"

Weiss's eyes widened in surprise, "He talked you into it? And here I was thinking you returned out of the goodness of your heart~"

"Hey, it was still my decision to take his advice."

Weiss sat back a little more, allowing herself to assume a more comfortable position, "I'll have to remember to thank him, then. Can you imagine if we were still at each other's throats?"

"You probably would have left me to die in Forever Fall," Olivia teased, knowing long before Weiss shot her an offended look that the heiress would never do such a thing. Even if they had still hated each other at the time, Weiss was too loyal, too forgiving, perhaps even too naive, to forsake her teammate like that.

Weiss saw the smirk on Olivia's face and allowed the comment to pass, having grown used to the faunus's attempts at trying to get a rise out of her, "Is your leg doing fine? It was still a little stiff this morning, wasn't it?"

Olivia shook her head, "No complaints here. I might have just needed to stretch it out, honestly. It's been better ever since our walk through Vale, not worse."

"That's good to hear…"

Olivia could hear the slight twinge of doubt in her voice, and looked over to see her eyes gazing at the floor. "I'm not lying this time, really. My leg _is_ better."

Weiss glanced in her direction, blue eyes searching for the truth before finally giving a firm nod, "You'll be able to return to training me, then? Tomorrow _is_ Wednesday after all. I expect you in top form to make up for the time we've missed."

"As you wish~" Olivia smiled, "Before I forget, you'll have to help me with homework tomorrow morning. I can't exactly do it at the moment, not that I'd want to anyway."

"Of course," Weiss agreed easily, a smile curling her lips. "It's all part of our agreement." She paused for a moment, mind seeming to wander before slowly returning back to attention, "Hey, Olivia?"

"Yes, Princess?"

She struggled with what she wanted to ask, shooting Olivia worried frowns before continuing with her question, "Why… Why do you want to be a Huntress?"

"It's what I've always wanted," Olivia replied truthfully. "You might find it hard to believe, but… I was just like Ruby when I was younger…" She smiled, "Minus the whole, 'nerding out over every weapon I came across', thing."

Weiss stared at her in clear disbelief, but after a few moments of Olivia showing no signs of deceit, allowed her face to fall instead, "What changed that? Changed you? I find that hard to believe, honestly. The way you are now… It just doesn't fit in my mind, you know? I can't picture it…"

Olivia leaned back, eyes on the ceiling and head firmly planted against the wall behind her. "Are you sure you _want_ to hear it?"

' _Am I sure I want to tell the truth?_ '

"Y-Yes. Please," at a look from Olivia, Weiss raised her hands. "You don't have to if you don't want to. If I'm treading on something you'd rather not talk about… I don't want to force you into anything…"

Olivia sighed, shaking her head while making her decision. Some small bits of the truth would have to come out eventually, and in her own mind… what happened on that day was the most justified out of anything she'd ever done.

' _But will Weiss agree…?_ '

"My family lived along the outskirts of Mistral. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was to keep us away from the humans. My brother and I, we knew how humans were around faunus, but… that's different from _experiencing_ it. My father went to a combat school. He could keep us safe from the Grimm, even living out as far as we did," Olivia smiled, memories slowly washing over her. "My brother did too, once he was old enough, and I wanted to do the same. There was no chance for any measly old Beowolf to get to us, not between the two of them."

Weiss frowned, "So…?"

"It wasn't the _Grimm_ that killed them that day." Olivia heard Weiss gasp quietly, and nodded her head. "Bandits came while we were having dinner. My father tried to warn them away, but they couldn't be reasoned with. They broke in the door, shot my brother, and killed both my parents while I cried under a table."

"Olivia…" Weiss's eyes were tearing up, and she scooted closer to place a tentative hand on her thigh, "I'm so sorry you went through that. How did you escape?"

Olivia weighed her options for a few seconds, wondering if now was the time. If she was honest with herself… it was nice to finally open up to the heiress, to reveal even the barest amount of her own sins. Olivia took a deep breath... and decided to tell the truth.

"I didn't," the words came out in a sigh, no matter how prepared Olivia had been to say them. Weiss met her eyes in confusion, the question clear on her mind without it even needing to be asked.

Olivia continued, "They found me hiding under the table. I was crying so hard, I could barely even see the two men that were left standing… That was when my semblance activated for the first time. A frightened little girl, staring death in the face… I…" Olivia hesitated, feeling her last bits of restraint refusing to let go.

Weiss's hand found hers in the quiet of the hall, fingers intertwining and bringing with them an unprecedented level of support. Olivia glanced to the heiress briefly, seeing the compassion in her eyes. She wasn't able to hold the gaze for long, and returned to staring at the ceiling. It had given her the confidence she needed, though. The restraints fell away, allowing her to speak the last three words with a trembling sigh.

"...I killed them."

Silence prevailed, with Olivia too unsure of herself to look back at the heiress once more. She could feel the other girl's hand quivering in hers, could feel her shifting closer on the bench. Olivia recoiled slightly, afraid of how Weiss was going to respond, afraid of being judged, of being rejected.

' _It's like Widow said… She won't understand… I might as well give up and-_ '

Before she had a chance to react, the heiress had thrown herself forward to wrap both arms around her in a fierce hug, pulling Olivia into it so that she could return the gesture in kind. Olivia's hands slowly found their way around the girl's petite form, returning the hug and feeling her own body shaking. Relief washed over her, and she buried her face in the side of the heiress's neck.

"I'm so sorry you had to do that, Olivia. _No one_ should ever have to go through that, not _ever_. I can't even imagine how you must have felt..."

No words came to Olivia's mind. No assurances that she was fine, that she was alright, that it had been years since then and she was over it. ' _Because it isn't the truth…_ ' Olivia _missed_ her parents, missed her _brother_. The world wasn't the same without them. It had changed for the worse the instant they were taken from it, taken from _her_.

Tears came unbidden to Olivia's eyes, and no matter how hard she blinked, she couldn't keep them at bay. They fell freely down her cheeks, shame mixing with the relief as they began to decorate Weiss's shoulder. The heiress would certainly feel them, would know that Olivia was _weak_.

Weiss didn't comment on them though, only hugging her more tightly instead. They remained like that for a few minutes, Olivia failing to bring her emotions back under control while Weiss provided her unconditional support. Both arms were locked around her, hands clasped in a refusal to let go until Olivia had let it all out. She gave up in time, allowing her emotions to flow freely.

After what felt like an eternity, Olivia's tears finally dried up. Her body no longer shook, breath returning to an even flow. Her hands pulled away, and Weiss's followed suit. They sat shoulder to shoulder still, the heiress continuing to offer comfort regardless of whether or not the hug remained intact.

Olivia brought a sleeve up and wiped at her face, doing her best to clear the tear tracks that undoubtedly stained her cheeks. She knew it was a fruitless effort, but did so anyway. Now that Weiss could see her face… she had to hide it all away once again.

Weiss reached out, grasping Olivia's wrist and stopping her hand in its tracks. She held a handkerchief in her other hand, and offered it to the faunus with a simple gesture. Olivia accepted it, and used it to wipe her face off more thoroughly before letting out a small, amused chuckle.

"I can't believe you keep one of these in your _pajamas_."

"One must be ready for _any_ occasion~" Weiss smiled, sitting back slightly but remaining pressed against Olivia. "What if I were to attend a slumber party, then find myself in need?"

Olivia shook her head ruefully, "How many slumber parties have you even _been_ to?"

Weiss looked away, letting out a small 'hmph', "That's hardly the point, now is it? All you need to do is thank me for my preparedness."

"Thank you, Princess," Olivia stated truthfully, uncertain of what to do with the used cloth.

Weiss saw her struggling and nodded her chin to the bag at her feet, letting out a mild sigh, "You weren't going to use them anyway, right?"

Olivia dropped the cloth inside, then flashed Weiss a smirk, "Good thinking, as always~"

"Yes, well…" Weiss's cheeks colored and Olivia laughed, counting herself the victor of the short exchange.

Silence prevailed for a few more moments, Olivia wanting to ask what needed to be asked, while Weiss appeared content to simply remain there for the time being. Letting out a nervous sigh, the faunus glanced only far enough towards the heiress to see her expressions through her periphery.

"Do you blame me? Was what I did wrong? If you'd been in my place… would you have done anything differently…?"

Olivia could see Weiss turning to look at her, could feel the sad smile on her lips, "I don't blame you. What you did was entirely justified, and I would have done the same, given the situation."

Olivia felt some remnants of her sadness returning due to the admission before fiercely denying her emotions. She cleared her throat, then finally spoke after debating what to say.

"I wonder… how much else you might agree with…"

Weiss raised an eyebrow, but Olivia only shook her head.

"Not tonight, but… maybe… eventually…"

Weiss laughed, surprising Olivia with how sudden it was, "Blake said the same thing earlier. How did I end up on a team with so many secrets~? At this point, I have to believe Ruby's got something hidden up her sleeve. I'm the only _normal_ person on the team."

"I don't think _any_ Schnee could be considered _normal_ ~" Olivia chastised fondly, though Weiss's comment had taken her by surprise.

' _Is Blake considering telling Weiss about her involvement with the White Fang?'_ That would be bold, especially for the reclusive faunus. ' _If anything, it might help ease Weiss into it if I beat her to the punch. At least I haven't been in it since I was a kid._ '

Still, tonight wasn't the night. Olivia could only open up so much with the Schnee before her own defenses rose back into place, a little more brittle than they had been before, but still _there_ regardless.

"You should head back. I wouldn't want you missing out on sleep for my sake, not when I'll need your help so early in the morning."

Weiss sighed, leaning her head on top of Olivia's shoulder. She didn't pull away from the contact, but allowed it to take place. It felt oddly natural, as if she would be content to stay that way until morning… After a time, Weiss _did_ finally move, pulling away from the faunus to stand before her in the hallway. Hands now clasped behind her back, Weiss looked Olivia over.

"I'm really glad we had this conversation. I want you to know… whatever you have left that you're keeping buried… whatever secrets you can't bring yourself to say…" Weiss allowed a comforting smile to curl her lips, "I'll hear you out. I won't judge you, not until I've heard everything. It's the least I could do… for a friend..."

Olivia nodded, returning the smile with one of her own, "When the time comes… I'll hold you to that."

Weiss waited only a moment longer before spinning on her heel, setting out on her journey back to their dorm. Olivia watched her go, also glad that she'd finally opened up. Telling the truth to Weiss had gone better than she'd ever expected. Even now, with her walls steadfast and in place… Olivia could feel a kernel of hope growing, hope that someday, Weiss might know every secret that the faunus had to offer.

That even then, they could still be… ' _Friends…_ '

Olivia cleared her throat once more and gave herself a small shake, shifting on the bench to resume the position she'd been in before Weiss's arrival. ' _On second thought…_ ' she dug the pillow out of the bag and laid it down, resting her head against it.

' _Thanks, Weiss. I owe you one._ '

As time passed, Olivia could no longer suppress the small smile that crept its way onto her lips, nor keep her eyes from closing in contentment.


	56. Return to Form

It was nearly seven in the morning by the time either of the two awoke. Coco was first, shuffling in her bed and beginning to panic when she realized where she was. Olivia was up and to her door in an instant, knocking once before peeking her head in.

"Whoa there, Coco. Nothing to worry about, just the Beacon infirmary. You're alright," Olivia smiled softly. "They didn't even force you into one of those horrid hospital gowns, so you must be fine."

"Would have been _their_ mistake," Coco growled, sitting up and whipping the blanket off herself. Despite her immediate burst of energy, she swayed slightly after swinging her legs over the side. Olivia darted forward to steady her, placing a hand on her shoulder that she readily accepted.

Coco raised her eyes, looking around the room for a moment, "Is everyone alright? I don't remember much, other than… _Velvet!_ " Her face grew frantic, and she tried to hop up once more before Olivia pushed her back down.

"Everyone is _fine_. Fox is one room over, resting just like you were. Yatsuhashi and Velvet both slept in your dorm. I've been keeping watch all night because Velvet was worried." Coco stared at her uncertainly, only relaxing once the words she had said were finally understood. Olivia took her chance to pull up a chair from across the room and sit down as well. "What happened? Velvet said there were a lot of Grimm, but that's pretty much it."

Coco frowned, eyebrows drawing together in confusion, "She didn't mention…?" She paused for a while longer, eyes vacant in thought before shaking her head with a sigh, "No, there must be a reason for it."

"A reason for what?"

Coco sighed, flashing her an apologetic smile, "I'll have to check with Vel. Sorry, Olivia," she brightened, "Thank you for watching over us, though. I'm glad she could get her rest instead of worrying over nothing."

Olivia decided to ignore the information that had been glossed over for now. It likely had something to do with Cinder anyway. Instead she laughed lightly, sparing a smirk for the older huntress, "Velvet was exhausted. You two must have done some rigorous 'celebrating' after the battle if it ended with her passing out, and you in the infirmary~"

Coco grinned, not one to be embarrassed so easily, "Like I said. You've obviously never know the true pleasures of dating a rabbit faunus~"

Olivia pouted, "You can't share?"

"Hah!" Coco straightened her hand and brought it down on Olivia's head like a karate chop, "Not a _chance_ , kid."

Olivia chuckled, fixing her hair while Coco dug into her pocket for a scroll, popping it open once it was in her hands. Olivia could see her typing out a quick message to Velvet through her screen before she hit send.

"Mind giving me a hand?" Coco raised an eyebrow, pocketing her scroll and placing both her hands on the edge of the bed to prop herself up.

Olivia nodded, hopping up to place an arm around Coco's and steady her as she stood. After a few moments spent regaining her balance, she gestured for Olivia to step away. The older huntress wobbled for only a moment, then regained her composure, letting out a rattled sigh. "Balance is a little off... Think the thunder might have done a number to my hearing, but my aura seems to be clearing it up…"

' _Thunder?_ ' Olivia decided not to comment on it and headed for the door instead, opening it so that Coco could step out unimpeded. "I'm guessing you wanted to visit Fox, yeah?"

Coco scoffed, stepping out past Olivia to head for the next door over, "Lazy ass is probably milking this for all its worth." She didn't bother knocking, instead slamming the door open wide to glare at her teammate. At the sound of the door rocketing against the wall, Fox bolted up in bed, eyes wide and staring blankly in their direction.

After a few tense moments, Fox mentalling grumbled, falling back against his bed while speaking to them telepathically, "What's a guy gotta do to get a little shut eye around here?"

"Not get outdone by a _midget_ , for one," Coco stepped next to his bed and grabbed his sheets, ripping them off him without hesitation. "Last I remember, you were already unconscious by the time we got there. _Neo_ had to save your skin. You'll earn your rest when you don't make us look like fools."

Fox sighed, "Nothing bad must have happened if you're in such good spirits. You sure we didn't win?"

" _Carmine_ won," Coco growled. "We were baggage." She kicked the side of his bed roughly, causing him to shake back and forth, "Get up. We need to go get debriefed by Oz before anything else. Vel should be meeting us soon, too."

Fox waved his hand nonchalantly, not bothering to move, "I'm sure Carmine handled that, too. What else can we say about it?" The voice in his mind changed, adopting the tone of someone giving a dutiful report, "As you can see, Oz, I _can't_. But even a blind man could tell that woman was insa-"

"Fox!" Coco warned aloud before moving closer to his bed. She quietened then, words passing mentally between the two of them that Olivia wasn't privy to.

' _An insane woman involved with thunder, huh? Was Nora missing yesterday?_ ' Olivia chuckled quietly. She shook her head, turning to look back out the door and give the two some semblance of privacy, even if she could still feel everything they were doing with her extra sense. ' _Just more questions I'll need to ask Cinder._ '

Olivia felt Fox nod before climbing to his feet and adjusting his jacket. She was once again included in his telepathic messages, "Right. I guess Neo _wouldn't_ have been able to say anything. My bad."

"Not as if she could tell you off for forgetting," Olivia joked, stepping out the door as Fox and Coco both followed suit. She retrieved the bag that Weiss had brought, stuffing the pillow back inside with the blanket before slinging it over a shoulder.

"She's actually a lot of fun to talk to," Fox admitted, rubbing a hand against the back of his head in apparent embarrassment.

Coco smirked, slamming one hip into his side and sending him staggering forward, "Oh~? You don't say~?" She put a finger to her chin as she walked ahead, not waiting for Fox to recover. "Sounds to me like ol' Foxxy was having a good time. A shame the Grimm had to interrupt~"

Fox straightened himself out with a huff, "Surprise, surprise. The girl that can't talk is actually a good conversationalist. Who'd have guessed? I'm a deadeye with a sniper, but you've never bothered to ask."

Coco snorted, "Fox, you don't even use a gun."

"I could if I wanted to…" he grumbled quietly.

"Regardless, due to our survival at the hands of team Carmine," she lowered her voice for a moment, "And _despite_ how much I hate their leader.." Coco cleared her throat, "I'd say that's cause for celebration!"

"In other words, she wants to set you up with Neo~" Olivia teased, giving Fox a gentle shove.

"You're invited too, Olivia. It's been a while since we had a chance to hang out. Whaddya say? A few rounds, on me?"

Olivia raised an eyebrow, "On you, or _on you~?_ "

"Body shots it is!" Coco beamed, flashing Olivia a wink before turning back ahead. Fox groaned at the plans being made without his consent, but didn't argue. He was used to his team leader's antics being an immutable fact, one that he'd never be able to counteract, even with Yatsu on his side.

Coco slammed the doors open with more force than was necessary, allowing the morning sunlight to stream through the entrance before they were all out and breathing fresh air.

"Coco!"

They all turned as one to see Velvet joyously waving towards them, Yatsuhashi in tow. It looked as if they'd both gotten dressed in a hurry, their clothes mismatched and wrinkled. Coco didn't seem to care, instead crossing the distance in a flash to wrap Velvet in a hug. The two embraced for some time, the rest awkwardly waiting on the sidelines for them to finish.

"Are you alright, Bun?" Coco pulled away from the embrace long enough to pat Velvet down, looking her over thoroughly.

Velvet blinked back a few tears, laughing softly, " _You're_ the one that spent the night in the infirmary, dunce, not me. _I'm_ fine."

"Damn right you are~" Coco sighed, apparently done with her quick examination. "Should we go see Ozpin now?"

Yatsuhashi nodded, "That would probably be for the best."

"Alright," Coco turned to Olivia, raising her hand to fire a finger gun at her, "I'll shoot you a message later if Carmine agrees to come out with us. After classes and all that, so feel free to bring whoever you like~"

"Will do," Olivia gave them all a small wave as she started to walk in the opposite direction, back towards the first year dorms. She paused momentarily, reminded of how things had ended between herself and Melanie the night before. "If we could avoid Junior's, that'd be great."

Coco's eyebrows raised, "Trouble in paradise?"

Olivia shrugged, "Something like that. Anywhere else is fine, just let me know where."

"You got it~ See you then!" Coco cheered out one final time as the rest of her team turned to leave. Olivia turned back with a quick shake of her head. ' _It's sooner than Cinder planned for us to meet, but at least this gives us a decent excuse to talk to one another, even if someone finds out about it._ '

All the better if they managed to find a secluded corner to speak more candidly with each other. Many people believed that a quiet place with no one nearby was the ideal location for a secret meeting, but speaking in a crowded place where someone a foot away would have to strain to hear you typically got the job done just as well, and drew less attention. ' _Not that I had to bother often with Widow around…_ '

Olivia yawned, stretching with her arms above her head and the large bag wrapped around her shoulder. To her surprise, the yawn lasted quite a bit longer than she was expecting. She shook her head ruefully once she'd finished, continuing on her way towards the dorms. ' _I'm getting soft._ '

But, if that was the price she had to pay for the life she now lived… She'd learn to make due.

The fact that coffee existed made life that much easier.

* * *

Qrow yawned and rolled his shoulders, trying to work the kinks out of his back on the way up to Ozpin's office. The flight to and from Arcus had taken its toll, with no results to show for it. ' _More bad news… but at least_ some _good came of it all._ ' The one that had originally stolen the Maiden powers was dead, killed by a third year student from their very own Beacon Academy.

The fact that the Maiden powers were back under their control, and in the possession of a top tier student, was nothing short of a miracle. Qrow would have gone back out on the town to keep drinking with the kid if it hadn't been for the task he was assigned. Everything was going in their favor for once, except…

' _Not finding the body is a problem._ '

The elevator doors dinged open, both announcing his presence, and allowing him to step through into the room. Oz sat in his usual place, calmly sipping off the cup in his hands. A mug sat across from him, still steaming and waiting to be consumed by an exhausted huntsman.

Qrow accepted it readily enough, letting out a tired huff as he sat down heavily in the chair across from the Headmaster. He grabbed the cup by its handle and blew across the top for a few seconds, cooling it off enough to drink greedily. Ozpin only waited, allowing him time to relax before giving his report.

With a contented sigh, Qrow polished off the last of the coffee and set his cup back down, nodding his thanks when Oz poured him a second helping almost immediately. He refrained from continuing though, now ready to get down to business in a tone laced with disappointment.

"It wasn't there, Oz. The body. Someone already came and took it by the time I'd arrived. I asked the townspeople, but they didn't see anything suspicious…" Qrow shrugged, leaning further back in his chair, "As for clues, nothing stood out to me. My guess is, her people were already nearby and retrieved it to keep us from gaining any valuable information off it..."

Ozpin lowered his own cup, "That _is_ troubling, but not completely unexpected. By your telling, there were three that worked together to kill Amber. Even with the one that inherited her powers out of the picture, that still leaves two unaccounted for."

"Pity we have no idea _who_ ," Qrow grumbled, grabbing the flask from beneath his coat. He gave it a small shake and huffed, returning the empty container to his inside pocket.

"I may have identified one of the culprits…"

Qrow's eyes widened as he sat forward, "Really? How'd you manage that?"

"I have my ways," Ozpin replied with a small, mysterious smile. He reached across his desk and pressed a few keys, expanding an image into view. Qrow squinted, seeing a grainy screenshot of security footage that had obviously been cropped. There on the screen was a woman around his age, perhaps younger. She had deep red hair and a curvaceous body, dressed almost entirely in black. Each hand held a sickly curved dagger, long enough in length that you could almost call them short swords if not for the lack of a guard or pommel.

"There isn't much to go off of, I'm afraid. She's an assassin that goes by the name 'Widow', and is one of the lesser known underground figures within the underbelly of Mistral. I was fortunate enough to get into contact with a new informant, a rather seedy woman that I wouldn't typically do business with. But, when worst comes to worst…"

Qrow stared closely, making sure to get down her features so that he would recognize her if they ever crossed paths, "How do you know she was the one?"

Ozpin spread his hands wide, "I can only guess. Widow vanished from the city around the same time as Amber's murder. My contact was rather _displeased_ that the assassin had up and left so suddenly. Contracts that still needed to be fulfilled, you understand... Widow's disappearance left my contact in quite the predicament, the way she tells it."

"Pity." Qrow stated sarcastically, letting out a short chuckle at the mobster's expense. "So, too old to gain the Maiden powers for herself, but skilled enough to help take one down. I can see your reasoning on this one."

"Indeed," Ozpin nodded, "It appears that she's decided to stay in Vale as well, helping out the White Fang. She's been caught on the scene in several instances, by cameras that were unaccounted for despite their best efforts."

"A faunus, too?" Qrow rubbed a hand across the stubble on his chin in thought. "I don't see a trait, but that doesn't prove much."

"She's a spider faunus."

Qrow's eyes widened, "Like Olivia?"

"Like Miss Mandevilla, yes."

"That'll be a pain. If the kid's anything to go off of, then she won't be easy to catch off guard. Olivia's never really noticed me in my bird form, though… Might not be any different for the older one."

"Just be careful, Qrow. We don't know exactly how dangerous this woman really is. Given her history, she may be capable of fighting even _you_ on equal footing."

Qrow scoffed, "Careful is my middle name. Don't worry about me, Oz. I'll track her down and get to the bottom of this. Once she's out of the picture, there'll just be one unknown left to worry about." He looked to the Headmaster expectantly, "I don't suppose you have any idea on that one?"

"Unfortunately not. If you _do_ find this woman and manage to subdue her, try to find out what you can. That information will be necessary in assuring our new Maiden's continued safety. I will _not_ lose another," Ozpin's eyes pierced into Qrow's by the end of it, making sure he understood the severity of the situation.

Qrow nodded, hefting the mug of coffee back off the desk and drinking it down in one. He gasped for breath at the end and set it back down, pushing himself back onto his feet, "You can trust me, Oz. Like always."

"Like always, old friend. Best of luck in your hunt."

Qrow laughed as he left, waving a hand over his shoulder. He didn't need to say what they were both undoubtedly thinking.

' _Who needs luck?_ '

The doors closed behind him, and Ozpin was lost to sight.

* * *

Olivia flipped backwards to evade Nora's hammer as it struck the tiled arena floor, sending a shockwave of dust and tiles erupting outwards from the impact. Her sixth sense finely tuned, she ducked immediately after regaining her feet, the hammer rippling through the air as Nora followed it up with a horizontal arc aimed at her midsection. The dust billowed in its wake, stirring it up into yet another flurry.

With a swift burst of speed, Olivia moved into her guard, putting Nora onto the defensive with a few semblance infused blows that knocked her into the air. Olivia spun once Nora was airborne, delivering a roundhouse kick with the back of her heel that sent the other girl flying across the ring. She'd managed to defend against the blow with the haft of her hammer, but the force alone hadn't been negated.

"So, how about it? Party in Vale with Coffee and Carmine?" Olivia posed the question as she closed in, keeping up the pressure as Oath spiraled back into the frey towards Nora's back.

"Sounds fun!" Nora cheered in return, swinging wide to hold Olivia at bay before continuing in her arc to catch Oath on its return pass, knocking the gravity infused blade away once more. "Anyone else you're inviting?"

Olivia slammed her fists into Nora's defense, pressing her back across the arena with each blow, "Anyone that wants to, really. The more the merrier~"

"Renny and I haven't had a chance to go out for a while!" Nora replied excitedly, managing to parry one of Olivia's attacks well enough to try for a counterattack. Olivia had allowed it on purpose however, and took her chance during Nora's longer windup to drop low and kick her legs out from under her. She slammed to the ground heavily, momentarily disoriented while Olivia stood to catch Oath on its return trip. She spun it in her hand once to gain a better grasp before swinging it down at her opponent's chest.

Nora blocked the blade with her hammer and rolled out of range, but was forced to take the follow up shots that Olivia fired after her. Each was a heavy blow that caused numerous waves to ripple across her aura, dropping it down into the mid-thirties.

Olivia stopped to reload while Nora caught her breath, the magazine falling to clatter loudly against the floor while another was replaced from the pouch on her thigh. She frowned across to her friend, "It's been _weeks_ since Beacon started. When's the last time you two went out?"

Nora looked up towards the ceiling in thought for a moment, "Not since the first night of Beacon, actually. When we all went out to The Lounge?"

Olivia slumped, letting the tip of her blade fall to rest against the floor, "Wow, that is _way_ too long. I can't even imagine... If you need some lien so you and Ren can rent a room down in Vale-"

" _Olivia!_ " Ren hissed, leaning forward from his place against the railing and glaring at the faunus. At least, it was a glare as far as Ren was concerned, which is to say his eyes had narrowed by a slight margin.

"Indeed, Miss Mandevilla. If the two of you could hurry this along and perhaps wait until after to make plans?" Miss Goodwitch chastised coldly, standing with her arms crossed and gripping her crop tightly in one hand, scroll pressed against her chest.

"Sorry, Miss Goodwitch," Olivia smirked and raised herself back into a ready pose. A quick glance to the monitors showed Nora's aura level. "I'll finish this soon enough."

Nora scoffed, shouting out a determined, "Oh yeah!?", before flinging herself back into the melee.

A handful of seconds later and with a few gasps of the crowd, Olivia stood over Nora with the point of her curved sword bearing down on the other girl's chest. Magnhild lay outside the stage, sent flying by a particularly skillful riposte that Olivia had executed. Nora's aura hovered below the spar's threshold, the barest fraction into the red after the brief exchange.

"Yeah~" Olivia smiled, returning Oath to her lower back and extending a hand down to Nora. She smiled in return and allowed herself to be pulled back up, bouncing on her heels as she returned to her feet.

"You're going to have to teach me that one," Nora grinned, clapping Olivia on the back before heading over to retrieve her hammer. The two climbed the stairs together, returning to sit with their teams, only Ren between them.

"I already _have_ a student," Olivia replied, denying her request. "And I'm behind on lessons."

"Yeah, but I don't think Weiss would mind sharing," Nora stated, glancing up behind them to where the heiress sat. "You wouldn't, would you?"

"You're welcome to join us…" Weiss answered tentatively. Olivia could feel her shuffling in her seat, both appearing physically and emotionally indecisive about allowing Nora to tag along.

Olivia cut Nora off with a shake of her head, knowing that improving as a huntress was important to Weiss, "Training is best kept one on one. We can set up a different day for the two of us instead if you'd like, Nora." She put a hand to her chin, pretending to be deep in thought, "Weiss pays me by mostly doing my homework… What do you have to offer?"

"My undying friendship!"

Olivia chuckled, "Good enough for me~"

The conversation quieted down as the next pair of students was called to the stage, two that Olivia had barely ever paid attention to and wasn't about to start with now. She leaned back in her seat instead, sparring an eye for the rest of those gathered, "Anyone else up for a party down in Vale? Team Coffee survived their mission, thanks to Carmine. They wanted to throw something together for them to show their appreciation and asked me to come, along with whoever I wanted to invite."

"Yeah!" Yang punched the air in excitement, "You can count us in!"

"We _are_ caught up on our homework…" Ren agreed slowly, shooting Nora a quick glance out of the corner of his eye, "And it has been a while…"

Nora leaned across his lap to half whisper to Olivia, bringing a hand up to cup the side of her mouth, "You weren't kidding about paying for a room, were you?"

"Nora…"

Olivia laughed, reaching out to wrap an arm around the both of them and pull them in tight. She kept her voice low for Ren's sake, whispering conspiratorially, "I've got plenty of lien to spare for a girl in need~"

Ren's face colored, going from its usual lightly tanned complexion to beat red in a matter of seconds. Olivia grinned fiercely and Nora joined right in with her, finding enjoyment in the rare moment where Ren showed any sort of emotion, let alone embarrassment.

"Can I go?" Ruby chimed in from a few seats down, nervously pleading while poking her fingers together, "I mean, if you don't mind, since there's going to be a lot of drinking…"

Olivia pulled away from the small huddle and passed the question off to Yang, wondering if the older sister would deny Ruby a fun night on the town. Yang appeared conflicted, and looked to the other two members of team Rainbow with a similar gaze, "Weiss, Blake? Are you coming with? I wouldn't want to just leave Ruby alone at the dorm…"

"Parties aren't typically where I enjoy spending my time," Blake began, smirking lightly in return when Ruby's pleading face was directed at her, "Buuuut, considering that it _is_ a special occasion… I suppose I'll go. _Someone_ needs to keep you all in check."

"That's one for two. Princess?"

Weiss glared at Yang for using the nickname, then sighed in defeat when Ruby looked to her as well, "I _was_ going to study. Unfortunately, I don't believe Ruby would let me hear the end of it. She'd pout for the next two weeks if she was forced to stay with me instead of partying with you." She shrugged, sending a glance in Olivia's direction, "I'll go. I wouldn't want to get in the way of you enjoying your time with Team Coffee. They are important to you, after all."

Ruby erupted into a loud cheer, causing many of the other students in their class to send curious glances in their direction. The younger girl withdrew slightly when she noticed them, shying away from their stares and letting out a quieter, " _Wooh..._ " once they'd stopped looking her way.

"This should be fun," Pyrrha smiled at Ruby's antics and nudged her shoulder into Yang. "Now's the time to prove you're as good a dancer as you claimed."

Yang ran a hand through her hair, brushing the large blond mass over her shoulder in a gesture of confidence, "Olivia can attest to how good I am on a dance floor, don't you worry."

Olivia grinned, "We drew quite a bit of attention, that's for sure. People were left speechless at the moves we were throwing down."

"You two danced?" Pyrrha asked in surprise.

"No, they practically blew the place _up_ ," Ruby chastised. "We're lucky dad didn't get _sued_."

Yang waved a hand nonchalantly, "Fighting, dancing… What's the difference?"

"Whether or not you wake up in their bed the next morning~" Olivia looked Yang over with a discerning smirk, "In your case though, either might work."

Yang and Nora laughed along with Olivia while several others reddened at the implication. "So, looks like we're all going? I'll let Coco know so she's not surprised or anything."

"Do you know what time they're meeting up yet?" Yang asked, glancing at the time on her scroll. There were only a few spars left in class, but they'd already pushed well into three in the afternoon.

Olivia waved her hand, gesturing for Yang not to worry, "Around seven. We'll have plenty of time to do what we need to, get ready and head down." She looked over to Weiss reassuringly, "I wasn't about to skip out on another training session after we've missed two in a row."

Weiss's lips quirked into a smile, "I appreciate it. While I have made some progress in applying your lessons so far, I could do with a… refresher course…"

Olivia nodded, "No problem. We'll do the same as last time to see how you've improved and I'll give you more pointers from there."

"I have been wanting to test out a more complicated glyph…"

"Oh really?" Olivia smiled, "Good. Show me what you're made of, Princess."

Weiss smiled in return and gave her a confident nod, sparking an annoyed quip from Yang when Olivia wasn't reprimanded for the nickname as she'd been. "What, so Olivia gets to call you Princess but I don't?"

Weiss shot her a haughty glare, having caught the comment despite Yang's voice being lowered, "I don't need _two_ people going around claiming I'm royalty. Besides…" Weiss cooled off suddenly, turning away from the group while her voice came out in a stammer, "I h-haven't succeeded in the challenge yet. Until then, it's only natural that she continues calling me such a… such a foul title."

"You should have a good chance at it today," Olivia admitted, letting out a long yawn. "I didn't end up sleeping at all last night. Figured Velvet might've been upset if she came down early and found me slacking on the job."

"Then it won't count if I do," Weiss replied flatly, still staring off towards the stage and avoiding looking at any of them. "You need to be at your best, no exceptions."

Olivia sighed, wondering if Weiss's refusal to accept her own victories was due to some odd Schnee pride. ' _Or maybe it's just an Atlas thing in general?_ ' That could be it, considering that Atlesians enjoyed lauding themselves as the world's greatest military power. With the relative weakness of their androids and the average SDC guard, though… Olivia wasn't convinced by their boasts.

She shrugged and let it go, unaware of anyone from Atlas that she might be able to compare the Schnee with.

Class continued on for another half an hour, the final few fights dragging on longer than Olivia would have wished. The outcomes were painfully obvious from the onset, but each time, the weaker of the two refused to simply accept defeat. She might not have cared typically, but today of all days was the first real training session she'd be able to have with the heiress. It had been an entire week since the first, despite her promising a repeat every other weekday. Olivia was slightly surprised at her own excitement, but eventually waved it off as just wanting to see Weiss's progress.

Finally, the last bout of the day came to an end with its obvious conclusion. Olivia stood, stretching her arms above her head and letting out a pleased gasp as she heard her back pop in several places. She barely paid attention as Miss Goodwitch made her ending announcements, dismissing the class and telling them to learn from the mistakes the last few contestants had made.

Yang lightly punched her forearm in passing, smirking at her and Weiss in turn, "Give her hell~"

Olivia scoffed, "Don't I always?" She raised a hand to accept the fist that Yang presented, bumping her own against it before the blond winked and left.

Blake stopped to whisper with Weiss while the rest filtered out, Nora shouting out her excitement for the evening while Ruby got caught up in it as well. Olivia smiled at that, glad she'd be able to show the kid a fun night out on the town. She hadn't really been able to hang out with Ruby as much as she'd have liked, due to her and the heiress being at odds with each other the first couple of weeks. Olivia was glad that was over with, for Ruby's sake, more than anything.

' _On second thought, I might start inviting her to some of these little training sessions as well..._ ' Olivia waved the thought away. ' _No, I'll keep her safe. She won't need to worry about fighting people as long as I'm around…_ ' While her young leader was a prodigy in her own right, Ruby still had trouble dealing with most of their sister team's members, along with Blake. She was much better matched against Grimm, who lacked the cunning of human opponents. ' _And that's all she'll ever need. Ruby can handle Grimm just fine. Our time together would be better spent just having fun._ '

"Hey, you ready?"

Olivia was pulled from her thoughts by Weiss's voice, only a short distance away at the head of the stairs. She was looking Olivia over curiously, waiting for the faunus to follow now that the rest of the class had filtered out. Olivia shook her mind clear and adopted her usual grin, "Ready when you are~ What glyph were you wanting to try? You told me about most of them… Summoning, maybe?"

Weiss shook her head as she stepped down the stairs, Olivia in tow, "That's still a bit too advanced for me. I was thinking of trying out time dilation."

"That does sound promising. What's the catch?"

"Aside from the complexity?" Weiss shrugged, making it on to the stage and turning around a dozen feet from Olivia. She began readying Myrtenaster, spinning its revolver to the necessary chamber that contained lightning dust. "As long as I get it right, it'll grant whoever steps on it a significant boost in speed. If it isn't perfect though… you'll run out of energy and slow down more than usual for a few moments by the end of it, leaving you open for an attack."

Olivia nodded her understanding, "So unless you get it perfect, it's more of a last ditch effort to overpower your opponent. It sounds dangerous, but definitely worth putting the effort into." She rolled her shoulders and drew Oath from her back, extending it out, "I suppose you want to practice against me, instead of in a real spar or against a Grimm that might take advantage of your mistakes?"

"Precisely," Weiss smiled, raising her weapon into a ready stance as if to blitz across the stage in a single dash. Olivia complied, preparing Oath to defend herself against the heiress's onslaught.

Weiss stood in place for a few moments, her eyes closing to concentrate on the glyph that sprung into life beneath her feet. Olivia stared closely, seeing the foreign numerals along the edge, it's shape that of a circle, as if the symbol itself represented a misty white clock. Yellow pulsed into being, the lightning dust charging it and causing the glyph to spin quickly. The instant it reached what seemed to be the apex of its rotational speed, Weiss opened her eyes once more.

Olivia was forced to use every hardwired instinct at her disposal to dodge the first strike, the heiress blurring across the stage at Ruby-like speeds. She was too shocked to even move Oath in time, instead falling back on her hand to hand training to dip her head to the side. Weiss drew her blade back and slashed again, this time meeting the edge of Oath, now that Olivia was better prepared for the change in speed. Weiss moved like lightning itself, her aura coursing with the dust that had been imbued by her semblance to turn her into a blur of silver and white.

Just as quickly as it had begun, Weiss's movements slowed to a crawl. Her arms moved as if through sludge, her body nearly immobilized by the backfiring of her own semblance. Even her expression remained mostly unchanged, the slightest amount of surprise beginning to take over as she realized the effects had worn off.

"Wow, I can see what you mean~" Olivia chided playfully, reaching up to push against Weiss's chest with a hand. The heiress's balance failed her, causing her to begin falling over in slow motion. Olivia laughed while watching her descent, even as time itself seemed to catch back up with her.

Weiss flailed her arms once before falling on her backside with a loud huff and turning to glare up at Olivia, "I thought you weren't going to take advantage of me?"

" _Phrasing,_ Princess~" Olivia failed to contain her continued laughter when Weiss took a moment to think on the implications, then blushed profusely, jumping back to her feet to turn around and head to her previous position. "That _was_ surprising, though," Olivia called out, not wanting to upset the heiress too much. "Anyone aside from myself or Pyrrha would've gotten stabbed~"

Weiss brightened at that, though her cheeks were still heated from the previous comment, "You really think so?"

Olivia nodded, "I know so. Blake might be able to avoid it with her own semblance, and Ruby might counter it with her speed, but against ninety percent of the students here?" She shrugged, "They'd be hard pressed to contend with that."

Weiss smiled deeply, seeming proud of herself, "Thank you!" She paused afterwards, clearing her throat with a miniscule cough, "Shall we continue? I would love to get more control over it before our next combat class."

"By all means," Olivia grinned, glad to see the heiress's mood improve so drastically. A smile always looked nicer on her than her usual frown, and Olivia found herself enjoying having a hand in it. "As long as it takes, Princess~"

Weiss smiled in return as the glyph spun to life once more beneath her feet, ready to continue their training.

It was a long while before either of them bothered to check the time.


	57. Comfort and Confusion

Velvet felt much more rested by the time the doors dinged open, announcing their arrival at the top floor of the CCT. She hung off Coco's arm, dotingly supporting the girl that had admitted her balance was a little off during the walk to the tower. Velvet had suspected something was amiss, once she realized Coco had lacked her usual confident swagger.

There were no chairs, less time having passed between giving Ozpin notice and their actual arrival. He sat behind his desk in the early morning, drinking from his usual mug. His glasses were slightly askew and his outfit wrinkled, a pair of tired eyes squinting at the screen in front of him. If Velvet didn't know any better, she would have guessed he'd stayed up all night and hadn't left the office since the last time they were there.

' _Even the Headmaster has to sleep sometimes,_ ' Velvet grinned, pushing the notion from her mind. He just needed to spend longer in front of a mirror.

"Ah, welcome!" Ozpin smiled widely, taking stock of Coco and Fox's conditions. "You both seem to have pulled through all right. No maladies to speak of, I hope?"

"None," Coco spoke up before Velvet could, refusing to use her for support as she had on the way there. Velvet only scoffed quietly to herself, knowing that Coco's image was important to her. Better to not ruin it by making a scene in front of the Headmaster.

"And you're looking far more rested this morning, Miss Scarlatina. Glad to see you've recovered after yesterday's events."

"Oh, o-of course!" Velvet smiled, raising a hand to rub against the back of her head. "I have Olivia to thank for that. She watched over Coco and Fox so that I could get my rest. I…" She froze, hand stopping in its motions while heat slowly built in her cheeks. 'I wouldn't have been able to sleep without knowing Coco was safe' was what she _would_ have said, if it wasn't so embarrassing to admit to the Headmaster of all people. Her hand resumed, "Well, a- _anyway_. I'm good now."

Ozpin didn't really appear to have noticed her flustered speech. His eyes had gone vacant, a worried frown tugging at the corner of his lips. Once the silence began to draw out however, he seemed to come back to himself with a small shake, "Glad to hear it, dear."

"So, are we not supposed to talk about the woman we ran into?" Coco asked curiously, stepping in as the conversation trailed off once more.

"Ah, yes. That is indeed the case. Some agents of mine are looking into the issue quietly. Until we understand the how and _why_ , we'd rather avoid giving any incomplete information out to the public, or even your fellow students. Nothing will be gained by causing panic, after all," Ozpin's eyes grew sharp. "I trust you didn't tell Miss Mandevilla any of the details?"

"Only about the Grimm, but from the way she asked her question it sounded as if Velvet had told her as much already," Coco confirmed offhandedly, waving away the Headmaster's concerns. "I didn't spill the beans on the crazy woman."

Ozpin breathed a quiet sigh of relief and took another sip of his coffee. He set it down and took a moment to readjust his glasses, fixing the slight skew they had acquired, "I'm glad to hear it. You all did as well as you could, considering the unfavorable conditions you found yourselves in. You may consider this a positive mark towards your Hunter Ranking once you graduate. Continue to improve, and I'll look forward to sending all of you into your bright futures with the highest marks that Beacon can bestow."

Velvet beamed, but the other members of her team didn't seem to take the news as they should. Coco crossed her arms and struck a pose, hip jutting out to the side in defiance. Yatsuhashi clutched his hands into tight fists, and Fox bowed his head, looking dejectedly off to the side.

"Our failures shouldn't be celebrated, Headmaster. It's true that we repelled the Grimm attack as well as we could, but when it came to that woman… we didn't stand a chance," Coco shook her head in frustration, biting her lip momentarily at the request she was about to make. "As much as I enjoy the prestige that comes with being one of Beacon's best teams, it means nothing if it wasn't _earned_. If you don't mind… I'd like you to tell the truth to the rest of the student body. We held up as well as we could, but it was team Carmine that pulled through when things got rough. They're the ones that should be praised, not us."

Velvet shrank, a worried frown on her face. She didn't completely agree with what the rest of her team seemed to believe. It appeared that the Headmaster didn't either, judging by the expression he leveled at them all. ' _We did our best…_ '

Ozpin smiled dotingly, "I'm sorry you feel that way, Miss Adel. Any other team would have crumbled far sooner under the pressure you all were put under. It was by no means an easy feat to last as long as you did, regardless of the end results. You saved an entire town _before_ your final confrontation, and for _that_ , you will receive your reward. Many families are still intact, their loved ones saved, because of your efforts."

"Still-"

"If you believe yourself _unworthy_ of the praise, then there is one simple solution," Ozpin grinned at the scowl on Coco's face. "Would you like to hear what that is?"

"Yes, _Sir._ "

" _Become_ worthy," Ozpin waited for the two words to settle into their minds before continuing, the doting smile returning to his face. "Live up to your own laurels, instead of resting on them. You and I are both aware that your team will do nothing if not grow in due time. I don't believe that you will take the peoples' trust lightly, will you, Miss Adel?"

Coco sighed, "No, Sir."

"That's more like it. I'll hear no more about your team being undeserving of the praise you've received," he raised an eyebrow, "If there is nothing further, then you may return to classes, as usual. Do try to get your rest, though. A mission like that doesn't come around very often, but I know well enough the fatigue that can follow after."

Coco smirked, draping an arm around Velvet's shoulder and causing her cheeks to light up, "Oh, we'll get our rest. Just as soon as we've thanked team Carmine properly. Party down in Vale if you wanna come, Headmaster~"

"I doubt a man of his station has time for such frivolous things," Yatsuhashi scoffed, sparing an eye down to his widely grinning teammate.

Ozpin smiled, "Indeed. It is the privilege of youth that they have such boundless energy. You said Carmine is attending? Be sure to pass along my thanks as well."

"We'll pass around more than that~" Coco smirked. "Olivia's already suggested body shots," she turned to Velvet with a cheshire grin, brightening even further upon seeing the red hot boiling point her cheeks had reached, "Think you'll keep up, Bun?"

"Cocoooo…" Velvet replied weakly, voice barely coming out above a whisper. ' _Y-you can't say that in front of a teacher!_ ' And Ozpin, no less! It was enough to make her ears wilt and eyes become permanently affixed to the marble floor.

Coco laughed, using an arm around her shoulder to rock Velvet back and forth while the faunus put her hands over her face, "Alright, Bun~ I'll save it for tonight~"

Ozpin's response was measured, his voice sounding tight in his chest, "I'm afraid I must decline. Thank you for the offer, and thank you in advance for keeping our secrets intact. Remember… tell no one, no matter how close or trustworthy you might believe them to be." It was a clear warning, the importance of their silence worth reiterating. Velvet raised her eyes to nod her acceptance, only then noticing that he appeared paler than the last time she'd looked to him.

' _He probably doesn't appreciate Coco's jokes either,_ ' Velvet took a moment to thank him for his time along with the rest of their team, then fell into step with Coco as they all retreated to the elevator.

Ozpin had already weaved his fingers together, head tilted down to stare at his desk with a troubled frown by the time the doors dinged shut. He disappeared from view entirely, leaving their team alone with each other once more. Velvet immediately took the opportunity to smack Coco on the shoulder, though it lacked any real force.

Coco smirked and wrapped Velvet in a brief hug, sighing affectionately, "Sorry, Bun. I couldn't resist."

Velvet narrowed her eyes, the initial embarrassment having passed enough for it to be playful, rather than indignant, "Next time you say something like that in front of a teacher you're losing cuddle rights for a _week_."

Coco paled, eyes growing wide while she raised her hands to gesture for Velvet to calm down, "L-Let's not get hasty now, Vel. I'll reel the teasing back a bit, I promise."

Velvet grinned, enjoying her brief revenge before pecking Coco on the cheek, "And don't you forget it~"

Fox made a retching sound before dropping his head into a hand, shaking it back and forth. His thoughts came out in clear exasperation, "I need a _drink_."

"Later, Fox~ I'll be sure to buy the first round."

* * *

Ozpin's hands travelled across his keyboard rapidly, fingers inputting his password to access the campus cameras. The image flickered from scene to scene until he finally found the one he'd been searching for, the camera that oversaw the infirmary hallway where Coco and Fox had been resting. Ozpin stopped the footage and reversed it, going back to the beginning of the previous night in order to see what exactly the Black Lotus had been busy doing while 'guarding' the members of team Coffee.

' _If she's taken a sudden interest in their team…_ '

Ozpin's foot tapped incessantly beneath the table while his eyes stared at the screen. _No one_ would be safe if the Maiden powers fell into the hands of an assassin of her caliber. The Black Lotus's kill count already numbered in the hundreds, if his contact was to be believed.

A flicker of white came on screen, and Ozpin slowed the footage back down in order to see more clearly. Miss Schnee had apparently visited her teammate during her silent vigil. The two of them were sitting on the bench together. The footage continued to play, until...-

' _Wait…'_

' _Is she…?_ '

Ozpin took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes roughly, trying to work out the blurriness that had set in after working all night. His tired mind _had_ to be playing tricks on him. However, no matter how hard he scrubbed, the images on screen remained the same. Surely it had to be a mistake, but if not…

Was the Black Lotus actually _crying_ in the arms of a _Schnee?_

Ozpin reversed the footage to the moment of Weiss's arrival, turned up the audio and, after a few moments' hesitation, hit play.

The scene that unravelled before his eyes was one that he never would have expected, even _with_ all of his machinations at work to help Olivia turn over a new leaf. He had hoped for grudging tolerance from the faunus at best, given four years to grow accustomed to her unwanted teammate before allowing them to go their separate ways.

But this… the clear _affection_ being displayed between the two? The trust that Olivia had shown, tearing down her own walls to reveal the pain that still lingered? Showing her own weaknesses to someone who, by her own admission, should have been considered an _enemy_ of all faunus?

Ozpin sat back tiredly, rewinding the footage to listen and watch closely once again. Even after replaying it several times over…

He wasn't sure _what_ to believe anymore.

* * *

" _Shit_. I thought you were _smart_ , Princess!?" Olivia chastised, both of them rushing through the halls back to their dorm after spending far too long training in the arena. Olivia's breaths came out in short pants, the efforts of avoiding the heiress's attacks having done a number on her, especially after not sleeping the night previously.

"Sorry… that I just... spent… the last couple hours… messing with my own sense of _time!_ " Weiss struggled out, panting far more heavily than Olivia even was. Sweat decorated her forehead and stained her back, the less physically fit of the pair that had been training for the last two hours straight.

"Time really flies when you're flying through time~"

Weiss let out a strangled huff, "That was… just _bad_ … I know you... can do better…"

Olivia shook her head, "Too tired. Best I've got."

Weiss sighed and dropped the conversation, choosing to focus on breathing evenly instead. They were drawing closer to their dorm now, the two of them making surprisingly good time despite their combined fatigue. Their footsteps echoed through the mostly empty halls, the occasional student stopping to stare at them as they tore past.

They climbed the stairs three at a time and turned the final corner to see Ruby standing in the hall, nervously waiting with her fingers poking against each other. Olivia felt a flash of regret, knowing that the younger girl had likely been looking forward to going out even more than her older peers. Olivia wished she'd spent more time with her before the actual event, helping her to get ready for her first real night on the town.

" _There_ you two are! What kept you so long!?" Ruby spoke tightly, stepping aside to let them hustle past into the room. Blake looked up from her top bunk, the comic book in her hands forgotten momentarily while she spared them a raised eyebrow, taking note of the state they were both in.

Weiss cleared her throat with a grumble, coughing into her hand, "We just got caught up in training. I was trying my best to get a handle on a new glyph, then Olivia suggested some other things we could try..."

Olivia winked at Weiss with a mischievous grin, "Hey now, don't kiss and tell~" She held a hand up when Weiss grew flustered, opening her mouth as if to stammer out a response. "You want to keep it a surprise, right? Don't give up the ace in your sleeve before you've had a chance to _use_ it."

Weiss glowered, eventually nodding her agreement. She walked to her dresser and started pulling out a change of clothes, along with a towel. Her eyes flashed between the bathroom and Olivia, a small grin twisting her features as she thought of a way to get revenge for the faunus's comment, "I might take a while. I suppose if you want to clean yourself up before the party then you'll need to find alternate accommodations."

"What, not enough room for two~?" Olivia laughed at the heat blooming on Weiss's cheeks, and the way her attitude shriveled in the face of the faunus's teasing. She waved a hand for her to go on ahead. "I'm sure Lion won't mind if I borrow theirs. Take your time, Princess."

Weiss spun on her heel and stepped into the bathroom without another word, crimson still decorating her cheeks. Olivia let out a final few giggles and began grabbing some clothes for herself, choosing out a tight purple sweater that she'd worn plenty of times before.

Blake surprised Olivia by giving her a disapproving frown, "You shouldn't tease Weiss so much. She might get the wrong idea…"

"Hmm?" Olivia raised an eyebrow, in the process of deciding which pair of pants to wear. She spared a glance to Blake, gesturing with her hand as if to wave away the girl's concerns. "What kind of idea? She should already know by now that I'd never go out with a Schnee." Olivia shrugged, "It's not as if Weiss plays for the same team as me anyway, if you catch my drift."

Ruby shot them both a confused glance, "Aren't we _all_ on the same team?"

Olivia snorted, gathering up the items she'd picked out and stuffing them in a bundle, "That would certainly make our name more fitting~"

"Rainbow?" Ruby's confusion only grew, looking between the two while knowing that she was in the dark completely. She pouted, crossing her arms with a cute little huff and narrowing her eyes at Olivia. "What are you two not telling me?"

Olivia looked to Blake, only to see the faunus staunchly refusing to reciprocate the glance. She'd buried her nose in a comic book once more, allowing Olivia to choose what was revealed. Judging by the slight shake to her shoulders, she could only guess that Blake was also busy hiding her laughter within the colorful pages.

Olivia sighed, scrunching the clothes she'd grabbed beneath one arm in order to step next to Ruby and place her free hand on the younger girl's shoulder. Ruby's hopes grew at the consoling smile that Olivia leveled at her, only for those hopes to be dashed when it turned into a cheshire grin.

"When you're older, kid."

Ruby glared, stomping her foot and throwing both arms down straight in a gesture of frustration, "As team leader, I order you to tell me!"

"Oh~?" Olivia smirked, "It seems as if my hands are tied, then." She leaned forward, cupping a hand around her mouth in order to whisper into Ruby's ear. She explained what 'playing for the other team' meant, then chuckled while pointing out how Ruby's own words could be taken as meaning they were all involved in that way with _each other_.

' _Orders are orders, right~?_ '

Ruby's cheeks grew heated, and she backpedaled away from Olivia a single step while raising a hand to cover her mouth, "O-Oh, I see… I didn't mean..."

"Of course you didn't, kid. You're too pure for your own good~" Olivia chastised, moving away to place a hand on the door. "Have I fulfilled my duty, dear leader? I still need to see if Lion will let me use their shower."

"Y-you've fulfilled your duties admirably," Ruby confirmed, legs giving out to sit heavily on a nearby chair.

Olivia smirked, deciding to throw in one last parting tease, "If you _do_ end up playing for my team, I'll be sure to show you the ropes~ It's not as if Qrow will be much use when it comes to helping you snag the ladies. He strikes out more than anyone I've ever seen." She laughed once, "Though I'll feel bad for the unlucky girl that catches your eye. She'll have a lot to prove if she expects Yang or me to allow it~"

Olivia left at that, flashing Ruby a parting wink before crossing the hall to knock on team Lion's door. She felt Yang approaching a few moments later, the other members of her team situated on their various beds while waiting for the night to begin.

"Oh, hey Olivia!" Yang greeted her, opening the door to find her standing there with an armload of clothes. Olivia had done her best to hide her undergarments at least, wrapping them into the center of the bundle she held.

"Hey, Yang. Is it alright if I borrow your team's shower? Weiss and I got back a little late so there's not really time for both of us to use ours," Olivia rubbed the back of her head, smiling with only a touch of embarrassment.

"Sure!" Yang backed away to let her in, then closed the door behind her. "No one has a problem with that, right?"

"By all means."

"Of course!"

"I won't be needing it."

Olivia smiled her thanks, "I shouldn't be too long. Be back out in a few!" She rushed into the bathroom offered and got to business, intending to spend only long enough to wash the day's sweat from her body and pay extra attention to her hair. She'd showered already earlier that morning, realizing she hadn't had the chance after her time spent with Melanie. Olivia was thankful the heiress wasn't a faunus herself, otherwise she may not have stuck around long enough for the confession to take place.

Olivia paused in thought, soapy hands coming to a rest in her hair, the water from the showerhead hitting her back and cascading down smooth skin. The fact that Weiss had been so understanding, so compassionate… It still left Olivia speechless at times, whenever her mind wandered back to replay the night's events.

As vehement as Olivia had been against Widow's beliefs, she hadn't been able to stop her heart from echoing the older woman's sentiments. To be forgiven was a fantasy that had very little hope of becoming true. Olivia hadn't even trusted her two oldest friends with the truth, both Nora and Ren still in the dark about what she'd done to those that killed her parents.

They both knew that her family was dead, of course. Meeting them while she'd been a fellow orphan on the streets had been an easy enough clue to that. Olivia had also exchanged several stories with them during the month they'd spent together before Beacon, revealing some details about those she met within the White Fang, under the pretense that they'd been hunters.

Her fellow Mistralians _knew_ what life was like on the streets. Unlike the heiress, they weren't pampered elites used to living in the clouds, well away from the chaos and turmoil of the world beneath. They'd seen the death and sickness that those in the slums were forced to deal with. The crime and poverty that created a futile desperation within the populace. Olivia was a product of that very world, twisted into something unrecognizable from her former self. And yet, even knowing that her friends would have better insight into why she'd done all those things, Olivia _still_ couldn't trust them with the truth.

To have Weiss surprise her like that…?

It meant more to Olivia than she'd realized, even at the time. She'd become far closer to the heiress in a single night than all of the previous weeks combined, revealing a secret that she hadn't even told those she trusted most. A nervous excitement surrounded Olivia's interactions with Weiss now, each moment drawing her closer to another reveal, and the comfort of acceptance she hoped would follow.

It had been so long since she'd found a _good_ person that wouldn't look down on her. Not since… ' _Since Jace…_ ' Her second brother had known all about her deeds at the time, and yet still cared for her. Trained her to make sure she stayed safe, despite the lives she'd taken.

In comparison, Ren and Nora were too precious to risk with the truth. In an odd way, Weiss was the easiest confidant to turn to. If Olivia's secrets proved to be too much, and the heiress turned her back on her, then was she really losing anything aside from her own foolish dreams? Getting along with the Schnee had been a long shot in the first place.

Olivia's hands slowed as they moved across the smooth skin of her shoulder, thinking back to how Weiss had rested her head there the night before, how Olivia had felt some small desire to do the same in return. It had been so precious a moment, so pure… Her time spent with Melanie outside the other girl's bed _paled_ in comparison.

Olivia frowned, unsure why the other girl in particular came to mind... It wasn't as if she and Ruby had done anything of note either.

She shrugged. It just went to show how little there really was between them. If Melanie continued to grow too attached, then Olivia would need to cut ties. She was too far across the line, too close to the old life that Olivia had sworn to leave behind. Falling back in with a crowd like that... she'd already provided back up for Junior's men while they robbed a Dust store. Who was to say how far she'd go if she actually fell for his bodyguard?

Olivia couldn't take that risk.

Body now thoroughly cleaned, Olivia sighed in contentment as she turned the shower off and stepped out. She spent a few minutes standing in front of the mirror, drying off her body while thinking about the night ahead. Thankfully, her black hair wasn't nearly as long as Weiss's or Yang's, allowing her to finish up more quickly than she might have otherwise.

Olivia slipped on her clothes, undergarments followed by her tightly knit purple sweater and the pants from her combat outfit. Since going to see Madam Myrtle and having the outfit slimmed down further, it had become the most provocative piece of clothing she possessed. Olivia was feeling adventurous, ready to cast aside her troubles with Melanie and have a fun night out where the future was anyone's guess. She planned on drinking to her heart's content, and likely regretting it the next morning.

The members of team Lion were all still gathered in their dorm. Olivia could feel them all moving about, most displaying some amount of excited energy for the night ahead. Olivia used her towel to wrap up the clothes she'd changed out of and stepped out, grinning as she threw the door open to stand in a provocative pose. It was only slightly ruined by the bundle of towel and clothes under one arm.

Pyrrha indulged her with an appreciative smile while Nora flashed a thumbs up, grinning widely. Olivia bowed as Yang wolf whistled, blowing air through two fingers as she'd seen it done in the movies. "Thanks, Yang. You're not looking half bad yourself, ya know~"

Yang brought a hand up to her hair, flinging it back across her shoulder, "Oh, I know~ How did Rubes look?"

"Adorable, as always," Olivia assured, thinking back to what she'd seen the younger girl wearing. "Nothing too risque, if that's what you mean."

Yang held her hands up, "She can wear whatever she wants. Just means I'll have my work cut out for me if she draws too much attention."

"Work cut out for _us_ ~" Olivia grinned. She raised a fist to accept the one that Yang offered, bumping them together in a sign of mutual agreement. ' _Nobody gets to touch a hair on that kid's head unless she wants them to._ ' Even then, Olivia would be keeping her senses finely tuned throughout the night, a metaphorical _eye_ on her team leader.

"Are we ready then?" Nora piped up excitedly, looking to the rest of her team and Olivia while her hand rested on the doorknob that led out into the hall.

"Almost," Olivia replied. She could still only feel Blake and Ruby in the dorm itself across from them. Weiss could be dimly felt as well, still in the bathroom preparing for the night ahead. With a few minutes to spare in preparation, Olivia took the chance to dip a hand into her pocket and walk over to Nora.

Nora eyed her curiously, then recoiled in mild surprise when Olivia wrapped her in a one armed hug. She reciprocated immediately, throwing both of her own around Olivia despite not knowing the occasion. Her confusion was answered a moment later, as she felt the lien that Olivia snuck from her own pocket into her friend's.

"You two have fun~" Olivia whispered quietly, moving her second hand up to hug Nora properly before pulling away.

Now that it was no longer teasing, Nora's cheeks had adopted a minor tinge of red, a mere dusting compared to the crimson Ren had sported earlier. She nodded her thanks and pushed the lien deeper into her pocket before flashing a bright smile in the boy's direction. Ren could only raise an eyebrow in reply, confused as to what had transpired between the two.

"Alright, I'm going to check on my team. I'll let you know when we're ready," Olivia saluted her departure with two fingers, crossing the hall to her own dorm.

Ruby jumped up from her chair as the door opened. Olivia spared her a critical eye, truly taking a moment to appreciate the outfit the younger girl had chosen. Ruby had opted to go for a more casual look than her typical combat outfit, instead wearing a thin, loose red t-shirt and black running shorts that didn't do much to cover her legs. A pair of cute black sneakers decorated each foot, red ankle socks barely visible past the sides.

"Looking good, kid," Olivia praised, much to Ruby's delight. The girl clasped her hands together and rocked side to side, mildly bashful but ultimately pleased that Olivia had taken the time to notice what she was wearing.

"I didn't think my combat outfit would really fit in," Ruby replied tentatively. She looked down at herself, "You don't think it's too much?"

Olivia glanced down at how much of the girl's legs were exposed, "You mean if it's not enough?" She grinned at Ruby's nod and shook her own head, "You're fine. Just don't drink too much and keep your head on straight. Nothing to worry about."

"You really think they're going to let her drink?" Blake asked in surprise, raising her eyes from the comic in her hands. "No offense Ruby, but you don't look seventeen…"

Olivia waved away her concerns, "She'll just have to show her Beacon ID. You have to be seventeen to apply, right? Even bouncers and bartenders won't disagree with that, especially with us vouching for her."

Blake narrowed her eyes, then sent Ruby a cautioning glance, "Just don't get over your head, Ruby… I'm not the partying type, so I'll help keep an eye on you. God knows what Olivia might try and get you to drink."

"Hey now, I take offense to that!" Olivia said with a small smile, hoping to show that she wasn't _too_ offended. Ruby was an _exception_ , after all. Anyone else was fair game in her book. "I'd _never_ risk our leader's safety for my own amusement."

Blake looked her over for a few moments, then finally nodded acceptance, "Sorry, I didn't mean-"

Olivia shook her head, "It's fine. If it had been anyone else then you would've been right to worry~" She grinned up at her fellow faunus, a twinkle of mischief in her eye, "And what do you mean you 'don't like to party'? No partner of mine is going to be a wallflower!"

Blake shrunk into her mattress, then stared at her comic and straightened it out while her hackles figuratively raised, "I've changed my mind. I'm not going."

Olivia laughed, "As if you could stop me from dragging you down there."

Blake's eyes narrowed, "Are you forgetting my semblance?"

Olivia grinned, "Are you forgetting my overwhelming tenacity?"

"Fancy way of calling yourself stubborn."

Olivia opened her mouth for a retort, but it died on her lips as the bathroom door opened. The light scent of vanilla followed in its wake, wafting free as Weiss stepped out and into the room with them. Olivia froze, staring at the outfit the heiress had chosen to wear for their party down into Vale.

Weiss wore a small, sky blue coat overtop a short white dress, the rippling hem reaching only far enough down to cover the barest parts of her thighs. Intricately designed white tights covered her legs, a snowflake pattern set into a floral arrangement that weaved its way from beneath blue heels, up her legs until finally disappearing past the hem of her dress. With each tantalizing step, Olivia felt as if the swish of her clothes would reveal more than either of them bargained for.

It took Olivia more effort than she would have admitted to tear her eyes away, back up to the heiress's own. Weiss watched her with a tentative smile, appearing to be waiting for Olivia to comment on the outfit she'd chosen. A few long moments passed in silence before Weiss tilted her head, her smile growing more confident in the wake of Olivia's continued silence. It appeared to be all the praise she needed.

"Wow! You look great, Weiss!" Ruby beamed from behind, its suddenness serving to jar Olivia loose from her breathless stare.

Weiss spared a smile past Olivia to the younger girl, "Thank you, Ruby. I thought I'd dress nice for the occasion. It's not often that I attend a party such as this one. The events in Atlas were more along the lines of art galas or charity drives. They weren't typically very entertaining, truth be told."

Olivia raised a hand to scratch her chin and avert her gaze, "I didn't think you even _owned_ clothes like that." She'd still been staring despite Ruby's interruption, and didn't want Weiss to get the wrong impression. Now was not the time to admit just how fantastic she looked, considering the progress they'd made so recently. Teammates weren't supposed to find each other attractive.

Especially not when one of them was a Schnee.

' _Maybe we should have had the party at Junior's…_ ' Olivia thought glumly, feeling as if a brief visit with Melanie would do her a world of good right about then. She sighed, shaking her head and stepping over to the door, ' _Easy enough to ignore once we're down in Vale with Coffee, Lion,_ and _Carmine._ '

"Everyone ready?"

Ruby clasped her hands behind her back and beamed, waiting for Blake to join her as the older girl hopped down off her bunk. The two exited ahead of Weiss and Olivia, the former moving over to her dresser momentarily to grab a petite brown purse. She pulled it over her shoulders, the long, thin leather strap hanging down between her breasts so that the purse itself rested on her hip.

"Ready," Weiss smiled as she stepped out, giving a brief nod of thanks in passing. Olivia stared a moment longer as she walked away, eyes drawn to swaying hips before she could shake herself out of it once more.

"Guys! We're ready!" Olivia called out towards the Lion dorm, allowing the door she'd held to close behind her.

Nora was quick to charge out with Ren in hand, Yang and Pyrrha following soon after. There were smiles and excited small talk all around as their group began the trek down to the Bullheads. Yang and Nora teased Ruby, Pyrrha and Ren chatted loudly, and Blake took the lead, speaking in hushed tones with Weiss by her side.

Olivia walked at the center of it all, taking in the atmosphere as her own excitement built to even greater heights. These people… after so long, she'd finally done it. Gone were the lonely days and blood soaked nights, of coming home from a mission, tired, with only Widow to greet her return. Now… she had _real_ friends.

Olivia couldn't tell them just how happy she was to have them all with her.


	58. Setting the Scene

Weiss stepped to the side to make room for Blake as she fell into place next to her, the pair leading the pack through the dorm building and eventually out along the path winding towards the Bullheads. The faunus looked her up and down, at the clothes she'd chosen to wear for the party down in Vale, a disapproving frown on her face.

"What?" Weiss spoke defensively, knowing already what her teammate was going to say. "I wanted to live it up a little."

"You _wanted_ to catch Olivia's attention," Blake chided lightly, easily tearing apart the half-baked ruse.

Weiss crossed her arms, refusing to acknowledge Blake's frown, "Maybe it was both? Either way…" a small smile crossed her lips while remembering Olivia's shocked silence, "You can't deny that it was effective~"

Blake dropped her head in her hands, "It _was_ , obviously… but I thought you agreed to take it slow? Find out more about her before making any moves? Don't you think you're jumping the gun a little? You've only really known her for a few weeks..."

"I'm not 'making a move'," Weiss replied in strangled protest, voice threatening to reach a higher pitch that others might hear. A dull redness suffused her cheeks. "I just…" She struggled to find the words she was looking for without outright admitting Blake's accuracy. Weiss wasn't expecting much to happen tonight, if anything at all. She just… wanted Olivia to know what she was missing out on.

Weiss's cheeks reddened further and she looked away from Blake in an attempt to hide them, ' _N-Not that I'd want to progress that quickly regardless!_ ' Even so, it was nice to know that she _could_ elicit a reaction from Olivia. The possibility of more between them wasn't completely off the table because of who she was. Weiss just needed to work on their friendship to bring the faunus around.

' _I'm not trying to become the next Melanie._ '

Weiss wanted much more than a physical connection. Spending time with Olivia, growing together in sparring and academics, proving that she could be a shoulder to cry on and open up to, being there for her whenever she needed a helping hand. All those things and more were what Weiss truly desired. To be equals that helped each other grow, partners in more than an official capacity.

"I _do_ want to learn more about her first," Weiss agreed after a few moments of silence, sparing Blake a determined gaze. "But I want _her_ to want that too. Outside of sparring and classes… we don't talk about our own pasts that much, nor our aspirations. If dressing nicely will… _incentivize_ Olivia's interests… then why shouldn't I do my best to catch her attention?"

"You're not _wrong_ to want that, Weiss. I don't want to discourage you so much that you won't talk to me or ask for advice. Please don't take my caution the wrong way… I just want our team to succeed. Olivia is, well… she's complicated, honestly."

Blake seemed to struggle for a few moments, choosing her words carefully before continuing, "If you push too hard, there's the very _real_ chance that our entire team could fall apart…"

Weiss didn't know what secrets Olivia might have divulged already to her fellow faunus, but what she'd seen and heard the previous night painted a very different picture in her mind. She stared into Blake's eyes with determination, hoping to assure her teammate of the truths Weiss believed.

"We _won't_ fall apart. I'll make _sure_ that doesn't happen. Besides… I think you might be underestimating Olivia."

Blake raised a hesitant eyebrow, "What makes you say that? I hope you aren't so confident because she liked the way you _look_. She is a bit more… _promiscuous_ , after all."

"Of course not," Weiss blushed but pressed on, "When I visited her last night, we had a… a _moment_ … Olivia admitted something to me and…"

Weiss bit her lip, hesitant to reveal that Olivia had cried, much less in the arms of a Schnee. She doubted the faunus with her tough facade would appreciate being shown in such a light. The truth of the night's events would go a long way in helping to convince Blake, but if Olivia found out, she might feel like her trust had been violated.

Weiss decided to keep the specifics to herself. It had been a personal moment between the two of them, one that even she was admittedly reluctant to share. "...Suffice to say, she opened up to me in a way I never would have thought possible. She values our friendship more than she admits, and even if we tried going further and things didn't work out… Olivia wouldn't want to lose what we already have either."

"She actually told you that?"

Weiss shook her head, "It's just a feeling. I can see her excitement whenever we train, and the way her mood improves when I help her study… She does less and less classwork on her own time, and saves it for our morning sessions instead so that they last longer."

"Or she's just taking advantage of the deal to make you do more of the work for her," Blake pointed out.

Weiss laughed lightly, "Believe me, I've considered the possibility. But if she was just slacking, then she wouldn't be learning the material, right? On the contrary, she does more of the assignments than she gives herself credit for. I still have to help and she's still quick to ask questions, but I can tell Olivia isn't just _forgetting_ it as soon as we're done."

Blake hummed in quiet contemplation, seemingly still not convinced despite Weiss's assurances, but giving her words the consideration they were due. "You two did spend a long time training… I guess… she wouldn't take it so seriously unless she liked doing it…"

Weiss latched on to the example with a triumphant grin, "Exactly! Olivia would just give me a few tips and make me train by myself. Instead, she actively does her best to help however she can." Weiss grimaced momentarily, "Even if she _can_ be smug about it sometimes."

"I'd expect nothing less," Blake laughed quietly, hiding it behind a fist.

However, the faunus's expression grew clouded a few moments later. She glanced at the heiress, barely suppressed worry still visible in her eyes. "Just... be _careful_ , Weiss. I've known people like Olivia before, and… I hope she becomes the person you want her to be. I really do. If at any point it seems like she's closing off because of your advances… Don't push too hard. Can you promise me that? I don't want you getting hurt."

Weiss's lip quirked into a timid smile, "I'll try. I'd like to think I'm a decent judge of character, but... if you see anything that I'm missing, some clue that I'm being selfish and my advances are undesired… Let me know. I _promise_ I'll take your judgement to heart."

Blake sighed, nodding her acceptance, "That's good enough for-"

Their conversation was interrupted as Ruby appeared at Blake's side in a burst of petals, spinning back to stick her tongue out at her sister and shouting loudly across the mostly desolate campus grounds, "My outfit is _fine_ , Yang! You won't need to 'beat the boys off of me'!" Her silver eyes glanced up into Blake's with a pleading expression, hoping for the older girl to take her side, "Tell her, Blake!"

Blake shifted uncomfortably, suddenly thrust between the two. She looked away from Ruby and scratched her chin awkwardly, "You are showing off a bit more skin than usual, Ruby."

Ruby's eyes widened into an expression of utter betrayal, "Traitor!"

"But I'll keep an eye on you, like I said."

Standing up straight, Ruby placed her hands on her hips in a show of defiance, "I don't need to be looked after. _I'm_ an adult."

Weiss heard Olivia let out a choked laugh from further back, one that was thankfully drowned out by Yang falling to her knees against Pyrrha and loudly proclaiming, "My baby sister is growing up so fast! Where did I go wrong!?" into the other girl's consoling embrace.

Pyrrha looked up from Yang's face to offer Ruby an apologetic smile, willing to go along with the girl's pretend melodramatics, "Ruby doesn't know what she's saying, Yang. Everything will be okay, I promise. She'll always be your baby sister."

"Pyyrrhaaaa!" Ruby pouted.

"Sorry~"

"Well, don't you all sound like you're having fun~" the words caught Weiss by surprise, her head turning back towards the tarmac they'd been approaching before Ruby's interruption and the ensuing theatrics.

A girl stood a small distance away that Weiss recognized well enough from her brief conversations with Olivia, the older student Coco. The rest of her team was a bit further back, all dressed stylishly for their party down in Vale. Weiss's gaze locked on to the tallest boy in particular, Yatsuhashi, remembering what Olivia had admitted the night before.

' _I need to thank him._ '

Olivia strode past the rest of them to offer up a high five that Coco readily accepted, "Can't help but be excited~" She glanced further back towards the rest of Coco's team, seeming to search for a moment before returning her eyes to their leader, "Where's Carmine?"

"Down in Vale already. They had a spot picked out and wanted us to meet them there after a few errands they needed to run," Coco continued forward as she spoke, leading the large pack of younger students with herself and Olivia in the front. "Looks like we've got quite the turn out. I've never been to the club Carmine suggested, but Cinder sounded pretty sure it was the place to be."

Olivia smirked, "Hopefully it's big enough for everyone here."

Coco nodded, "Velvet looked it up on her scroll. Place called 'The Den'. It has some good reviews and looked spacious enough in the photos, though that might have been because of the large glass front. We'll see for sure once we're there."

Olivia leaned in and whispered a question to Coco, causing the older girl to grin and nod in response. Weiss only caught a small portion of her reply, something about 'rooms', and 'not to worry'.

Weiss was pulled from her eavesdropping by Yang falling into step next to her. The blond's eyes went between the heiress and Olivia, a knowing smirk across her lips, "Soooo~ You trying to make an impression on someone, ' _Princess'?_ "

"What would give you _that_ idea?" Weiss replied hesitantly, not nearly as close with Yang as she was with Blake. At least her teammate knew how to keep a secret. Yang was loud and boisterous, just the sort of person that would spread a rumor that Olivia could end up hearing from someone else.

Yang laughed, wrapping her arm around Weiss's shoulders to draw her in conspiratorially, "I won't tell~ I'm surprised Olivia hasn't noticed though. You might want to step up your game."

Blake was busy consoling a pouting Ruby, but Weiss could see the faunus's bow twitching out of the corner of her eye, likely able to hear their conversation. "I don't know _what_ you're talking about." She continued to deny Yang's accusations, untrusting of the blond.

Yang stared at her for a few moments before letting out a sigh of relief, "I'm glad to hear it. I thought you might like her, but if not then I won't feel bad for asking Olivia out."

' _Wait, Yang wants to-!?_ '

"You can't-!" Weiss exclaimed, already knowing she'd fallen for Yang's ploy as soon as the words left her lips. The blond's smile widened into a self-satisfied grin.

"I _can't_ , can I? Pray tell, Weiss. Why is that?"

Weiss crossed her arms with a huff, "You _know_ why."

"I want to hear you say it~"

"Then we're _both_ going to be disappointed."

Yang only grinned more fiercely, using her grasp around the heiress's shoulders to shake her back and forth once before letting go, "You're so cute when you pout."

Weiss glared, "You aren't going to tell anyone, are you? I don't want Olivia finding out from anyone other than me."

Yang shook her head with a playful frown, "Sorry to say, it's not exactly that big of a _secret_ , Weiss. Ren was the first to notice, but he didn't mention it until after he heard Nora and I speculating on it. Aaaaand, well… Pyrrha was there with us, so she knows too."

"How did Ren find out?" Weiss asked aloud in bewilderment, thinking the boy the most socially inept of anyone on either team. Ren was always so reserved, she hadn't even considered the possibility of him knowing.

Yang snorted, "Part of his semblance lets him feel other people's _emotions_ , Weiss. He probably knew before _you_ did."

"Wait, _really!_?" Weiss was slightly shocked by the revelation, but even more so excited for its potential use. ' _I don't even need to guess if Olivia likes me or not! Ren could just tell me!_ '

Yang could see the gears turning in Weiss's head and grinned, "I bet if you asked nicely he might tell you a few things~ He and Nora have known Olivia the longest, so if there was _anyone_ you should turn to for advice…~"

Weiss was half tempted to go ask Ren right that moment, but with Olivia now mingling with the entirety of team Coffee and the group taking their first steps into the Bullhead, she supposed it could wait.

' _Not for long, though._ ' Weiss was determined to get Ren's insight into Olivia, perhaps even from Nora as well if the boisterous girl could keep a secret. ' _Maybe not, then…_ ' She had very little confidence that Nora would be able to refrain from revealing the truth, even if it _would_ likely be an accident if she did. The girl didn't seem to always think before she spoke, far too excitable for Weiss's trust.

The entire group climbed the ramp into the bowels of the Bullhead, mildly cramped for a group of twelve. Soon to be sixteen, once they joined team Carmine down in Vale. With so many people to speak to, Weiss set her mind on one in particular, making her way through the crowd to pull him aside.

"Nice to meet you," Yatsuhashi blinked in mild surprise, extending a hand in greeting. "I don't believe we've been formally introduced yet. Weiss, correct?"

Weiss accepted the handshake gracefully, surprised by how gentle the larger boys hands were in the brief exchange, "I am, yes. And you're Yatsuhashi. Olivia told me what you did the day we were locked in our dorm together. I just wanted to thank you for intervening and talking her into coming back. I don't know where we'd be now if you hadn't."

Yatsuhashi shrugged, a small motion for such stout shoulders, "I only played a small hand in changing her mindset. Once her outlook on events had been shifted, it was her experiences that did the rest. You have yourself and Ruby to thank for convincing her to give you a chance."

Weiss frowned in surprise, "Ruby?"

Yatsuhashi nodded, "It was your leader's trust in _you_ that I brought up with Olivia. She seems to hold Ruby's opinion in high regard, despite her own personal reservations."

Weiss considered his words, glancing over towards Ruby and seeing her leader busy chatting with Blake and the older rabbit faunus while Olivia stood slightly off to the side. Ruby excitedly complimented the girl's ears, then blushed profusely while apologizing if it had been offensive. Velvet assured her it wasn't, though her own cheeks were tinged red. "I like your outfit!" Velvet replied after a few moments, shifting the subject away from her extra appendages.

Weiss supposed that made sense. Ruby was naive, but had also proved herself to be a better judge of character than Weiss could ever hope to be. She had revealed the truth of Olivia's worth when Weiss herself had lost hope, and had been there to show her camaraderie when both Olivia and Blake were against her. When all else failed, it had been Ruby that kept their team from falling apart.

Weiss turned back, "Either way, you had a hand in it. Please accept my thanks, Yatsuhashi."

"Consider it accepted," he nodded politely, a small smile of his own tinging his lips. "And call me Yatsu. My full name tends to be a mouthful for most."

Weiss grinned, "Yatsu, then. Are you excited for the party?"

"Not particularly. I will be glad to offer up my own thanks to Carmine again, though. If they wish for me to buy them drinks then I'll happily oblige."

Weiss nodded, "I heard some rumors about your mission around school today. What happened? I know Coco and Fox ended up in the infirmary, since Olivia was watching over them last night. Was the mission that difficult?"

' _What kind of missions can we expect to get as first years…?_ ' Weiss was eager to learn what she could from the older boy, hoping that his experiences might give some insight into what they would end up facing later in the year.

"We were sent to protect Arcus, a small town outside Vale. We were prepared for the Grimm to attack, but there were too many to hold back ourselves. Carmine stepped up where we faltered and proved their worth, saving us when all hope seemed lost. Fox, Coco and I were all taken down, with Velvet barely holding up while Carmine continued to fight… We're lucky they were there with us."

Weiss's eyes widened, and she smiled consolingly, "That must have been terrifying… I'm glad you all made it out safe! Perhaps I'll offer up a few rounds to Carmine as well. It sounds as if they deserve it..."

"More than you know."

Weiss waited for Yatsu to elaborate, but the large boy seemed content with leaving their conversation there. She nodded her thanks one final time and slipped back through the small crowd, finding herself near the rest of her team. Olivia quickly glanced away as she approached, shifting her eyes to Ruby while the younger girl finished up with her most recent protests about not needing to be protected.

"... what Olivia has told me, you sound more than competent enough," Weiss heard Velvet agreeing. Her eyes shifted to Weiss as the younger girl stepped into the small circle of conversation, and flashed a hesitant smile, though her ears perked hesitantly.

Weiss cut off Ruby as she began to firmly agree with the faunus, "I hope my leader's remarks earlier weren't upsetting. She has a tendency to get excitable and not think straight."

Ruby grew flustered while Velvet's ears relaxed at Weiss's remark, "No, it was fine, really!" She held her hand out tentatively, "I'm Velvet."

"Weiss," she reciprocated, accepting yet another handshake. "Olivia talks about you and your team often enough. I'm glad she could meet another faunus so soon after arriving in Vale. It sounds as if you helped her quite a bit."

Velvet disengaged from the handshake to wave away Weiss's thanks, "We took her shopping, that's all. Coco couldn't let Olivia get away with being a 'walking fashion disaster'." She sent Olivia an apologetic smile, "Her words, not mine."

"Can you blame me?" Coco interjected from a dozen feet away, having caught her name while in the middle of speaking with Yang and Pyrrha. "That hoodie might have been cute but it did _nothing_ for your figure."

Olivia narrowed her eyes playfully, "Hey, I _liked_ that hoodie."

"Don't see you wearing it now~"

"...I like these clothes more."

Coco snickered, "You're welcome~"

Weiss glanced to Olivia, trying to think back on whether or not she'd ever seen her wearing a hoodie. She couldn't recall seeing her in one, nor seeing any while perusing the other girl's dresser in search of something for her to wear during their illicit spar. Weiss could imagine an oversized hoodie looking good on her, but much preferred the clothes she'd chosen to wear out currently. With both pants and sweater that hugged her figure tightly, she found it difficult at times not to stare.

It was a trait that Olivia seemed to share, as she once more glanced away from Weiss when the heiress caught her looking. Weiss smiled in self-satisfaction but decided not to press her luck by acknowledging Olivia's lingering gaze. By no means did she want the other girl to become resentful of her own feelings, or begin actively avoiding her because of them.

Feeling thankful towards Ruby because of Yatsu's earlier admission, she instead chose to place a hand on her partner's shoulder to offer her at least some support in her previous argument. "You've done well enough as a leader so far, Ruby. While you're not an _adult_ … that's alright, because none of us really are yet. You're mature enough… most of the time."

Olivia snorted, " _Wow_ , Princess. You almost managed to fake your way through an entire compliment~ I'm impressed."

Weiss could only shoot her a smouldering glare in response. Meanwhile, Ruby was caught between considering both the positives and negatives of what Weiss had said, visibly weighing them in her mind as if deciding whether or not to be offended. She eventually gave up and chose to roll with the compliment, judging by the pleased smile she flashed Weiss.

"And I'll keep being a good, _mature_ leader!"

Olivia and Blake sighed in unison before sharing a silent glance. Olivia waved for Blake to speak, allowing the other faunus to confront Ruby's newfound beliefs, "Ruby… I watched you slip an empty bowl of cereal under Weiss's bed this morning. You've got a long way to go…"

' _Is that where that smell came from!?_ '

"And you leave your clothes all over the dorm. I had to put away one of your bras yesterday because you left it laying across my desk."

Weiss shivered, bringing up her hands to rub both of her arms while reminded of her own constant horrors, "You should try sleeping under her bed. The amount of socks and tights I've had to pull out of the gap between our bunks and the wall…"

Olivia smirked at the slowly reddening Ruby, "And using your semblance to dry off after a shower isn't the best idea. It just ends up going all over the floor."

' _Is that why it's always so wet!? I thought it was Blake…_ '

"I'm always vacuuming cookie crumbs out of the carpet."

"And you forget to shut your game off when you're done playing it."

"You always slam the door."

"And you didn't clean up the grease you spilled on the floor last week while maintaining Crescent Rose. Pretty sure that stain is permanent."

"Oh yeah, that has to be the worst one for me. Do you know how bad that smells?"

Olivia nodded in agreement.

They continued back and forth, ticking off a multitude of minor grievances while Ruby stared in slack jawed horror. They had already landed and stepped out of the Bullhead by the time they finished, long since dwindling into petty complaints if only to keep the act going. By the end of it, Ruby stood with a complete slump to her shoulders, staring dumbstruck at the ground while shuffling off with everyone.

Olivia spared her a consoling smile and wrapped her arm around Ruby's shoulders, drawing her in tight while they walked, "But, _despite_ all that, you're the greatest leader I could have asked for. You're kind and attentive."

"Strong and competent," Blake spoke up.

"Brave and lovable."

"Energetic and fun," Weiss interjected.

"Accepting and charitable."

"Cute."

Olivia flashed Blake a raised eyebrow, who couldn't answer the questioning glance with much more than a shrug of her shoulders, "What? We covered pretty much everything already. Is she _not_ cute?"

"I suppose she is," Olivia agreed readily enough.

Ruby's eyes had raised from the pavement, now set in a glimmer towards her three teammates. "Do you mean it?"

They all nodded together, not even needing to consider the validity of their previous statements. Ruby was all those things and more, relative maturity be damned.

"I wouldn't want anyone else as my leader either," Weiss agreed with Olivia's earlier sentiment. "I might have been mildly upset when we first met in the forest, but you've since proved yourself to be beyond _any_ of my expectations."

Olivia raised a hand to ruffle it through Ruby's hair, grinning fiercely, "Just take care of all those other things we listed off and you'll be the best leader ever~"

Ruby grinned and pushed Olivia off herself, straightening out her hair with a wide smile.

"You all coming or what?" Yang called out from ahead of them, drawing their attention to the fact they'd fallen behind since exiting the Bullhead.

"Coming!" Ruby called out, turning back to level the rest of her team with the smile she now sported. "We ready to have some fun, Rainbow?"

Blake and Weiss nodded, while Olivia groaned into her hands.

"About that name…"

"We aren't changing it~"

Olivia raised her eyes to see Ruby's determined smirk, and adopted a smile of her own. "Well, if that's what my leader wants, then that's what she gets~"

Ruby grinned and spun on her heel. Rejuvenated by the good-natured compliments and assurity of their leader's qualifications. They all turned to follow after the other two teams, a lull opening in the aftermath of their shared conversation.

It was soon filled once more by Olivia.

"I don't have to _like_ it, though~"

* * *

The sounds of a loud, pulsating beat could be heard echoing down the street in either direction as Qrow tiredly swooped down, choosing the building across from the source of the noise to land. He transformed with a weary slump, his back aching in a phantom pain from the wings he no longer possessed. One hand slipping into his coat pocket, he withdrew his flask and drank greedily before coughing and wiping his lips on a sleeve.

The four members of team Carmine approached the building, having finally regrouped after a long day spent in Vale. Qrow had followed Cinder and Emerald in particular, only to spend an hour waiting outside a clothes shop like he had so long ago with Olivia. At least this time around there had been a better corner of shade to wait in, escaping the sun's fierce rays instead of allowing them to beat down on his shoulders.

' _Gotta admit, the kid looks good at least._ '

Cinder had exited the store wearing a finely tailored black dress, the thin cloth hugging her hips and body tightly in order to exemplify all of her assets. Unfortunately, none of them had bothered to bring along their weapons aside from the boy, Mercury, who could conceal them more easily beneath his dress pants. It only made it all the more nerve racking to protect them, with none having been informed yet of the true threats they faced.

Oz had chosen to forego telling Cinder about the two potential attackers for the time being, under the pretense of allowing them some time to relax after the life threatening danger they'd already been exposed to. Qrow had unwillingly agreed, knowing from experience that piling more stress on top of an already teetering stack was a dangerous game.

' _Won't make life any easier on me, though…_ ' Qrow sighed, watching the kids entering through the front door of the club. Nearly two stories of the front of the building was entirely dedicated to a glass exterior, allowing an easy view into and out of the building itself. Strobe lights flashed across the surrounding street from within, along with the steadily pounding music.

Qrow chose to take up residence in a darkened corner, only the occasional flash crossing through the blackened space. From here, he would have an easier time keeping an eye on the students, able to keep track of their movements with relative ease. Pulling out his scroll to message Oz, Qrow took another swig from his flask and got comfortable in the small recess, arching his back to stretch out his spine before returning to a lazy slump.

" _Carmine finally stopped at the club. Place called The Den. Should be able to keep an eye on them without drawing attention to myself._ "

Qrow sent off the message and waited for Oz to finally respond a minute later, scroll vibrating on top of his lap.

" _Are the other teams there as well?_ "

" _Don't seem them yet._ "

Qrow drank again while waiting, the small bubble that showed Oz was still typing appearing for longer than normal. He started tapping his feet to the beat until the message finally arrived, drawing his attention from the younger generation's admittedly catchy music.

" _Stay attentive. I have a feeling our enemies may have their eyes on both Carmine and Coffee. If they know that one of them was responsible for killing the Maiden, there's no telling what steps they might take to regain that power once more. We already lost Amber. Let's not tempt fate a second time._ "

" _I won't let it happen again, Oz. Trust me on that._ "

" _I do, old friend. I do._ "

Qrow returned to tapping his foot while slipping the flask back into his pocket. A light buzz was all he would risk tonight, along with some much deserved rest once the students' festivities were over and done with. He couldn't wait to fly home and crash on his own bed for once, assured that the Maiden would be safe and sound under the staff's protection within Beacon itself.

A loud, excited cry caught his attention, far enough out of view that Qrow was forced to peek over the ledge to glance further up the street. He smiled and let out a relaxed sigh, seeing three full Beacon teams approaching The Den to party as well. Qrow knew he could rest more easily with Yang, Olivia, _and_ Nikos all being in attendance, even _if_ they lacked their weapons.

Qrow frowned upon seeing Ruby, however. He wasn't the type to be strict or a downer, but neither did he appreciate seeing her walking into potential danger without her weapon on hand. ' _And… what is she wearing…?_ ' Qrow would have expected the socially awkward girl to still wear her combat outfit to an occasion like this, not what basically amounted to no more than jogging shorts and a loose t-shirt.

' _If anyone tries to make a move on her…_ ' Qrow nearly growled in his throat before managing to calm himself, remembering Yang was with her. ' _She'd beat me to the punch before I had a chance to move~_ '

Qrow relaxed, digging himself back into his recess while the students' filed into the building, pounding music growing in volume for a time until they'd all entered and shut the door once more. He checked the time on his scroll and groaned, realizing that it was only a little past seven in the afternoon.

' _Hopefully Carmine isn't full of experienced party goers, otherwise this is going to be a looooong night…_ '

* * *

"For your troubles…"

Olivia was as discreet as possible while slipping the bouncer a hefty wad of lien in order to get Ruby inside. The younger girl had no poker face to speak of, utterly terrified of being discovered while she fidgeted in line and drew attention to herself. Olivia turned back to her with a comforting smile and guided her in ahead of the rest, returning the bouncer's nod with one of her own while he pocketed close to two hundred lien.

She wasn't sure how her friends would respond if they realized the ruse never would have truly worked, not with specific laws in place that would shut the club down if Ruby was discovered. With that nod, Olivia was silently agreeing to make sure the young girl kept out of the limelight, away from suspicious eyes.

There wasn't much to worry about, however. 'The Den' was packed to the brim, humans and faunus alike taking up the bar, tables, and dance floor. Olivia could smell the sweat and alcohol rolling off them all in waves, thankfully covered partially by an undercurrent of various scents made to specifically fight against the smell.

' _Probably a faunus that came up with that,_ ' Olivia thought absentmindedly, glancing back to the rest of the students as they entered and seeing only Blake crinkling her nose. The humans' sense of smell was likely too weak to even notice the combatting fragrances.

"Where to!?" Ruby shouted over the pounding music, tugging on Olivia's sleeve to make sure she gained her attention.

Olivia's eyes searched in tandem with her sixth sense, finally picking out Carmine's familiar presence at a table near the bar. Cinder raised a hand to wave them over, then gestured to the tables that had been reserved for the mass of students. Olivia nodded towards them for Ruby's benefit and set off, guiding the younger girl through the frenetic press of both humans and faunus.

Carmine stood as the two approached, joined shortly by the rest of the students that followed in their wake. They crowded in around the empty tables, taking turns offering greetings and introducing themselves to the elder team. Olivia remained casual during her own, flashing a smirk towards Cinder in particular while thanking them for 'saving' team Coffee. Cinder played her part well, acknowledging Olivia the same as she had all the others.

Olivia couldn't help but give Cinder a once over with her eyes after seeing her stand up, though. The older woman had gone out of her way to dress scantily, her figure on blatant display for the many eyes Olivia felt glued in their direction. Cinder's dress was similar to the one she'd worn on the ship to Vale, if more trimmed. The black with gold accents traveled up and down her sides, drawing attention to the slit near the bottom that left even more of her thighs exposed than it might have otherwise.

Olivia recognized it for what it was, a decision based on both fashion and to maintain her own mobility. The slits would allow her to move freely, where she might have been otherwise restricted.

' _It wouldn't be out of character for me to flirt, right~?_ '

"I'm _shocked_ that we haven't been introduced yet, but better late than never. I like Piña Coladas and long walks on the beach, and would love to get to know..." her eyes roamed up and down Cinder's figure once more, "... _all_ of you better~" Olivia teased playfully.

Cinder took it in stride, reciprocating Olivia's brazen glance and comment with one of her own, "Perhaps a little later? I wouldn't mind having a… _private_ discussion..." Her eyes rose to the rest, smirking easily, "For now, though. How about some drinks?"

Olivia waited behind with Emerald and Mercury while the others began making their way over to the bar. She glanced at Emerald, already feeling her smouldering glare for the brief act the two had shared, "Sorry Em, I couldn't resist~ Can you really blame me?"

Emerald crossed her arms and stared after Cinder, eventually letting out a brief sigh of vexation, "No, I can't."

"You're as insane as ever," Mercury grinned, leaning across the table to bump fists with Olivia. Thankfully, everyone else was too occupied at the bar to really notice. "How's Beacon been treating you? Still sure you want to leave the assassin life behind?"

"It has its ups and downs," Olivia admitted, "But mostly ups. Can't say I'm a fan of homework, but I guess it's just part of the package."

Mercury shivered, "I know what you mean. I'm not doing so well in anything other than combat class. Third year students are a _joke_."

"Thankfully I have my team and Lion to compete with. I think I'd go stir crazy otherwise from the lack of competition."

Mercury raised an eyebrow, "Think any of them could take me on?"

"If you were serious?" Olivia pondered it, eventually giving a tentative shrug. "Aside from Nikos, definitely not. Most don't have much actual experience in real combat, just spars. The only thing they've ever had at stake are their grades."

"There's _no one_ in our year. It's embarrassing, really."

"Good thing that's not what we're _here_ for," Emerald chastised. "If anything, that makes our jobs even _easier_."

"Have some competitive spirit, Em," Mercury grinned. "You wouldn't understand what it's like being an assassin without a worthwhile target." He looked to Olivia and she nodded her assent, glad that at least one of them could voice the truth freely. Between the pounding music, dozens of people shouting nearby, and the empty space afforded by their reserved tables, Olivia didn't fear being overheard in the slightest.

Even so, Mercury glanced around and leaned in close before speaking again, "Forgot to ask last time, but how was Arc? Worth the wait, or a waste of time? I saw that him and his son got merked on the news way back when."

Olivia grimaced, reminded of the night's events and revelations. She leaned in as well, just as ready to assure the words were left unheard by anyone aside from Mercury and Emerald. "I wanted to spare them. Widow was the one that killed them."

Mercury's eyes widened in surprise, "You let him _live_ after all that time?"

Olivia nodded, "I decided to give Nicholas a chance, and when I confronted him he told me the truth…" Her expression darkened against her will, incapable of retaining the happy facade she'd held up until that point, "It was _Widow_ that gave away our hideout and led the attack. _She_ betrayed everyone, all just to keep me with her. I would have gone to Sanctum in Argus, otherwise."

"Wow…" Mercury was dumbstruck. His eyes grew serious, narrowing slightly while taking care to not let his expression reveal too much, "Do you want to get revenge on _her?_ I wouldn't mind offering my services for a friend."

Olivia smiled sadly, "Nice of you to offer, but… I don't know _what_ I want, honestly. Widow was my mother in everything but blood for the better part of five _years_. She _raised_ me. Jace and the others were like a family to me as well, but I didn't know them for nearly as long… It's... complicated."

"Sounds like it," Emerald agreed. "You know she's working with us, right? Does that bother you?"

Olivia shrugged, "It can't be helped. She's all but running the White Fang for you, so it's not as if you're dealing with her all that often. At the very least she's agreed to stay out of my business now that I'm in Beacon. I even got her to agree to spare Weiss, and get the rest of the White Fang to do the same."

Emerald and Mercury shared a glance, the barest hint of worry passing between the two. They nodded in silent agreement, and Mercury leaned even further across the table to speak quietly into Olivia's ear.

"You should talk with Cinder soon. I don't know the exact time frame, but our 'fun' should be getting interrupted some time later tonight."

Olivia's eyes widened, but she was kept from asking any further questions as other members began filtering back to the tables. Mercury pulled away quickly, immediately laughing and playing off the conversation as if they'd shared in a hilarious joke. Olivia grinned as well, not quite able to force herself to laugh after hearing such worrying news.

Cinder and Neo passed close by, each carrying an extra drink to share with their teammates that had stayed behind. Olivia was half tempted to call Cinder out there and then, to lead her away from the pack and assuage her newfound trepidation.

But she couldn't. It was still rather early in the night. Going anywhere with Cinder now would draw far too much attention. Instead, Olivia spared a few passing remarks with those that had already returned before heading to the bar herself. She found Yang and Pyrrha still sitting on a pair of stools, both of them with fruity drinks in hand while Pyrrha tentatively tried it out. She pushed the small umbrella to the side and sipped from her straw cautiously, then grinned when she found the drink to her liking.

"Strawberry Sunrise?" Yang spoke up as Olivia stepped up to the bar nearby, gesturing temptingly with one of the colorful drinks in hand.

"It's actually really good!" Pyrrha chipped in, pulling her lips away to agree with Yang's proposal.

Olivia smirked, "Not today. I'm gonna need something a bit harder to start the night off." She turned her attention to the nearby bartender and slid a fistful of lien across the polished wood, "Two shots of vodka and a chaser, if you don't mind."

The much older woman looked Olivia up and down with a measured gaze before shrugging. She grabbed a clear bottle off the top shelf and slid two glasses across the bar, filling them to the brim once they rested in front of her. Her other hand busied itself pulling out a larger glass and filling it with water, then added a slice of lime to the edge and pushed it over with the others.

Olivia slammed back both shots in quick succession, grimacing for a moment. It was smooth enough, but as always the taste of alcohol wasn't the greatest. Olivia sipped at the lime water she'd been given immediately, thankfully helping to take the edge off soon enough.

Yang laughed, "You trying to become the next Uncle Qrow?"

Olivia waved a hand dismissively, "It's a party, isn't it? Might as well live a little~"

"You're not going to last long if you keep pounding them back like that."

"Eh, I'll survive." Olivia gave them a small wave as she left, heading back through the crowd to the tables their group had commandeered.

She found the rest of her team sitting together at one, Weiss and Blake on either side of Ruby while the younger girl sat staring at the drink in front of her. She looked up as Olivia approached, flashing a nervous smile before returning her eyes to the untouched drink.

It looked fruity enough, all things considered. Olivia doubted that Yang wouldn't be here personally if it's alcohol content wasn't embarrassingly low. The perfect drink for a young, inexperienced sister to test the waters with. As far as she could remember, Ruby had only ever tried sipping from Qrow's flask once, a dangerous first if ever there was one.

"It won't be nearly as bad as you think," Olivia promised, watching Ruby's eyes flickering between her teammates and the drink. She gulped and nodded, reaching up to grab the large glass and pull it close. Her lips wrapped around the straw hesitantly, eyes focused on the liquid barely visible traveling up the line as she began to suck.

The instant it touched her tongue, Ruby pulled away with a premeditated grimace, already having judged the fruity beverage before actually tasting it. Her eyes squinted shut tightly, then opened slowly when the disgust she'd been expecting never came.

"Huh… It really _isn't_ ," Ruby stated in mild surprise. She drank once more, this time with much less hesitance than she'd shown previously. Olivia watched with a smug grin, Ruby's own smile perking up as well.

"Told ya~"

Blake brought a hand up after a few seconds, pulling the drink away and separating Ruby from the sugary concoction, "Slow down. It might not taste like it but it _is_ still alcohol. Drink too much and it'll creep up on you before you realize it."

Ruby nodded worriedly, accepting Blake's warning and merely clutching the drink between her hands as if it might turn on her at any moment. She took a sip and glanced to the side, earning herself a quick nod of approval from the feline faunus.

Weiss sat on the opposite side of Ruby in a distracted slump, her legs crossed while far enough back from the table that Olivia found herself averting her gaze once more. Even still, she had seen the way Weiss was staring at the table wistfully, some unknown issue on her mind. Every now and then, her eyes would raise up to stare across the crowd, in the direction of the rest of their group.

"Are you not going to drink, Princess?" Olivia asked curiously, noticing that Weiss had returned without any beverages of her own. She didn't know what the heiress's issue was, but perhaps some alcohol would help take the edge off.

Weiss raised her head and smiled slightly, seemingly glad that Olivia was showing her concern, yet still crestfallen for some unknown reason. "I'll grab a drink in a bit… Any recommendations? This isn't my typical venue."

"If they have wine, I doubt it would be up to your standards." Olivia confessed, beginning to size Weiss up similar to the way the bartender had done to her, "How much drinking experience do you have? You aren't a _lightweight_ are you~?"

Weiss crossed her arms, some competitive spirit managing to rejuvenate her mood, "I've been drinking for almost a _year_ , thank you very much. I turned seventeen last October."

Ruby brightened, shooting up to lean closer to Weiss and slam her hands against the table, "My birthday is in October, too! What day is yours!?"

Weiss leaned away from her overly eager leader, "...The thirteenth… It's a few weeks away now, come to think of it..."

"Mine's the thirty-first!" Ruby cheered excitedly. "It's almost like we're matching!"

Blake smirked, raising a hand to place on Ruby's shoulder and pull her away from the disgruntled heiress. "More like _opposites_."

Ruby buzzed in her seat, attention now caught by her other teammate who was promptly rounded on, "What about _you_ , Blake? When's yours?"

"August 17th. Missed it by a month or so," she shrugged.

Ruby scowled, "That's no fun. We didn't even get to celebrate it! Did you at least do anything?"

Blake made a quiet 'hmm' in her throat, ears twitching beneath the bow atop her head while her eyes flickered towards Olivia, "I went to a cafe…"

Ruby snorted, "That's _boring_ ~ At least we'll get to celebrate Weiss's soon. We can throw a party in the dorm and everything!"

Olivia felt Ruby's eyes raise, ready to ask the final member of their team when her birthday happened to be. Her voice cut off though, only the smallest sound escaping as it was drowned out by the music that blasted all around. Olivia doubted Ruby had gotten a glimpse of where she'd gone, hastily retreating through the crowd to return to the bar. She stopped a short distance away from Yang and Pyrrha, far enough that neither would be able to talk to her past the other patrons separating them.

Olivia was too distracted by her own embarrassment to really care. She stared at the wooden bar, eyes flickering back and forth in thought while she tried to remember her own birthday. After her faction had been killed and Widow had given her the replacement hoodie as a present, Lotus had deemed that her _new_ birthday. A day to signify that her previous self was no more, a way to distance herself from an old life she no longer wished to remember.

Olivia remembered _that_ date. It was the same one she had put on her Beacon transcripts, the one she and Widow had celebrated for the past four years. Irritatingly, the previous managed to elude her. ' _When was it?_ ' She remembered celebrating it outside with her family, hiking through the woods to a tall hill in order to see the city of Mistral in all its glory. Had the leaves been green then? The picture in her mind of a wide, green expanse _seemed_ familiar, but it hadn't been the only time they made that particular hike.

' _How could I have forgotten my own birthday?_ ' It sounded so strange at first, but the more Olivia thought about it… Even before the White Fang, when she'd been living on the streets, the idea of celebrating any day in particular had become an oddity. Olivia hadn't been able to afford such niceties as throwing a party for herself, hadn't bothered keeping any real track of time when every single day was a fight for survival.

' _When was the last time I used it…?_ ' Likely when she applied to Sanctum. Olivia hadn't been so adamant in forgetting her past then. If she could somehow get a hand on those old transcripts, then she might be able to reclaim some small part of her own past.

' _Maybe then I'll actually have an answer for them…_ ' Olivia had avoided the question if only to spare them a depressing response. The night was supposed to be about _fun_ , after all. There was no need to weigh any of them down with her personal issues.

A loud cheer drew her attention away from her own internal conflicts, her eyes drawn inevitably towards team Coffee and Carmine. They'd swept one of their tables clear, Coco now lying atop it with her stomach exposed and a wide grin across her face. Velvet stood next to her, bashfully trying to psyche herself up and drink the body shot from her navel. Those around her cheered loudly, egging Velvet on while her girlfriend beckoned seductively.

' _Speaking of fun~_ ' Olivia grinned, buying two more shots from the bartender. She pulled out her scroll while she waited, adding the three dates to her calendar that she'd just learned. Whether or not she could remember her own, her teammates' birthdays were at least worth celebrating. ' _I'll have to think of something nice to get Weiss._ '

Olivia added one more note before downing both the shots and slipping her scroll away. She weaved slowly through the crowd, ready to get the real party started. Over the course of the night, she'd likely forget about it, but the note would be there for her to see in the morning. A question that only she could answer.

' _When's my birthday?_ '


	59. Mistakes Were Made

Ruby sipped sparingly on the drink she'd been given, a rather fruity beverage that only held hints of the alcohol she'd tasted long ago. If this was the type of drink that her sister and Olivia regularly came to places like this for, she could better understand their desires. The loud music and crowds of sweaty people weren't as much to her liking on the other hand. Already, Ruby had noticed lingering gazes from several of the men nearby, their eyes hesitating over her a few moments too long before likely realizing she was underage.

Blake was there with her, keeping a close eye as she'd promised and watching the real celebration taking place a dozen feet away. After Olivia had vanished so suddenly, the faunus had reappeared moments later to join the older students in doing body shots. Blake had been forced to explain that one to her, though the older girl seemed just as confused about the _why_.

Weiss was with them as well, sitting on Ruby's opposite side in what could only be described as a depressed slump. Her eyes remained fixed on the group across from them, glowering occasionally.

Encouraged by her teammates' earlier words and feeling a slight numbness to her usual social anxieties, Ruby took one final sip before leaning into Weiss's shoulder, surprising the quiet heiress.

" _Weeeiiiissssss,_ " Ruby whined playfully, elongating her partner's name. "Why aren't you having fun with everyone!?"

"I _am_ having fun," Weiss replied, ignoring Ruby as the younger girl leaned across further to stare up at her with a pair of large, silver eyes.

"This isn't one of your fancy parties in Atlas! Let loose a little!"

A hand grabbed Ruby by the forearm and dragged her away from Weiss, Blake sparing the other girl an apologetic smile before turning her gaze to Ruby. "Weiss just needs some time to… acclimate, yeah. This must be a culture shock, after all."

Ruby snorted, "What's the _climate_ got to do with this?"

Blake was about to retort when both of them paused, hearing Weiss laugh off to the side. "Nothing, Ruby. Nothing at all." The heiress stood and pushed her chair in, leaning against it while appearing to work up her courage. Light blue eyes glanced in their direction, and she visibly straightened to smooth out her clothes. "I suppose I'll need to get used to this sort of thing if I am to-...eh, get _along_ with Olivia." Weiss raised her eyes, clearly staring at the beautifully dressed Cinder. The older girl had chosen an outfit that conflicted harshly with her own, a black dress with gold filigree running up the sides. "And I can't just sit here and _let_ myself lose."

Ruby frowned, ' _She and Olivia already get along really well! What has she got to lose?_ ' The older girl, Cinder, had already joined the festivities. Currently, she was busy pouring out a shot of alcohol on to Olivia's stomach, the other girl grinning a wide challenge after shivering upon initial contact. Cinder smiled in return, and showed no hesitation at all in leaning down to drink from the short girl's navel.

Weiss's hands tightened around the bottom hem of her jacket, and without another word, strutted from her place at their table to join the others in their festivities. Olivia turned to acknowledge her, and the two shared words while Weiss began to blush more profusely. With a shaky hand, she accepted the bottle that Cinder offered her.

"No… she isn't going to…?" Blake muttered in apparent bewilderment.

' _Isn't going to what?_ '

* * *

Weiss bit her lip, the inside of her mind screaming in protest for the indecent act she was about to do. Her hand held the bottle of liquor in a shaky grasp, eyes staring at the place she was meant to pour. Olivia's stomach was already wet from the previous body shot, the liquid glistening in the many lights that danced across the room. Her purple sweater was bunched up out of the way beneath her breasts, revealing more of her lightly muscle toned body than Weiss had ever seen before then.

"Well? I'm waiting, Princess~" Olivia chided playfully, shifting in place to give Weiss an easier target.

"R-right," Weiss breathed deeply, hesitating only a moment longer before pouring out some of the liquid. With shaking hands, Weiss was destined to fail. Olivia gave a small gasp as Weiss missed, the cold liquor splashing across smooth flesh and running down the cracks of her abs instead.

"Sorry, sorry!" Weiss realigned her aim while Olivia blushed at the sound she'd made, then glared as if she believed Weiss had done it on purpose. Weiss was more careful on her second attempt however, and managed to fill the crevice created by Olivia's navel.

' _Okay, Weiss! You can do this! I-It's no big deal! Just a belly button filled with alcohol! Dad wouldn't freak out or disown you or anything if he saw this!_ ' Weiss took a second to glance around the room, suddenly fearful of any cameras that may have been focused in on the Schnee heiress performing such a deplorable act.

"Down here, Princess. Or are you planning on leaving me like this?" Olivia goaded her. Cinder grabbed the bottle from Weiss's hand and gestured her forward, encouraging the younger girl to finish the act she'd started. "Maybe you are as uptight as I thought…"

Weiss glared at the challenging words. Firming her resolve as well as she could, she leaned forward to rest one hand on the table and the other a little above Olivia's knee. Her teammate grinned more widely, watching as Weiss lowered herself to a point and stopped. The final bits of hesitation held her back, mere inches away from the liquid filled belly button.

"If you can't, then maybe Cinder is up for another shot?"

Weiss leaned down the last few inches, angered into action by Olivia's words. She'd already noticed the way Olivia had been acting with the older woman. Flirting the first time they'd met, in a way that Olivia never would have dreamed of doing with Weiss herself. A damn name held them back, one that she was no longer proud to be associated with.

It was about time she distanced herself from all that the Schnee name entailed.

Weiss couldn't help but grimace when the alcohol hit her tongue, the liquid being a higher proof than any she'd drank in the past. Her cheeks burned brightly, but she powered through, noisily sucking the liquor out of Olivia's navel. In a final, impulsive act, Weiss allowed her tongue to flick out and licked the inside of Olivia's belly button. With her lips wrapped around the sides and hair cascading down, none were capable of seeing what made the other girl squeak in surprise.

Weiss grinned triumphantly as she rose, cheeks still reddened. Unlike with the accidental spill, she had been hoping to get a reaction out of Olivia this time. Her teammate's cheeks now had a slight red dusting of their own, and she stared aghast at Weiss with a pair of wide eyes.

"That was a cute little sound you just made. I thought you were used to this sort of thing?"

Olivia recovered quickly enough for her expression to change into a scowl, "I _am_ used to it." Her hand raised up to grasp Weiss's own as the heiress began to step away. Olivia smiled, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Guess we'll see how well you do in comparison?"

"W-wait, wha-!?"

Olivia used her grasp on Weiss to jump to her feet, pivoting the heiress midspin so that her backside now rested against the edge of the table that her teammate had just vacated. Olivia stepped closer, pressing against Weiss so that she was off balance. The only thing keeping her on her feet was Olivia, forcing the heiress to hold tightly to her teammate or risk falling back on to the table.

"Fair's fair, wouldn't you say, Princess?" Olivia grinned, pressing harder so that Weiss's feet scrambled for purchase. "I mean, you _could_ back out before it's too late, but…"

' _But then I'd be boring, and Olivia would end up hanging out with Cinder more…_ '

Taking a deep breath, Weiss let go of her own hold on Olivia so that the surprised faunus could lower her onto the table. Weiss was shocked as well, wondering where exactly this newfound courage had come from. Her cheeks burned, and she stared up into Olivia's bewildered eyes.

"W-well? I'm w-waiting, Olivia…" Weiss attempted to capture the tone in her teammate's mocking words but failed utterly.

Olivia came back to herself unsteadily, coughing into a fist to clear her throat. "You'll need to lift up your dress, Princess…"

Weiss's courage evaporated at the realization, all the eyes surrounding them watching eagerly while her hands fretted with her clothing, holding down the hem of her dress with a pair of white knuckled fists. The tights she'd chosen to wear were mostly see through. Even now, those in particularly good vantage points would be able to get a glimpse of her panties due to her current position. If she pulled her dress up further, it would only make them visible to all.

Olivia noticed her clear discomfort and leaned closer, speaking as quietly as she could with the loud music blaring overtop, "You don't have to do this, Weiss. Seriously, we can forget all about it…"

Weiss was thankful for the offer and severely tempted. How would it look if she backed out now, though? She would forever be ingrained in Olivia's mind as the girl that never could. A teammate unworthy of anything more because she lacked the courage that Olivia herself possessed. The entire point of wearing that particular outfit to the party had been in the hopes of inspiring the _opposite_ reaction.

' _T-This is nothing... We fight Grimm, for goodness sake!_ '

Summoning up the dregs of her courage, Weiss slowly pulled on the hem of her dress, exposing her stomach for all to see. At the very least, the color of her panties matched those of the tights, giving her some small reprieve from the gazes of so many. Even so, Weiss's hands shook. She couldn't stop herself from turning her eyes away, incapable of holding Olivia's gaze directly.

Through her periphery, Weiss could see the uncertainty on her teammate's face. At a nudge from Cinder, Olivia accepted the bottle from her and waited, hand hovering near Weiss's stomach, hesitant to pour.

"J-Just… hurry up…" Weiss whispered, shifting awkwardly. She was severely tempted to cross her legs. As is, her thighs were pressed as tightly together as she could so that only those nearest would see much of anything from above.

Olivia nodded acceptance and began to pour. Weiss flinched at first contact, causing some to splash across her abs instead, as it had with Olivia. She let out an unbecoming squeak of her own, hand raising to futilely suppress the sound that had already escaped.

"Oh my, Princess~" Olivia smirked, handing the bottle off after she'd finished pouring. She leaned in closer, smile growing all the wider as she spoke quietly so that only Weiss would hear, "You should know that when it comes to revenge… I never settle for just getting _even_."

Weiss didn't have time to ask what Olivia meant before her lips were wrapped around her navel, mouth sucking out the cold alcohol that rested within. Weiss flinched again as she felt Olivia's tongue exploring her belly button, it's touch lasting far longer than her own instance of daring had allowed.

Olivia's eyes raised to Weiss's own in the few seconds she spent playfully exploring, a challenge that the heiress would never be able to reciprocate in present company. She could only glare bashfully as Olivia pulled away, one tiny thread of saliva still connecting them before the faunus quickly wiped her mouth with a cheshire grin.

Olivia extended a hand down, which Weiss was soon to accept. She was swiftly pulled to her feet, dress falling back into place so that she could reclaim her sense of decency. Weiss took an extra moment to smooth it out, suddenly aware of the way her body now felt. She rubbed her thighs together nervously, and glared at Olivia for all she was worth. Despite the overwhelming awkwardness of the situation, Olivia's act had ignited a warmth across her body.

It wasn't until then that Weiss even noticed the others in their group cheering loudly. She shifted her focus to them, seeing the genuine surprise on many faces, likely for the fact that a prim and proper Schnee of all people had gone through something so obscene.

Olivia returned the heiress's attention to herself by pressing a fist against her shoulder lightly, "Not bad, Princess." Her eyes glanced about the club for a moment, then settled on a pair of seats open at the bar, "You ready for an actual drink now?" she grinned devilishly, "Or do you prefer drinking them off _me_?"

Weiss brightened, "Yeah!" She immediately realized her mistake and nearly choked, raising her hands to stave off Olivia's grin, "I-I mean yes to the _drinks_ , not to… the other thing."

' _Though I wouldn't mind if we were alone…_ ' Weiss blushed, keeping the thoughts to herself while Olivia turned to excuse the two of them from the rest of the group.

The pair set off for the bar, Olivia leading the way through the crowd while Weiss followed after. Even if it had come at its own expense, her daring had paid off in the end. Weiss doubted that Olivia would be willing to spend time with her if she hadn't gone through with the illicit act. The heat in her cheeks steadily died down, replaced by a nervous excitement that she couldn't quite contain.

Reaching the bar, Weiss slipped on to one of the stools next to the one Olivia had chosen and smoothed out her dress. Her teammate caught the bartender's attention, ordering a couple shots of vodka before raising an eyebrow in Weiss's direction, clearly waiting for her to order as well.

' _Anything she can do…_ '

"I'll have the same," Weiss spoke tentatively, seeing the two glasses that were pushed in front of Olivia along with a larger glass filled with water and lime as a… chaser? ' _Isn't that what they're called?_ ' She had only ever drank wine before tonight, and even then, never more than a single glass. Only overheard conversations from Schnee grounds workers had clued her in to the term.

Olivia grinned and raised one of her glasses, waiting for Weiss to lift one of her own. As soon as she did, Olivia clinked hers against it and took the shot, Weiss following hesitantly after. She immediately gagged, realizing that trying to taste the alcohol had been a severe mistake. The shot was even worse than the one from earlier, the situation involving Olivia at least distracting her somewhat.

Eyes brimming, Weiss grabbed the water and drank greedily, doing her best to wash out the taste while Olivia vied for her second shot instead. She finished up and slammed the glass back down on the counter, finally raising her own chaser to sip on it while eyeing Weiss with a smirk.

"Not as easy going down as what you're used to, Princess?"

"You could say that…"

"Try the lime. That might help a bit more," Olivia suggested, catching the bartender's attention to order once again. Thankfully, she only ordered a soda for each of them as opposed to more alcohol.

Weiss took Olivia's recommendation and bit into the slice of lime that had been placed on the side of her water glass, feeling a wash of relief as the sharp sourness cut through what remained of the alcohol. It didn't quite overpower it, but gave her something else entirely to focus on. Once the sodas had been delivered to them, it helped wash away the final vestiges of the unwanted taste.

"You going to finish up the second one, or just let it sit there?" Olivia teased, reminding her of the other shot she had yet to take.

Weiss could already feel a slight dizziness to her movements, the most recent shot and the one out of Olivia's navel beginning to get to her. Weiss's eyes flickered to it nervously, biting her lip while staring at the drink. If she kept going, she might get well and truly drunk for the first time. Even with the pressure of wanting to impress Olivia however… Weiss couldn't do it. Thoughts of her mother danced through her mind, and how the elder woman couldn't be seen without a bottle at her side.

' _If I went too far, would I… end up like her?_ '

Olivia appeared capable of reading Weiss well enough, seeing the slight slump to her shoulders as the heiress lacked the confidence or will to continue. With a comforting smirk of her own, Olivia reached across and grabbed the glass, downing it just as quickly to take the choice forever out of Weiss's hands.

"Don't mind if I do," Olivia grinned after sipping on her water once more. She nudged Weiss with a fist, "Don't push yourself, Princess. You already impressed me earlier. I _never_ would have done _that_."

Weiss frowned in surprise, "What do you mean? You already did, even before I got there…"

"Yeah, but I'm wearing _pants_ ," Olivia laughed. "I never could have exposed myself like that. Even those tights you're wearing…" She paused as her cheeks heated, struggling to speak while figuring out how to word what she wanted to say next. Olivia finally gave up, hand playing with the end of one long sleeve, "You're more brave in that regard than I could ever be. I don't really like showing my skin, you know…?"

Weiss laid a hand across Olivia's own, stopping the fingers that fretted with her sleeve to instead pull it back slightly. The beginnings of her black veins came into view, starkly contrasting the lightly tanned skin that surrounded them. Deciding that she might as well after coming this far already, Weiss traced the veins with her finger, gently caressing while Olivia stared apprehensively at those nearest them.

Weiss was immediately reminded of the clothes she'd seen in Olivia's dresser, all she'd ever seen the spider faunus wear. Top after top, all long sleeved shirts aside from the singular tank top Olivia slept in. Weiss had never stopped to think about it, never considering that Olivia might have been purposefully hiding her faunus heritage as Blake had with her ears. The first time they'd met, Olivia had been in her combat outfit after all, black veins at least marginally on display.

Looking around, there appeared to be a number of faunus within the establishment. Weiss could see horns and tails, ears and scaly skin. If the faunus here were at ease in such an environment, then why wasn't Olivia?

Her past was the obvious answer. Mistral itself wasn't known for its acceptance of the faunus, on equal par with Atlas when it came to degrading the entire race. Weiss smiled sadly, finger still tracing along Olivia's flesh.

"You know… you aren't in Mistral anymore. The faunus… they're accepted more easily here, and you have your team… your friends. I… I might have no place to talk when it comes to this, considering _who_ I am, but… I hope you can learn to be more comfortable in your own skin." Weiss's other hand absent-mindedly lifted to her own face, tracing the bottom half of the scar that decorated her eye. "No one deserves to be ashamed of the things they can't change…"

Olivia smiled, but pulled away from Weiss's touch all the same. "Maybe someday. For now…" She pulled the end of her sleeve back up, hiding her veins once more and breathing a quiet sigh of relief, "I'll do what I have to." Olivia's mood rose once they were covered again, expression shifting to a wide grin as she looked towards Weiss's left eye in particular. "Besides, you really _don't_ have a say in it. Your scar makes you look more _mature_. It's really cute."

Weiss blushed, even knowing that was the exact reaction Olivia had been hoping for. She ignored the faunus's laughter and busied herself by looking around the room, instead taking stock of all those they'd come with.

Yang and Pyrrha had left the bar and were now on the dance floor, Yang giggling while trying to teach Pyrrha some dance moves and failing spectacularly. Ruby and Blake had vanished from their previous table, and no flash of red hair or raven locks caught Weiss's eye. Most of Coffee and Carmine were accounted for, gathered around the tables they'd been at previously. It seemed their general excitement had died down somewhat, and they were now drinking companionably.

' _All that leaves is…_ ' Weiss finally spotted orange hair bobbing up and down through the crowd, Nora leading Ren by the hand towards a back set of stairs. The ginger girl grinned ferociously while Ren blushed, though he offered up no resistance while Nora pulled him through the crowd and up out of sight.

"What do you think they're doing?" Weiss asked curiously, pointing in order to draw Olivia's attention to the pair.

Olivia snorted, gesturing with a nod towards a spot behind the bar. Weiss turned to see an array of keys that dangled from hooks, and another couple seemingly in the process of purchasing one of them.

"There's rooms above us that you can rent out."

"Really?" Weiss was confused, taking in the loud music that pounded throughout the building. "How on Remnant are they expecting to get any sleep in a place like this?"

Olivia laughed and wrapped an arm around Weiss, pulling her in close. The faunus took a few moments to catch her breath, and leaned in conspiratorially once she finally had. "They aren't going upstairs to _sleep_ , Princess. They've been sharing a dorm with Yang and Pyrrha for almost three _weeks_ now." She raised an eyebrow, "I _really_ hope I don't need to explain any further."

' _If they're not renting a room to sleep, then…?_ ' The meaning to Olivia's words clicked in her mind, and Weiss buried her head in her hands while heat flared throughout her cheeks. ' _They're… they're having sex!? In a place like this!?_ '

"I wonder if Nora ever lets Ren top," Olivia wondered aloud, "Maybe now and then? I bet he's really quiet while Nora moans and talks dirty. Do you think they've ever-"

"Stop!" Weiss cried, images of a naked Ren and Nora now flashing through her mind. ' _Is that all you've got!?_ ' Weiss shivered, imagining the things an energetic girl like Nora might yell as 'encouragement' to her soft spoken partner.

Olivia broke down, laughing hysterically and pounding a fist against the bar in front of them while Weiss pouted, crossing her arms and focusing on Olivia if only to keep the images from returning to her mind.

"You're impossible, you know that?" Weiss fumed, only managing to elicit further laughter from Olivia. The faunus's shoulders shook, and it took her a few long moments to finally recover from Weiss's reaction. She raised her head once more, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Come on, Weiss, it's not so bad. I know you probably never had a chance to do anything with boys your age, not with all those servants around. You can't tell me you haven't seen a guy and thought he was attractive though, right?" Olivia smiled and took a sip of her soda, gesturing with it towards the crowds around them. "If you had to choose any guy here, who would it be?"

"Don't be ridiculous-" Weiss began to protest before Olivia suddenly spun her stool, a hand on her shoulder the only thing that saved her from toppling to the floor.

"You don't have to hold back. It's just us girls, after all~" Olivia swept her eyes around the room, then back to Weiss, noticing her clear objections to the entire affair. "I'm not _just_ trying to tease you, Weiss. Really, I'm curious... I've never thought of guys that way so I'm not really sure what's so attractive about them."

Weiss bit her lip, staring aghast at the various men that decorated the room. Some dancing, or standing around talking, others sitting with acquaintances, or playing pool. There was a wide assortment of body types to choose from, tall and short, thick and thin, muscle bound or wiry. Even after looking them all over and thinking her hardest on the question at hand… Weiss didn't know what to say. She wasn't attracted to them either, after all.

"I guess, um… the handsome ones?" Weiss muttered, trying to fake it as well as she could.

"Well, sure. What _makes_ them handsome though?" Olivia asked, leaning forward and following Weiss's gaze around the room. She pointed out one guy in particular, a man a few years older than them that was perhaps a few inches taller, with a moderate build. "What about him?"

Weiss shifted uncomfortably, unsure with how to proceed. The man looked traditionally handsome enough. Weiss could see him appearing on the cover of a magazine or in a movie if a makeup crew got their hands on him. But, like Olivia, her frame of reference was only to compare him to others she'd seen in that type of media. As far as Weiss was concerned, his brows were too thick, his shoulders too wide, his body too tall, with an obvious lack of the feminine curves she appreciated on Olivia. Overall, there was nothing about him that Weiss found the least bit alluring.

"I… I don't know…" Weiss confessed, barely speaking above a whisper.

It appeared Olivia hadn't heard her, as the girl leaned in even closer while wearing a consoling smile, "Don't be _shy_ , Princess. I promise I won't tease you about it. Just tell me. Who do you like?"

Weiss's cheeks burned, her heart fluttering in her chest. She could feel her palms sweating, and gulped down the excess saliva that had appeared in her throat. Olivia was so close to her now, asking a question that Weiss _desperately_ wished to answer truthfully.

' _But… it would be too early, wouldn't it?_ ' Blake had warned her not to take things too quickly. If Weiss scared Olivia away, she might never be this intimate or open with her again. Things might become awkward between them, with Olivia choosing to cut short the extra time they spent together. That time was precious to her, precious to them both, though the faunus wasn't likely to admit it. ' _I can't tell her the truth yet, but maybe…?'_

Maybe she could increase her chances of gaining Olivia's notice?

Weiss cleared her throat before speaking hesitantly once more. This time at least, she was loud and clear enough for Olivia to understand.

"I don't know."

Olivia raised an eyebrow in surprise, glancing back and forth between Weiss and the man, "You don't know? Is he not handsome, or…?"

Weiss shook her head, turning slightly so that Olivia was more in view. She still couldn't bring herself to look at the faunus directly, but perhaps that was for the best. She didn't want Olivia to fully understand the implications of what she wanted to say next.

"I don't know if he is, because… I don't like boys…"

Olivia glanced at him, laughing nervously, "Well, I wouldn't call him a _boy_ , exactly…"

"I like girls."

It took all of Weiss's training, countless hours spent practicing business affairs and public speaking as she uttered those three words, words that potentially doomed her relationship with Olivia. If the faunus somehow realized what she really meant… Weiss didn't want to think about it. She could only hope for the best, hope that the target of her affections might come to understand and reciprocate those feelings in time.

' _But not yet…_ '

Olivia stared at her, clearly surprised by the sudden news. Weiss couldn't blame her, exactly. It wasn't as if she went around ogling women, or flirting with them brazenly like Olivia. As far as society was concerned, it was expected of the prim and proper heiress to be interested in men. How else would the Schnee legacy continue? As the heiress to such an ancient line, it was only natural to think of her in such a manner.

"Oh…" Olivia raised a hand to rub it against the back of her head, sounding genuinely distraught by the news. "Sorry, Weiss, I-"

"Olivia~!" a feminine voice called out, breaking the faunus from her train of thought and pulling both their attentions further down the bar. Cinder stood a short distance away, standing with one hand on her tightly clad hip while spinning a key on her other finger. She smirked seductively, "Were you ready to have that chat? It's getting a bit late, after all. I wouldn't want to wait too long~"

"Right!" Olivia hopped off her stool and then paused, hesitating while looking back at Weiss. She smiled apologetically, still rubbing a hand through the hair on the back of her head, "I'll try and be more careful with my teasing from now on. I did it so much before because I thought it was just fun and games, but… Sorry, Weiss. I bet it's really been bothering you. I'm glad you finally told me. I… wouldn't want to really upset you, after all."

"I'm waiting~" Cinder called out, still spinning the key on her finger.

Olivia grinned, flashing Weiss a quick wink, "Wish me luck!"

' _No… no, no, no…_ ' Weiss's hand shifted in her lap, preparing to raise it and stop Olivia from leaving. Olivia turned around before she could get the chance to, however, and Weiss's words died on her lips. What could she say? What could she tell Olivia in order to keep her there without revealing the truth? Weiss's mind desperately searched for an answer, desperately sought some ploy that would stop Olivia from leaving, but to no avail. She didn't have the time to come up with a solution.

Olivia disappeared through the crowd, soon climbing the stairs behind the older girl, hot on her heels and with a skip in her step.

Weiss's heart felt as if it had been ripped in two, watching in pained silence as Olivia once again left to be with someone else, someone that wasn't _her_.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't hold back the tears.

* * *

Olivia sighed, following closely behind Cinder as the older woman led her upstairs. She hated leaving Weiss like that, so abruptly and without a proper apology. Instead, it would appear as if she'd left only to fulfill her carnal desires, a fact that was far from the truth. In any other scenario, Olivia would have turned down the offer, choosing to remain with her friend instead.

What Mercury had said earlier still weighed heavily on her mind, though. Cinder had set up something to happen while they were here, by the sounds of it. The White Fang would be involved, and while the general mooks posed no threat to Olivia or any of the Beacon students, Widow and Adam surely would.

Olivia was glad when she felt Ruby and Blake leaving earlier. They'd taken a side exit, stepping out into the alley and vanishing from the range of Olivia's sixth sense. Whether it was to get a breath of fresh air or head back to Beacon, the fact that they'd be out of the potential line of fire was a relief.

' _Now, all I need to do is make sure the others are safe…_ '

Following along behind Cinder and away from the loud music, Olivia could now feel more precisely the Grimm that was nestled against her heart, identical to the one that Widow possessed. Black blood pumped through her veins as it undoubtedly did for the others. It was ironic in some small part, considering the color of her veins despite lacking a parasite of her own.

' _If she offers…_ ' Olivia wouldn't accept. She was fine helping Cinder's plans wherever possible, agreeing to most things as long as they didn't pull her deeper into the life she was so determined to escape. The idea of having one of them crawling around inside _her_ was far from pleasant, though. Being so close to one now and incapable of ignoring it, Olivia could only shiver at the thought.

"Right this way," Cinder smirked, inserting the key into one of the locks and opening the door for Olivia to enter first. She stepped inside the room, lights already brightly lit to display the pink walls and oversized bed. It was topped with white sheets, a heart shaped pillow resting near the headboard. Getting a look around, Olivia was surprised to see many other 'devices' within the room, one of which was a swing that hung from the ceiling. There was also a stripper pole, bolted into the floor for those that were feeling particularly _adventurous_.

"I might have to bring Melanie here sometime," Olivia commented, eyes roaming back over the swing in particular. "Or make up an occasion to spend a bit of lien on her room's decor…"

Cinder held a hand against her mouth in an attempt to stifle her laughter, "Already thinking of other women when you're here with _me_? How rude."

Olivia raised her hands in a shrug, "Hey, you're the one that said my chances were off the table."

"Until…?"

Olivia frowned, thinking back on the exact words that had been spoken nearly two months prior. "Until… I swore fealty to you…"

"Exactly~" Cinder rested her hand against Olivia's cheek, grinning as the younger girl's breath caught. "Seeing as you'll _already_ be down on your knees… perhaps…?"

"W-would we even have time? Mercury said… and what about Emerald? Are you two…?"

Cinder laughed, patting Olivia's cheek before walking over and sitting on the bed. She crossed her legs, appearing perfectly regal in her form fitting black dress despite the locale. "Emerald is of no concern. She has long since made her advances known, and I have long since turned her down. I wouldn't wish to string her along in such a way. Regardless, she is still rather territorial around me, despite my wishes to the contrary. If she were to protest…" Cinder shrugged, "It's not as though she's a threat to you, and I've taught her well enough not to counteract my commands."

Cinder sighed, staring up at the ceiling, "We _are_ short on time, however. Mercury was correct in that regard." Her eyes returned to Olivia's own, hand gesturing for her to step closer. "For now, fealty will simply have to do. Maybe some other time… if you prove yourself. For now, swear yourself to me, and I shall reveal to you my purpose here at Beacon."

Olivia bit her lip, moving forward but not quite ready to kneel. The conversation she had shared with Melanie flashed through her mind, of the objections she wanted to make, of what might be asked of her. 'Fealty' was certainly the wrong term for what Olivia had in mind, but if she could learn Cinder's secrets in exchange, would it be worth it in the end?

After a few moments of hesitation, Olivia shook her head, "If I'm going to work for you, there are terms that you'll need to agree to. I have my own life, my own purposes for coming to Beacon. I want to study and train here. I want to become a Huntress with… with my team. If your plans mean giving that up… I won't be able to accept your deal."

Cinder nodded, "I expected as much, to be honest. Taming one such as yourself against your wishes would surely be a feat that even _I_ am incapable of. A deal is to be expected. After all, each of those who serve me do so for their own reasons. For Emerald and Mercury, they have found in me a place to belong. Both cast aside by society, growing up in conditions that would have broken most others… it doesn't sound too unlike your own experiences, does it?"

Olivia shook her head. She knew that Mercury had certainly led a difficult life. The knowledge that Emerald had as well wasn't too surprising either, to say the least. Who else would follow Cinder aside from those that had nowhere else to belong?

" _You_ , on the other hand, have found your place _here_. I can assure you… aligning yourself with me will greatly reduce your suffering. My Mistress has made… suggestions… that the Grimm be utilized, that I tear down this very city with my own hands while achieving my true goal." Cinder saw Olivia's eyes widen, and nodded agreement, "Such theatrics are unnecessary, in the grand scheme of things. What I require is an object held within Beacon, one that only Ozpin and his closest confidants know the location of. The woman that you helped me kill… I needed to steal her power in order to open the vault, wherever it might lie."

"You think your Mistress will agree to that? Who… who is she?"

"Salem. She is the Queen of Grimm. An eternal, immortal being that commands them to carry out her _every_ whim. Her powers are unrivaled. Even the mightiest heroes and armies of Remnant: Vale, Vacuo, Mistral and Atlas, all joined together, wouldn't be enough to stop her. But…" Cinder raised a finger, holding Olivia's attention with baited breath. "With that immortality comes a certain… lack of haste. It is no real issue to Salem if her plans must be put on hold. All she wishes is that the object be acquired and given to her. The downfall of Vale isn't of any real importance, just the icing on top. If you were to swear yourself to me, I would be willing to convince her of this fact. The only casualty she would still demand is Ozpin himself."

' _The Headmaster?_ ' Once again, Olivia's mind lingered on the topic of Ozpin's two souls. If there was anyone in particular involved with an immortal being, surely it was the man possessing the soul she had sensed, itself ancient beyond measure. Ozpin had been kind to her so far, but he also seemed to know about Olivia's past. That was dangerous…

"You swear that my teammates, my friends, _all_ of them will be left alive and unharmed?"

Cinder brought up one hand, gesturing with a finger and making an 'X' on her left breast. "Cross my heart. I keep my word, Lotus, as do you. Even from our first interaction, I could tell you were a kindred spirit in that regard. Your failure with the Huntsman was… unfortunate, but acceptable. I may have acted the same if I had been in your shoes, and as such, haven't held it against you. From here on out however, my orders _must_ be followed to the _letter_. If _I_ must trust that you won't turn on me… then _you_ must trust that I won't command you to do anything that harms your own aspirations."

"And… the power you 'stole'?"

Cinder smirked, and Olivia backed away a step as a large crimson flame ignited in her palm. It created no smoke, only a blistering heat that ebbed out in waves across the room.

"The Seasonal Maidens. Four women, granted magic by Ozpin in a life long since forgotten. The power is passed down from person to person, only ever through young women such as ourselves. Salem always craved their powers, to have their owners beneath a banner of her own. In time, she discovered a technique that would allow me to steal them for myself. With the power of the Fall Maiden, I will be capable of opening the vault." Cinder audibly snuffed out the fire by closing her hand, "All I need to do now is gain Ozpin's _trust_. Once he shows me how to access the vault itself, I'll no longer have any need of him _or_ Beacon. My team and I will steal the object held within, and be on our way. _Vale_ need not fall with him."

Olivia stared at where the flame had been, considering her options. All things considered, as long as Cinder truly did stick to her word, then joining her was the best option available. Keeping Vale in one piece, sacrificing only Ozpin in exchange for her own future, and the futures of so many others was an obvious choice.

One question did still bother her however, one discrepancy in the tale that had been spun. "If Salem is so powerful, why hasn't she just taken the object by force? Surely Ozpin wouldn't be able to stop an immortal?"

Cinder nodded, "With Salem's powers, she could wipe humanity off the face of Remnant. That isn't her objective, however. She _needs_ what's in that vault, and the Maidens are the only way to access it. Because of this, Ozpin has managed to keep her in a stalemate, of sorts. He would _never_ give up the item, and he'll never trust me with the knowledge of it until he's certain that _I_ would do the same. Even more so, considering that I'm now the _sole_ person capable of unlocking it. As such, my goal revolves around gaining his trust wherever possible. He must come to know me as a valiant individual, capable of defending myself in order to protect it at all costs."

"So the attack on the town…?"

"Was twofold in its purpose. Neo's powers allowed me to disguise myself while trading places with Widow. She and my team protected Coffee, and 'killed' me, thus making it appear as if 'I' had gained the powers in a convincing way. Now that I've been accepted into Ozpin's inner circle, all that remains is gaining his trust."

"What are you planning tonight? A lot of my teammates and friends are downstairs right now. I don't plan on letting them get hurt to further _your_ goals."

Cinder waved a hand dismissively, "As long as they have their aura they'll be fine. The White Fang has been ordered to attack, and the stage is set for me to make my grand reentrance. I'll save your friends and drive off the White Fang, earning myself a better reputation with Ozpin in the process." She pulled out her scroll to check the time, "Speaking of which, we don't have much longer. The clock is ticking, Lotus. Will you swear yourself to me, or doom Vale to suffer a far _worse_ fate?"

Olivia sighed, closing her eyes while thinking over her options. Aside from being forced to help in Ozpin's assassination, there really wasn't much of a downside to Cinder's offer. On the contrary, saving Vale was a good thing, wasn't it? Shouldn't a Huntress dedicate herself to saving others? Olivia had to admit, she didn't really much care for people she didn't know. On the other hand, she was trying to better herself. She owed it to those she had killed, to the innocent lives who's blood decorated her darkest days.

If she truly wanted to make a change…

' _There's no time like the present…_ '

Olivia kneeled onto the carpeted floor, raising her eyes to see the self-satisfied grin that Cinder wore.

"There is one more condition…" Olivia held up a hand as Cinder began to protest. She spoke slowly, her heart struggling to make sense of how her life had led her up to this point. Of what the _right_ thing would be to do. This was the best she could muster.

"Just… from now on…" she sighed, "Call me Olivia…"

* * *

Qrow's scroll buzzed, the vibration all he could feel over the constant pounding of the club's music. He slipped a hand into his pocket and rolled his eyes, staring at the caller ID before accepting the call.

"I don't need you babysitting me, Oz. Really, I've got it covered." Qrow held the scroll up, back turned to the rest of the desolate rooftop while facing the club across the street. He was leaning against the brick wall now, having grown uncomfortable with his previous position. So long in the sky had done a number on his back, and the phantom pain was only now beginning to fade.

"I'm just anxious, Qrow. I have a bad feeling… consider it another sense of my own, born from countless lives. What's the situation like from your end?"

Qrow scratched the stubble on his chin awkwardly, staring off at the club that was now sans six students. Ruby and Blake had left via a side door, while Nora and Ren, Coco and Velvet, and Olivia and Cinder had all vacated the bottom floor, heading up at various times to the rooms above. Qrow didn't have to guess what they'd gone to go do, and didn't really want to think about it either.

"Eh… you sure you wanna know?" At the very least he could spare Ozpin the details, though he supposed the ancient wizard would likely be numb to such things. For him, most human and faunus interactions were just a matter of course.

"Yes, Qrow. What's going on?" Ozpin raised an eyebrow suspiciously, eyes becoming more stern as he demanded the answers he sought.

"Well, I don't have eyes on our Maiden anymore… She went, ahem, _upstairs_ with Olivia." Qrow narrowed his eyes in a warning, " _Don't_ tell me to follow. You should know what that means for a club like this. Olivia would be able to sense me before I even got close anyway. I don't want to add any more fuel to the 'Peeping Tom' accusations she's been teasing me with."

Qrow was surprised to see Ozpin visibly pale, his hand shakily raising the mug in front of his face to take a sip. He lowered it, mouth moving with no words coming out. He stopped, appearing to be waiting for a reply despite no sound coming forth.

Qrow frowned, "Oz? You cutting out?"

Ozpin's eyes widened, and he pointed from his place on screen over the back of Qrow's shoulder. Sensing the man's fear, and following his gut reaction, he dropped the scroll. Qrow spun on his heel and drew his weapon with practiced ease, it's wide, thick surface the only thing that saved him from the eight inches of cold hard steel that had been aimed at his back.

Long, blood red hair and a black leather clad suit. Her face decorated with a White Fang mask held securely across her eyes. The woman he recognized as Widow paused in place, a seductive curl to her lips while grinding the point of her dagger against Harbinger.

"My oh my, you _are_ quick on the draw~ My employer warned me that you might be fluttering about. An 'S' class Huntsman, just _waiting_ for me to put that accolade to the test~"

Qrow extended his greatsword and swung, forcing Widow to take a few steps back across the rooftop. He grinned, "By all means. You've saved me the trouble of hunting you down myself! While you're at it, why don't you go ahead and give up your partner as well?"

Widow laughed, "I'm sure you're _dying_ to know. However, my purpose here is only to hold you off. Wouldn't want you getting in the way of the White Fang's great work, now would we?"

Qrow's eyes narrowed, "And what 'great work' might that be?"

Widow raised an eyebrow along with her dagger, pointing over Qrow's shoulder. "Why, _those_ for starters."

Qrow turned only enough to glance over his shoulder, but what he saw made him immediately pale. ' _Why didn't I hear those until now!?_ ' What was he going to do now that they were there!? He needed to get down, needed to get into the club, or stop them before they-!

A flicker of motion caught his eye, his training bringing his arm up without any need for conscious thought. Widow's blade streaked across the metal once more, the piercing sound echoing above the thrum of the club. Screams could be heard now, coinciding with the whirring of barrels spinning to life.

Two Bullheads hovered in place before the large glass front of the club, Fire Dust fueled jets scorching the pavement beneath. The occupants inside had only moments to scramble for cover, jumping over the bar or ducking beneath the rim of the lowered dance floor.

The White Fang didn't wait, and Qrow's yell of anger was drowned out by the twin miniguns that opened fire on those inside.

Bullets scythed through glass and people alike. Blood flowed freely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just one chapter away from being caught up to FFN! If you'd like to skip ahead and possibly drop a follow there, now's the time to do it. It's unfortunate that this story hasn't gotten quite the same reception here, but that's partially because Ao3's fanbase seems to generally be more skeptical of OCs, and the tags for the fic were an absolute mess when I first started uploading it. I'm just glad it's gained as many as it has, honestly. Thank you for that! Just hit 500 follows on FFN tho, so there's still a stark contrast in that regard, haha.


	60. For Those We Love

' _First the outfit, and now this…?_ ' Blake sighed, burying her head in her hands as Weiss laid back on the table. The heiress lifted her dress, exposing herself to a rapidly reddening Olivia. She was undoubtedly trying to prove herself to the faunus in some ill thought out way. ' _You don't need to be like everyone else to catch her interest, Weiss._ '

"Oh… um… wow…" Ruby stammered next to her, pulling Blake from her stupor. "Do you think that's what she meant by 'losing'? I never took Weiss for the partying type."

Blake hesitated, uncertain of Ruby's capabilities when it came to keeping a secret. One hint towards Weiss's feelings and the younger girl might give it away, though it would certainly be unintentional.

' _Then again, I thought the same about Nora and she's managed to surprise me… She's so close to Olivia, too. Could Ruby do the same?_ '

Blake considered it for a few moments and eventually discarded the idea. The less people that knew, the better. It was a secret that had the potential to regress their teams cohesion, a result that none of them wanted at the end of the day.

"I think Weiss is just trying to learn how to empathize with Olivia more. Spend some time in her shoes, you know? They've come a long way since Initiation."

" _Tell_ me about it," Ruby let her head roll back, voice dripping with fatigue. "It was all I could do just to keep the two of them away from each other's _throats_ during our first week."

Blake smiled, "You did really well, all things considered. I don't think I would have been able to empathize with Weiss as easily as you did. Our team really might have fallen apart if it weren't for you being chosen as the leader."

Ruby blushed, waving a hand in disagreement, "I didn't do much. I didn't even really know _what_ to do except tell Weiss to wait and see. That Olivia would get better. I wasn't even sure that was true… it's just what I _hoped_ would happen."

Blake shrugged, "Sometimes all you need is a little bit of hope."

"That's true. What about you, Blake? What do you hope for?" Ruby leaned forward, curiosity ignited. "What do you want to do once we graduate?"

Blake leaned back, coughing to clear her throat. "A-after graduation? Well, I-uh… want to make the world a better place. For everyone."

Ruby nodded happily, "Me too! The Grimm won't stand a chance against all of us!"

"All of us?" Blake paused in surprise, "You want to stick together _after_ we graduate?"

"Of course! That's what teams are for, right? I don't know what the other two want, but whatever it is, we'll do it together!"

' _What_ do _they want? From the sounds of it, Weiss might end up trying to fix the SDC for the better. Olivia…?_ ' Blake made a small 'hmm' in her throat, lost to the overpowering music surrounding them. ' _It would be nice to have them around, but… I doubt the faunus are going to be very accepting of a Schnee. Maybe with Olivia's help…? But who even knows what she really wants…_ '

"It's a nice thought, Ruby. I don't know how well it would work out in practice, though. Not many teams stick together after graduating. Most go off and do their own thing, whatever that might be."

Ruby scoffed, "Sure, _other_ teams might, but we're Team Rainbow! You can't separate a _rainbow!_ "

"Actually, if you have different-"

"Ssshhhh," Ruby whispered, forcing Blake's lips shut with a finger. "No science. Only friendship."

Blake smirked, speaking past Ruby's finger, "As you wish, fearless leader." The finger was pulled away as Blake turned her head, glancing over towards the bar where Olivia and Weiss were now headed. Ruby hadn't drank much yet, but Blake could already tell she was starting to loosen up, losing her prior reservations due to the crowds.

"Did you want to get another…"

Blake's words died on her lips. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Slowly, she glanced across the room at the other occupants. Even without Olivia's sixth sense, she could tell when someone was watching her.

"...Drink?" Ruby filled in, confused by Blake's sudden shift in attention. Her eyes followed along with, tracing back and forth across the room without knowing what she was looking for.

A flash of red hair and a swinging door caught in Blake's periphery. Her stomach dropped. ' _Adam…? Oh… Oh no…_ ' He'd seen Ruby, at the very least. Seen _both_ of them. ' _What should I do?_ ' None of them had their weapons, but Olivia was a good enough fighter without them. ' _Should I tell her?_ ' The spider faunus was currently sitting next to Weiss, the two of them sharing drinks. ' _She's already had quite a few tonight. I doubt she'd be at her best, but..._ '

But if Blake brought any of her friends, only to get them killed…?

"Ruby, w-wait here." Blake demanded, trying to force herself to sound calm and failing. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest, drowning out the music that blasted above. She could feel her pulse in her own ears, both sets now on high alert as she got up from the table and weaved her way through the crowd. Despite the heat, her body was already covered in a cold sweat.

"Blake? Wait!"

Blake heard the younger girl's chair scrape back and rounded on her, trying to put as much ferocity in her voice as possible. "Stay _here_ , Ruby!"

Ruby's eyes widened in surprise, and she shrank back away from Blake while raising a hand defensively. Her face dropped in hurt and confusion, the fear that she'd done something wrong reflected in her eyes.

' _I'm sorry…_ ' Blake couldn't wait to make sure her demands were followed. She turned and hurried towards the door. If Adam was leaving, then she needed to… to…

' _What? Catch up with him? Have a heart to heart? You're defenseless!_ '

' _I have my semblance, and my scroll to call my locker…_ '

' _What then!? You know you can't beat him in a fight!_ '

' _He agreed to leave Weiss alone… Maybe that will extend to me once he knows I'm on Olivia's team, too...?_ '

Blake slowly stepped through the building's side door and out into the darkened alleyway, only the shred of a plan in mind. Adam was a monster, no longer the man she'd fallen for so long ago. If he wanted retribution against her for leaving the White Fang… ' _I have to make sure my team doesn't get caught in the crossfire. It was my mistake to join the White Fang, not theirs._ '

Feline eyes glowed in the low light. Turning to look both ways, Blake could see neither hide nor hair of her past leader. The alleyway was filled with refuse and debris, empty crates stacked along the wall and a pair of dumpsters across. Among the objects that occupied the space, Adam was nowhere to be seen.

"Adam…?" She couldn't quite keep the fear out of her voice, cupping a hand against the side of her mouth in hopes that her whisper would carry.

Despite that, no pointed mane of red hair met her eyes. Blake frowned, ' _Would he really just leave after finding me?_ ' Just to be safe, she brought a hand up towards her head, fingers grasping one end of her bow and ready to free her ears so that she might hear more easily.

Blake was beginning to pull her bow loose when the door behind her slammed open, startling her into spinning around with hands raised, ready to defend herself. Wide amber eyes stared into worried silver as Ruby was revealed, squinting in her struggles to see due to the low light of the alleyway.

"Blake? What are you doing out here?"

" _Ruby!_ I said to-"

The sound of a sword being quickly unsheathed was the only warning that Blake had. She dove towards her leader, throwing her body between Ruby and the sound she'd heard. A sound she was _far_ too familiar with. In the same instant, a red arc of energy brightened the alleyway. Ruby's panicked eyes were lit red, her arms reaching to catch Blake. The faunus slammed into her, knocking them both to the ground while a searing pain ignited across her back.

"Blake! Blake are you-" Ruby's frantic words cut off as her hands discovered the liquid quickly spreading across Blake's back.

"Blake…?"

Blake grit her teeth, feeling the heat of her own blood soaking into her clothes. She rolled off Ruby and let out a pained whimper as she pulled herself into a crouch, one hand and knee against the pavement to steady herself while her body trembled. Her eyes finally found Adam, a smirk on his face and his sword resting in a loose grip. He'd been hiding behind one of the dumpsters, waiting for a moment of distraction to strike.

"Ruby… you need to run." The door had closed behind her, and though Adam appeared relaxed, Blake knew well that he would strike faster than Ruby could open it. "Use your semblance and get out of here. Don't… Don't worry about me…" She panted, her breaths coming out ragged. Adam had managed to slice through her aura with his attack, but it wasn't depleted entirely. Once Ruby was safe, Blake wouldn't have to worry about defending her as she had before. She'd be free to use her semblance, and hopefully escape as well.

"I won't leave you, Blake!" Ruby argued, rising to her feet and stepping in front of her teammate. Ruby extended a hand out, shielding Blake with her own body while glaring at the unknown man. "Y-You don't know who you're messing with! I'm a student at Beacon, and I'll… I'll hurt you if you take another step closer!"

"No, Ruby…" Blake reached up to grab the younger girl's hand and tried to pull her back, away from danger. "You _have_ to run! Now! H-He's… He's stronger than either of us. He cut right through my aura!"

Ruby's body shook, and her fingers squeezed Blake's in return. She glanced back, the fear clear in her teary eyes, "W-what kind of leader would that make me...?"

An incredulous laugh echoed through the alleyway as Adam stepped closer, now only a dozen feet away. He eyed Ruby up and down with a look of pure disdain, then finally glanced past to Blake. Though she tried to be brave for her friend's sake, Blake couldn't stop herself from shrinking behind her teammate, avoiding the eyes beneath that mask that she both loathed... _and_ feared...

" _This_ is what you left me for, Blake?" Adam scoffed. "You could have dodged that easily enough, even _without_ your semblance. You chose to protect this pitiful _human_ instead… My, how you've fallen..."

"I s-said stay back!" Ruby cried out, shuffling to protect Blake further. "I'm warning you…!"

Adam glared, shifting into an attacking stance. His eyes were locked with Ruby's, a fierce stare with no pity for what he was about to do.

"No!" Blake's back seared with pain as she stood, shoving Ruby behind herself to stand with arms outstretched. "Adam, _don't_." She needed something to keep him at bay, anything to make him believe they weren't worth the trouble.

"I-if you hurt us, _she_ won't be happy about it! She'll… she'll kill you!"

The alleyway was silent if not for the music. Everyone remained still. Ruby was confused. Blake trembled, hoping her ploy would work. Adam continued to glare, considering the two in front of him.

After a few moments, he sighed, the tension finally dissipating as his sword was resheathed. One hand remained on the hilt.

"I suppose you're right," he muttered angrily.

Blake let out a shaky breath, attempting to firm her resolve. She wanted nothing more than to leave, to escape his presence once more and return to the relative safety of the crowd. It wasn't like him to visit bars or clubs in his free time, though. If he was here of all places, there had to be a reason. "What are you doing here, Adam? Are the White Fang planning an attack?" Her eyes narrowed, deciding to take her chances, "Weiss _Schnee_ is inside. If you think attacking _me_ will make her angry…"

Ruby gasped, "That's where I've seen those masks before! You're part of the White Fang!" She struggled to push past Blake, but the older girl wouldn't allow it, even with her injury. "I won't let you hurt Weiss!"

"Shut your mouth, _human_ ," Adam scowled, fingers tightening on his hilt. "If I wanted to kill the Schnee, there isn't a damn thing _you_ could do to stop me." His eyes flickered to the bow wrapped around feline ears, a devilish smirk crossing his lips. "Just ask _Blake_. She-"

"Adam!"

Adam's smirk widened, "She went on plenty of missions with me during her time in the White Fang."

The conversation fell into silence once more. Adam stood with a smug grin, watching the fear spread across Blake's face. Ruby looked between them in confusion, doubt wrinkling her brow.

"But Blake isn't…" Ruby trailed off, eyes looking to Blake for answers.

With a sense of uneasy resolve, Blake slowly raised a hand to the already loosened bow atop her head. Fingers shakily grasping one end, she pulled, letting her arm fall down to her side as the bow unravelled and her ears were revealed. They immediately lowered against her head, shame and fear mixing together while waiting for Ruby to denounce their friendship. As a previous member of the White Fang, it was only expected that a human would find her revolt-

"They're… so cute…" Ruby spoke breathlessly, words only caught by Blake over the pounding music thanks to her heightened sense of hearing. Ears perking in surprise, she stared at her leader with wide eyes, pure shock painted across her features.

Ruby blushed, avoiding Blake's gaze and reverting back to Adam, "I m-mean, so _what_ if Blake was with the White Fang? She isn't any more!" Her eyes went back to Blake, voice dripping with uncertainty, "You… you _aren't_ , are you…?"

"No." Blake turned back to Adam, a seed of warmth building in her chest after Ruby's show of acceptance. She didn't care that Blake was a faunus, only that she'd changed for the better. "I'm not with them anymore. They became too violent. Now… they're just a gang of murderers and thugs."

Adam glowered, "We're doing what's necessary for the _faunus_ , Blake. The humans look down on us. They don't consider us equals!"

"Killing people won't change that! Fear isn't _respect_ , Adam!"

"The end result is the same."

Blake grimaced. They'd had this argument many times before, though in less heated circumstances. ' _I'm letting him distract me. We still need to know why he's here. If not for Weiss, then what?_ '

"And how are you planning on 'inspiring fear' this time?"

Adam continued to glare, though he let out an amused chuckle that didn't change his features. "If you've been watching the news, you'd know the White Fang has been upping its endeavors over the last month. Robbing stores and burning down shops is beneath us. We've moved past that. Even with everything we accomplished in the past few years, we weren't truly respected. The police considered us a nuisance, and humans thought they could get away with being racist as long as they didn't harass the _wrong_ faunus."

A distant buzz caught Blake's ears, a steady hum that could be heard beneath the pulsating music that failed to drown out all else. Though she was hesitant to take her eyes off Adam, she couldn't help but raise them towards the skies. Twin red glows caught her attention almost immediately, lowering down past the thick clouds above. Her eyes squinted, trying to make out the distant shapes descending towards them.

Adam followed her gaze, smirking as his eyes caught on to the same shapes. "It was a stroke of luck that Widow joined our ranks. Her guidance has been truly eye opening. She's been far more helpful than _you_ ever were."

"Are those…?" Ruby whispered in disbelief, the Bullheads becoming more distinct in their approach. The rumble of their engines could be heard more now, jets waning as they lowered themselves out of sight past the corner of the building. Without hearing them landing, Blake could only assume they were hovering in front of the large glass windows.

"Adam… What are you going to do?"

"What's best for the faunus. That's all I've ever wanted," Adam's grin became manic. He pivoted on his foot, now facing the street as if to leave. He paused for one final moment, the smallest glint of his eyes seen through the mask.

"And honestly, Blake...?"

The sound of something mechanical whirred to life.

"I'm better off without you."

Chaos erupted in a hail of gunfire.

* * *

Weiss's face was buried in her arms, shoulders shaking as she hid her tear stained face from those nearby. Once again, Olivia had left to be with someone else, someone she barely even knew. On top of that, her confession had backfired, forcing Olivia to believe she would need to distance herself from Weiss in order to protect her feelings.

' _I had to open my stupid mouth…_ ' Already, Weiss could see the effects of what she'd done. Olivia had immediately dropped the nickname, reverting to calling her by her actual name instead. Weiss wasn't completely sure _why_ she even liked being called it. Because it was something unique to them? A name only Olivia was allowed to use that made them feel even the smallest bit closer?

' _And now she's with that older woman..._ ' Cinder was her name. Weiss glared into her elbow, not confused by Olivia's actions, but hurt all the same. Cinder was beautiful, and dressed in a way that flaunted her physique for all to see. Compared to her… ' _I guess I never could have measured up…_ '

What if it wasn't just her name holding her back? Olivia had made offhand comments about Weiss being 'cute', and even had trouble keeping her eyes off her while in the short dress she'd chosen to wear for the party. One glance at Cinder had ruined all of Weiss's efforts, though. Was she unappealing? Not Olivia's 'type'? Was there any chance they could ever be together, or was Weiss wasting her time pining after someone that would never see her the same way?

Weiss shrivelled into her arms more tightly, wanting to block out the loud music and excited chatter that surrounded her. ' _I should go back to Beacon…_ ' She didn't want to dampen anyone else's moods at the moment. Curling up in bed actually sounded like a much nicer alternative, sleep providing a short-lived escape from the feelings currently racking through her chest, and thoughts cluttering her mind.

Weiss was about to sit up and head for the door when she felt someone sit down next to her. A male voice called out to the bartender for a couple drinks.

"Hope you don't mind. I saw this seat was open, figured you might want some company."

Weiss wasn't familiar with the voice. She sniffed, then busied herself with wiping the tears from her eyes before raising them. The words 'No, thank you' died on her lips as she realized who it was. The grey-haired upperclassman, one of Cinder's teammates.

"I… don't enjoy drinking all that much. Thank you for the offer, though."

"Pity," he raised an eyebrow along with a glass, taking a short drink before continuing, "Guess I can't really be too shocked to hear that though, coming from a Schnee. I'm Mercury, by the way." He held his other hand out, waiting a few moments for Weiss to accept the handshake offered.

"Weiss Schnee."

Mercury grinned, "So, what's got you so down in the dumps, Weiss Schnee?"

Weiss's eyes fell to the counter. Normally, her temper might have flared while being thrust into a situation such as this. However, she didn't have the energy for it. Her chest felt like it had collapsed inward, leaving a hole in its place that couldn't be filled.

Even so, this Mercury fellow was acting far too familiar with her. Of all the things she needed right then, being hit on by some man wasn't on the list. "That really isn't any of your concern."

"Oh, c'mon now. Pretty girl like you, down on her luck? You should be thankful I was the one to swoop in instead of some other schmuck." He started swirling his drink lightly, staring at the contents in apparent thought. "Guessing things didn't go too well between you and Olivia, eh?"

Weiss narrowed her eyes. She spoke without thinking, alcohol loosening her tongue, "Things were going just fine until your _leader_ stole her away from me."

Mercury raised an eyebrow, " _Stole?_ That's an odd choice of words." His eyes rose to the stairs, a knowing grin slowly spreading across his face. " _Oh_ , so _that's_ how it is."

"How _what_ is?" Weiss asked cautiously.

"You like her."

Weiss froze, heart fluttering warily in her chest. "Th-that's preposterous. I… I wouldn't-"

Mercury laughed, holding a hand up to stave off Weiss's protests. She waited angrily, expecting the volume of his laughter to dissipate. Instead, it only grew by the moment, a booming laugh that left him gasping for air by the end of it.

"What's so funny!?"

Mercury's hand was still raised to ward off Weiss's questions. He waved it nonchalantly, taking deep breaths and devolving into further laughing fits before finally regaining control. "Oh, oh _man_. If only…" He shook his head, wiping fake tears from his eyes and taking a long drink. "That's the best joke I've heard in my _life._ "

Weiss crossed her arms, fuming silently and turning away to ignore the older huntsman. "We're done here."

"Oh, don't be like that! I didn't mean anything by it!" Mercury protested, leaning closer. "Listen. Why don't I make it up to you?"

"I don't want anything you could offer."

"Not even a little peace of mind?"

Weiss paused in her rebuttal, turning only enough to see Mercury in her periphery. "I doubt you're capable of that."

"Hey, I'm capable of a lot of things~" Mercury teased, "But, in your case… You must think they went upstairs to have a bit of _fun_ , don't you?"

"Why else would she…" Weiss spoke dejectedly, trailing off before regaining a modicum of composure, "That's what the rooms are for."

"Usually, sure. Cinder just wanted a quiet place to talk with your friend though."

Weiss frowned, figuring Mercury for a liar. However, a small spark of hope lit in her chest that she couldn't quite force down. "...Why would they do that? I… I _know_ what Olivia is like. You've barely met her. Someone like Cinder… She'd jump on the opportunity to be with a woman like that."

Mercury nodded, "That might be the case. It takes _two_ to tango, though. Cinder told me before she left that she just wanted to talk."

"Right… _talk,_ " Weiss slumped, chin falling onto her arm.

"No, not like that," Mercury snorted, catching Weiss's eye and offering up a surprisingly comforting smile, "I promise there's nothing going on between them, for now at least. Olivia might be the type, but Cinder certainly isn't. Trust me. If all it took was a nice body and a willingness to please, my teammate would've been all over her long since."

Mercury pointed over his shoulder with a thumb, drawing Weiss's attention to one of the other girls on his team. The green-haired one sat in a slump at their reserved table, staring off towards the stairs with a worried look in her eyes.

"She…?"

"Has a much lower chance of getting with _Cinder_ than you probably have with _Olivia_."

Weiss bit her lip, eyes staring longingly up the stairs. Could it be true? Cinder had appeared just as eager to head upstairs as Olivia, but had it really been for a different reason? Were they really… _just_ talking?

Mercury shrugged, seeing the doubt remaining in Weiss's eyes, "Hey, ask Olivia yourself when she..."

Mercury's eyes widened, staring past Weiss as a murmur of unease coursed through the crowd around them. She turned to look, following his gaze to see a pair of Bullheads hovering outside the large glass windows. Weiss blinked a few times, trying to make out more details.

The miniguns beginning to spin to life beneath the Bullheads was all she needed to see before hitting the deck.

Screams erupted as the glass front shattered, bullets whipping into the crowd and unleashing sprays of blood. People ducked for cover or ran, trying to escape the storm of bullets that whizzed by, piercing through humans and faunus alike. Mercury grabbed Weiss and dragged her over the bar, several rounds impacting them both heavily as they sought real cover.

Weiss's heart beat in her chest, drowned out by the whirring hail of bullets. People continued to scream, both in fear and pain as the miniguns refused to relent.

' _T-Think, Weiss! Think! People are dying out there! You have to protect them!_ ' She didn't have her weapon though, and no Dust to speak of. Weiss panted heavily, taking her chances and peeking over the top of the bar. Bullets slammed into the countertop near her head, sending debris flying past her. ' _Come on, Weiss! What… What would Olivia do!?_ '

The answer came to her in a brief moment of clarity. Mind racing a thousand miles a minute, she stood fully and focused on her semblance with all her might. They would need to be larger than usual, and it would be difficult to concentrate on all of them at once with so much _screaming_ -

"There!" Weiss growled out as large white glyphs burst to life, blocking the gunfire near the end of each minigun's barrel. The bullets were stopped dead in their tracks, impacting off the glyphs with no effect. After training with Olivia, she'd managed to strengthen them enough for this at least.

Weiss's eyes darted across the room, finding the other hunters in training that had also sought cover. Fox and the Neopolitan girl stood behind Yatsu, using the larger boy's body as a shield after getting caught out completely. A glimpse of green hair showed the other missing member of team Carmine, peeking out from behind the far end of the bar. The last two that remained were Yang and Pyrrha, neither having any option whilst on the open dance floor aside from dropping low and hoping for the best. They were rising now that the gunfire was halted, pure shock and anger in their eyes.

"Get everyone out of here! I'll hold them off!" Weiss shouted as loudly as she could, trying to keep her eyes off the dozens of bodies already littering the floor. There was no time to hesitate, no time to mourn. Dozens _more_ were still alive and in danger as long as they remained. Already, cracks were beginning to form across her glyphs, the relentless tide of gunfire testing her limits.

Many ran to the bathrooms, crowding inside until it was packed. Others ran to the side door, barreling out into the alleyway and escaping into the night. Weiss grit her teeth, focusing all her might on bolstering her glyphs' durability. The minigun barrels had begun to glow red hot. It was a test of endurance to find out which would last. Her glyphs, or the Bullheads' ammunition.

After a handful of paralyzing seconds, the crowd finally managed to disperse. Pyrrha and Yang stood in front of the bathrooms, holding a defensive stance and warily watching the struggle taking place. Older students ushered out the final stragglers into the alleyway, while Yatsu and Fox ran back and forth to those that were injured, helping them to the door as well.

The miniguns suddenly ceased firing, barrels spinning to a stop. Weiss shook from the effort, keeping her glyphs in place in case the Bullheads weren't finished. Instead of opening fire once more though, their jets quelled and they descended heavily to the paved street.

"Wait… are those…?" Mercury spoke quietly from nearby, staring as dozens of masked individuals jumped out of the Bullheads. They wielded swords and guns alike, armed to the teeth and ready to continue the fight now that their advantage had been negated.

"The White Fang," Weiss glared, creating a glyph in front of herself as gunfire rattled off, the terrorists taking no time in renewing their attack. Those armed with swords charged in through the shattered window, jumping over the jagged shards and past the first corpses lying bloodied on the floor.

"Weiss! Cover us!" Yang shouted, drawing her attention. "Get us in close!"

Sweat beaded Weiss's forehead as she complied. More glyphs shimmered into being, sporadically placed across the room so that they could close in and retaliate. Pyrrha and Yang immediately took the opportunity provided, dodging and weaving between glyphs to draw nearer their attackers. They were quickly joined by Yatsu and Fox, both expertly evading the gunfire that aimed to catch them between sudden bursts.

"Give me a couple, would ya?" Mercury asked. He dove out of cover as Weiss complied, taking shelter behind a glyph and waiting for a group of terrorists to close in.

Weiss didn't like their odds. Unarmed and outnumbered, with only Yang in particular trained to fight with her fists…

' _Olivia, where are you…?_ '

Weiss's prayers were immediately answered, though not by who she'd expected.

The building rumbled as the ceiling above them exploded downward, a plume of dust and debris obscuring sight and sending each group reeling back in surprise. Everyone waited with baited breath, wondering what new development was about to transpire. A sporadic red light illuminated the space above. Flames appeared, coursing from Cinder's hands as she gracefully descended.

' _What…? How?_ ' Weiss stared in confusion, seeing Cinder expelling so much fire without any visible source. Cinder glared at the White Fang imperiously, hovering in place while looking down upon them.

A commanding voice from the street shouted out loudly, breaking the confusion, "What are you waiting for!? Fire!"

The single call to action ignited the courage back within the faltering terrorists. They cried out, raising their weapons to fire at Cinder while the hunters moved back into action as well. Mercury darted forward, kicking the sneer off a terrorist's face before he could swing the sword in his hands. Yang rushed out from cover, catching another on the chin with a right hook while he was busy aiming up at Cinder.

Dozens of guns rattled off, most aimed up at the young huntress floating above them. Sparks flew. Weiss was struggling to focus on summoning another glyph in order to protect Cinder when she noticed no flashes of aura across her body. Instead, the sparks themselves appeared to be from the bullets, a wall of heat disintegrating each before they impacted.

Cinder swept her arm in a long arc across the gathered terrorists, a torrent of flame following in its wake that pressed them back, forcing the faunus to relent on firing their own weapons and defend themselves from the heat. The floor blackened, glass melted, and fear was incited among those now trapped inside with numerous hunters.

The rest didn't let up in their attacks. Though Yang was clearly the best with her fists, Mercury was keeping up just as easily by attacking with his legs. The less trained faunus struggled, flailing their swords only to be deflected or absorbed by aura. Fox and Yatsu fought as well, barreling through the terrorists with both skill, and brute force.

Though Cinder's flames licked high across where the window was previously, Weiss could see the White Fang still gathered outside. Guns rattled off once more, firing through the flames in a desperate attempt to help their comrades inside. With an angry shout, Cinder propelled herself outside to continue her onslaught and protect those within, keeping the main body of terrorists focused on her instead.

Weiss breathed a weary sigh. She was glad to see the situation had been turned around in their favor, but even so, there were already so many people injured, so many _dead_. She'd been too late with her glyphs… If only-

" _Screw_ Widow's rules," a voice growled out behind her.

Weiss didn't have any time to react as she was knocked to the ground, a heavy weight landing on top of her and something compressing around her neck. ' _What's happening!?_ ' She flailed upward, hands impacting someone invisible and revealing the silhouette of their shape with each blow. The shimmering mass was distinctly humanoid and male in stature, a semblance or faunus trait of some sort camouflaging them in order to attack her by surprise.

"That race traitor bitch thought she could keep you _safe_. Ha! She's nothing special! Nowhere to be seen while I _kill_ you," the man laughed excitedly, tightening his grasp even further. "Finally! I've been waiting for this ever since I saw you in that cafe. Adam will be proud. He's strong. He'll protect me from Lotus!

Weiss had no time to question anything. She raised her hands, trying to pry the man's fingers free, but to no avail. They gripped tightly, choking off her air supply, suffocating the oxygen and blood from her system. She tried to thrash, to get free, to stand and get anyone's attention to her current plight. The man's body was too heavy, keeping her pinned to the floor and out of sight behind the bar.

Terror surged in Weiss's chest. If she didn't do something fast, she was going to die.

' _No! I can't… I won't!_ '

Her entire body felt tight, muscles constricting and veins popping while she fought to breath.

' _G-Get off me!_ '

The world itself began to fade. Her hands scrambled across the ground, searching for anything to use to defend herself. They came up empty. There was nothing. Just her and her attacker, killing her slowly.

' _I don't want to die!_ '

Vision dimmed to black and sound waned. Her body grew numb, one hand now raised in a silent plea for help. Tears streamed down her face.

' _Please… anyone… I don't... want to..._ '

The pressure around Weiss's throat vanished along with the weight across her chest. She coughed out, turning on her side and retching while her airways struggled to inhale. She convulsed, pulling into a fetal position while she rode out the pain. Her entire body felt sore, tensed to the extreme while struggling for so long against her attacker.

Sound slowly returned along with sight, and the thick hands from before were replaced by ones _far_ more delicate.

"Weiss! Weiss!? Are you okay!?"

Weiss blinked back her tears, blurry vision subsiding to reveal Olivia next to her. The girl's face was strained, a look of panic across her features that Weiss had never seen so clearly before. She tried to speak and say she was alright, that she would be fine now that Olivia was by her side. Weiss could only cough instead, incapable of verbally comforting her anxious teammate's fears. Instead she lifted her hand, raising one thumb to signal she would be alright.

"I should have come down here faster, I'm so stupid!" Olivia breathed in relief, wrapping her arms around Weiss and pulling her into a surprise hug, "We heard everything happening downstairs and then Cinder just blew a hole through the ceiling-" she pulled away, hand going to Weiss's chin to lift it and check the damage left by the terrorist, "I'm just glad I got here in time…"

It was while Olivia was turning Weiss's head to the side that she finally spotted the White Fang member that had attacked her. Eyes widening, she tensed up all over again while Olivia continued to check her for injuries.

' _D-did… Did she…?_ '

The man's face was contorted, his mouth and eyes wide open in a silent scream he would never voice.

Blood covered the floor, leaking out from the gaping hole that had been punched through his chest. Olivia had… She'd...

' _She killed him…_ '

* * *

Steel struck steel as Qrow deflected another blow, mind torn between trying to flee and protect the Maiden, or capture the assailant he was currently defending himself from. Widow was strong, and faster than he'd anticipated. She fought with relentless speed and dexterity, forcing him to defend himself from the ferocious attacks that threatened to slip past his guard.

Widow smirked as one attack _did_ manage to slip by, cutting a long line across the aura on his arm. "It might be best if you paid attention? Otherwise you'll be bleeding out _long_ before I can get my hands on your precious students~"

Qrow swung outwards, pressing Widow back and following it up with a few more attacks of his own. She parried deftly each time, catching his blade with the ridges in her daggers in order to turn his strikes aside at the last moment. Deep gouges were carved into the rooftop from previous blows, rubble strewn about. The screams and gunfire continued to weigh on his mind, a constant reminder that his true mission was in jeopardy.

"What's your plan?" Qrow growled out, finally managing to land a solid blow against Widow's defense that knocked her backwards and into the opposite wall. She remained on her feet, still smug, but with a wary stance. "You can't take the powers for yourself, so why bother?"

"I simply do as my Mistress instructs," Widow teased, beginning to circle opposite Qrow across the rooftop. "I'm sure you'd understand, given who you work for?"

"I'll never understand people like you. Why work for Salem? She wants to kill us all! Humans _and_ faunus!"

Widow crossed the gap in a sudden blur, twin daggers slamming into Qrow's defense and pressing back with more strength than he'd been expecting. His arms strained, keeping her at bay while she threatened to overwhelm him. A wild gleam flashed through her eyes.

"I know. Isn't that fantastic?"

Qrow was opening his mouth to retort when a shout echoed through the night, the voice of a young huntress that he would give his life for a thousand times over.

"Uncle Qrow! _Help!_ " Ruby screamed.

Widow lashed out while his attention was torn away, kicking him in the side and sending him crashing into the rooftop's ledge. Bricks shattered and his aura flashed, but his eyes rose to search for the niece he cared so much for. She was nowhere to be seen, neither in the club, nor on the street. "Ruby!? Where are-!"

Qrow's voice cut off as he blocked Widow's follow up attack. Enraged, he threw himself into the frey, swinging Harbinger like a man possessed in order to force the woman back so that he could find his niece. "Get out of my way!"

Qrow's heart fell in his chest as Yang screamed in pain.

' _No, no, no! Where are they!?_ '

"Yang! Ruby!?" Qrow could only call over his shoulder, hoping for a response that would tell him where they were. He needed to get to them, needed to fight off this damn woman so that he could save his nieces!

His opportunity came sooner than expected. An explosion racked the night air. Widow paused in her assault, eyes shifting to the interior of the club while once again locked in a struggle against Qrow. The faunus grinned widely, eyes catching on to Cinder as she glided down through the hole in the ceiling.

"Mission accomplished~"

Qrow growled, slashing out only for Widow to dance backwards out of range.

"So that's her? Younger than I thought she'd be," Widow grinned, eyes on Cinder as she spun a dagger in one hand. She glanced back to Qrow and winked, "It's been fun. I'm sure you'd like nothing more than to cut me down and protect your magical little friend, but…"

"Qrow! _Please!_ There's so many! I can't-" Ruby's voice cut out with a pained gasp.

Widow smirked, calling out in a taunting tone even as Qrow spun on his heel to leave, "Have fun cleaning up my toys!"

Qrow jumped from the roof and hit the ground running, cutting down surprised White Fang members that were standing in his way. A burst of flame ignited in a long line across the front of the club, pushing even more back. Past them however, he could see a flash of golden hair inside. Yang was fighting, taking down terrorists left and right and looking no worse for wear.

' _Wha…? At least she's okay!_ ' Qrow's eyes searched for Ruby. The last place he'd seen her go was out through the side door. Was she inside now? Qrow fought those nearby, eyes darting back and forth between the White Fang and the club's interior. Ruby was nowhere to be seen.

A flood of club goers caught his attention, running from the alleyway and around the corner, in the opposite direction of the White Fang. A voice he instantly recognized followed in their wake, corralling them to safety. Qrow knocked out the man he was fighting and strode forward, hope renewed that his niece was alright.

"Go! Now that we have our weapons we can keep you safe!" Ruby rounded the corner behind them, scythe raised in a defensive stance. Her eyes caught on to Qrow's own, brightening in relief, "Uncle Qrow! You're here!"

Ruby's teammate, Blake, followed after. She had her weapon as well, though she looked far worse. Her bow was sloppily tied on, hiding the ears that Oz had long since told him about. Blake stumbled into the corner of the building, warily keeping an eye on the distracted White Fang members that were busy shielding themselves from the flames.

Qrow rushed forward, dropping Harbinger to wrap Ruby in a weary hug, "You had me so worried, kiddo! I heard you calling for me but I couldn't find you! Are you okay?"

Ruby made a small 'hrk!' sound as Qrow hugged her tightly, only able to speak after he pulled away to check her over for injuries. "I'm fine, Uncle Qrow! And what do you mean? I didn't know you were here until just now…"

"But?" Qrow frowned, knowing for a fact that it had been Ruby and Yang he'd heard calling for help. And yet, Yang had appeared to be just fine, and Ruby didn't appear to be injured in the slightest.

Maybe…?

' _Damn it!_ ' Did Widow's semblance allow her to create sounds? ' _Wait, no…_ ' Even before then, the Bullheads had approached without making _any_ sound, and Ozpin's final words had been cut off during their call. Was she _manipulating_ sound? Both nullifying, and creating, using it to distract him in order to escape?

' _I'll have to let Oz know… At least now we'll be ready for it next time…_ '

"Woah…" Ruby gasped, wide eyed and looking over his shoulder. Qrow followed her gaze, seeing that Cinder had exited the club and was now laying waste to the White Fang and their Bullheads. Terrorists scrambled for cover, incapable of doing anything against the might of a full-fledged Maiden.

' _Well… looks like she's a natural…_ ' Qrow sighed, pulling away from Ruby and recovering his weapon. He spared an eye back over his shoulder, "Call the school and get a Bullhead sent down for your friend. Keep her safe until it gets here. We'll take care of the White Fang."

Qrow didn't wait for a response. Instead, he resigned himself to fulfilling his duty and protecting the citizens of Vale.

With Widow out of the picture and Cinder by his side, it really wasn't much of a fight.

* * *

"We lost so _many!_ " Adam slammed his fist against the wall, infuriated after counting their losses. Nearly three dozen members, now either imprisoned or dead because of the stunt they'd pulled. "I thought you said this would _help_ our cause, not _cripple_ it!"

Adam turned to see Widow leaning against the opposite wall of the darkened alley. She smiled dotingly, pulling away to stride forward and place a delicate hand against his cheek. "It _will_ help our cause. Make no mistake about that. Once word gets out to our fellow faunus, those that have been beaten down and subjugated by the human _scum_ that plague this city… Once they know that we _can_ fight back… A few dozen will seem like _nothing_ compared to the number that join our ranks."

Adam calmed, the fingers against his cheek soothing like a mother's touch.

"You're sure about this?"

Widow smiled, leaning forward to plant a kiss against his forehead before pulling back. "Of course, dear boy…"

"You can trust me."


	61. Empathy

The crimson on Olivia's appendage disappeared as she dismissed it. Corpses littered the dance floor and bar, interposed by unconscious White Fang members and their fellow students. Fires burned at the front of the building, and the sounds of gunfire could still be heard outside.

Olivia gripped Weiss's hand tightly while lifting her from the floor. She was taking care to keep the anger out of her eyes, opting instead to only show the concern she felt for her teammate. Weiss's throat was roughly bruised, her breaths coming out in a harsh rasp after the man's brutal attempt at strangling her. The heiress trembled, incapable of taking her eyes off him or the hole that Olivia had speared through his chest.

"You'll be alright, Weiss. He can't hurt you anymore," Olivia assured her, turning her away from the gruesome sight. Truthfully, the rest of the room wasn't much better. It was a bloodbath, the likes of which Olivia hadn't seen in years.

' _Last time, I was the one doing the killing…_ ' Those had been guards and hunters though. Seeing normal citizens being brought into the crossfire...

Olivia's unease was mostly outweighed by her anger. Outrage that a member of the White Fang had gone against her wishes and attacked Weiss directly.

' _Seems Widow doesn't quite have them in line… or_ …' Olivia didn't want to believe it, but Widow… ' _She might have ordered the attack. I can't put it past her, not after everything she's done._ '

' _And in that case…_ ' Olivia unfurled her appendages, draping them around Weiss without actually touching her. The heiress's aura was entirely depleted, run dry through substantial use of her semblance and finished off during the attack. While the remainder of the fight _was_ taking place outside, Olivia wasn't going to take any chances. A single stray bullet was all it would take to hurt Weiss right now, and with the White Fang's current track record, she wouldn't put it past them to try.

"Once the fighting has died down, we'll get you to the infirmary. I'm sure some aura enhancers will help you heal soon enough." Olivia placed a hand on either of Weiss's shoulders and began guiding her towards the end of the bar.

"I'm-" The single croak was all Weiss could manage before devolving into another fit of coughs.

"You're _not_ fine," Olivia chastised, guessing at what Weiss had been attempting to say. "Your throat's a darker purple than my _sweater_. We're getting you to the infirmary as soon as possible, and that's _final_."

Weiss stared back for a few seconds before finally nodding acceptance. Her eyes were reddened, tear streaks leaving tracks across her face. Olivia wanted to help. This was certainly the first time Weiss had seen death from up close, a shocking sight for anyone, let alone one so distanced from the true brutality of the world.

To also come so close to dying herself…?

With the White Fang inside all taken down, only the older students were still keeping themselves busy. Emerald and Mercury were watching the downed faunus, while Fox, Yatsuhashi, and Neo moved from body to body, checking for anyone that might still have a pulse. Olivia grimaced, seeing Yang and Pyrrha standing off to the side. Both were rooted in place, shocked by the gruesome sight before them now that the battle was over and their adrenaline had run its course.

"Pyrrha! Yang!" Olivia called out, startling both of them, "Help me get Weiss out of here."

"O...On it," Yang stammered. She grabbed Pyrrha by the shoulder and steered her away, meeting up with Olivia as they headed in a group towards the front. The wall of fire was beginning to die down, the conflict outside resolved and the last few rounds of gunfire being cut off at their source. Olivia dropped her semblance, but kept a wary eye out for any stragglers Cinder might have missed.

Olivia frowned, noticing that Cinder hadn't been fighting alone. Qrow had been the one to finish off the last faunus, and was now surveying the street as well. The engines to both Bullheads were melted, leaving them flightless in the middle of the street. White Fang members were strewn about, still alive as far as Olivia could tell. Their hearts still beat, though many wore scorched and charred uniforms.

' _Ozpin must have Qrow following Cinder around to protect her. I'm a little surprised, considering what happened to the last one. Does Ozpin still trust him that much…?_ '

Qrow's eye caught on to hers, and the two shared a brief smile. Regardless of circumstance, Olivia was glad to see him.

"Yang!" Ruby caught them off guard, blurring into the gaggle of students and crashing into her sister with a fierce hug. "Are you okay!?" Ruby stood on tiptoe, trying to peek over Yang's shoulder, "What happened insi-"

Yang grabbed Ruby and held her tight, stuffing the younger girl's face into her chest so that she couldn't look into the building. " _Don't_ …" Yang's voice quavered, "Don't look."

Ruby muttered in frustration, attempting to pull away from the older girl, "Yang, what are you doing? Let me-"

" _No._ " Yang and Olivia spoke in unison, quailing Ruby's struggles. She turned her head to the side with a measure of uncertainty, eyeing Olivia to see how serious the two girls really were. Olivia only shook her head, silently denying Ruby's curiosity in favor of retaining her innocence. She was too young to be subjected to what lay inside.

' _Far too young…_ '

Olivia felt Blake's presence approaching from off to the side. She frowned, turning to face her teammate as she noticed her awkward gait, leaning against the wall next to her. Focusing more closely on her sixth sense, she could feel-

"Blake!" Olivia left Weiss with the others and darted to the faunus's side, helping to support her and take what weight she could off her injured back. Olivia could feel the gash across it, a long line running from one shoulder to the opposite hip. Her blood had slowed to an ooze, already drenching her clothes. The damaged flesh was being ever so slowly repaired by what remained of her aura. "What happened!?"

Blake bit her lip, seeing that the rest of the group had also taken notice of them. She leaned into Olivia, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to speak quietly in her ear.

"Adam."

One simple name was all it took to ignite Olivia's anger further. She clenched her fist tightly, mind immediately recounting all the details it could about the man. ' _If he… no…_ ' Olivia needed to look at the _bigger_ picture. Who was really to blame? Who would have put him up to it? Condoned it? Olivia might have never had the chance to tell Adam that Blake was on her team, therefore off limits, but _Widow_ would have.

' _Is that her plan? Convince others to kill my teammates so she can feign innocence?_ _Would she try something so obvious?_ ' Widow was smart enough to know that Olivia would suspect her immediately if her teammates started dropping like flies, though. Olivia had already been disillusioned. If anything, Widow couldn't _afford_ to break the promise she'd made not to interfere.

' _So was this her doing, or not?_ ' Either way, Adam was now a threat that _needed_ to be removed. Whether Widow had turned him against them, or if Adam had attacked of his own volition, all that mattered was that Blake's life was at stake.

Between the two, it was an easy choice.

Olivia was pulled from her thoughts as Nora and Ren appeared, both hastily dressed and looking nauseous after their trek through the club. Nora let out a sigh of relief when she saw everyone gathered outside, incapable of dredging up her usual vibrance in the face of so much death. Ren looked the more normal of the two, though Olivia could tell that despite his semblance dampening his emotions, even he was affected. His eyes caught on to hers, and the two shared in a companionable nod, relieved to see the other was alright.

Blake regained Olivia's attention with a sharp tug on her sleeve, speaking in an urgent whisper, "You aren't planning anything, are you?"

"What do you mean?"

Blake flashed her a suspicious glance, keeping her voice low, "You have that… _look_ … on your face. Are you thinking of hunting down Adam for revenge?"

Olivia's eyebrows rose in surprise. The ease at which Blake had read her was disturbing, to say the least. Either Olivia was lowering her guard far too much, or… ' _Blake's used to it from her experiences with Adam._ '

"So what if I do? Are you going to protect him after what he's done?"

"It's not about protecting Adam. Believe me, if I'd been strong enough… I would've taken him down in that alleyway."

"So…?"

Blake shook her head emphatically, "But I wouldn't have _killed_ him. And you… Just because you _are_ capable doesn't mean you _should_. You promised not to kill anyone after… after Cardin. You haven't forgotten about that, have you?"

Olivia averted her gaze, feeling genuine remorse. Not for her plans concerning Adam, nor for the man she'd killed to protect Weiss. She'd _never_ feel sorry for protecting those she cared about. Her promise had meant a lot to Blake, though. She'd trusted her, despite everything. They'd finally started to really connect.

' _I hope this doesn't ruin anything between us._ '

Olivia drew Blake's attention towards Weiss, to the thick bruises covering her throat. "About that… Let's just say I got a little… overzealous… when I saved Weiss." She gave Blake an apologetic frown, shrugging weakly, "Better you hear it from me, I guess."

Blake inhaled sharply, eyes transfixed on the bruises, "You killed someone?"

"He was trying to kill Weiss, so… yeah. I won't apologize for what I did. It was the same Fang member from the cafe. Obviously he didn't want to take _no_ for an answer… I already let him off with one warning. I wasn't about to make that mistake again."

"Letting people live isn't a _mistake_ , Olivia…"

Olivia glared at the ground, thinking of those she'd spared in the past. Beryl, the first time she'd stolen from him, the thugs that invaded her home, the drug traffickers that planned retribution after she put a stop to their operation… The Arcs, who would have turned her in if Widow hadn't finished them off…

"Yes... Yes it is."

Blake opened her mouth to argue, but let whatever she was going to say go unuttered as the sound of sirens echoed in the distance. Engines roared and lights flashed. Police cars, ambulances, and firetrucks all came to a screeching halt in the street. In a short span of time, the space was teeming with rescue workers.

EMTs helped the injured into their vehicles, police apprehended the White Fang, and firefighters got to work on the still burning building. The metal frames were melted and twisted, along with what remained of the shattered glass.

Many more citizens were brought out, kept safe upstairs by Coco and Velvet until they were sure the danger had passed. The pair was as frazzled as Ren and Nora had been, clothes hastily buttoned back on and accessories left in the room above. They greeted their teammates with passionate hugs, glad that they'd all made it through the night's events.

"We'll talk about this later," Blake promised Olivia. Bullheads from Beacon had begun to arrive as well, and Ruby returned to their side, putting herself beneath Blake's other armpit to help prop the faunus up.

The back ramp of the first Bullhead opened to reveal both the Headmaster and Glynda on board. Ozpin stood stoically, hands clasped around the head of his cane in a white knuckled grip. Olivia watched carefully. He slumped once he'd spotted Cinder, visibly relieved that she was uninjured. Curiously enough, his eyes immediately sought Olivia out afterwards, a worried frown appearing upon seeing the state her teammates were in.

"Headmaster! We need to get to the infirmary!" Ruby spoke hastily, ushering Weiss along with them while heading for the Bullhead.

"Of course, Miss Rose," Ozpin stepped aside, allowing them to enter past himself and Glynda. Olivia returned his gaze warily. Though he tried to hide it, she'd seen her fair share of suspicious glances. Ozpin was undoubtedly paying her more attention than necessary.

' _Why?_ _Because I used to be a member of the White Fang…?_ ' She'd never found out _exactly_ how much the headmaster truly knew about her. Considering some of their conversations in the past, there was a fair chance he knew about her _true_ identity. An assassin in their midsts, trying her hardest to turn a new leaf.

' _I don't know how the Black Lotus would be connected with an attack by the White Fang, though. It's been years since I was actually part of their organization. Aside from that, I wouldn't really... be involved with…_ ' Olivia paused in thought. Some pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fall in place, information she'd learned only that night bringing Ozpin's perspective to light.

' _I helped Cinder kill the previous Maiden by distracting Qrow. That must be what made Ozpin interested in me in the first place… From his point of view, I helped someone steal the powers, then they died during the attack on Arcus. I wouldn't know who had stolen them, so..._ '

In retrospect, choosing to hang out with _both_ teams involved had been a _very_ bad idea. Now it would appear as if she'd helped plan the attack on the club, a morbid attempt to draw out the 'new' Maiden in order to reclaim the powers once more.

Olivia tore her eyes away from his and focused on her team instead. Whatever conclusions he'd come to, he'd likely confront her on them sooner or later. For now, she needed to make sure her teammates got the treatment they deserved. When it came to Ozpin… she'd cross that bridge when she needed to. At best, he kept an even closer eye on her. At worst…

Olivia didn't _want_ to leave Beacon, but that was a far better option than prison.

As luck would have it, Beacon's infirmary staff were already on board the various Bullheads, ready to treat whatever wounded there might be among the students. Ozpin and Glynda exited while Team Rainbow was ferried aboard. Olivia and Ruby helped the nurses lay Blake down in one of the stretchers, on her stomach so that her back would remain exposed for treatment. Weiss was guided to one of the seats, another nurse treating the bruises around her throat.

"Come on, Ruby. Let's sit," Olivia guided the younger girl down next to her, a few seats away from Weiss so that they could give the medical staff the space they needed.

"But Blake-"

"Is already being taken care of," Olivia assured her, keeping Ruby from climbing back to her feet. "She'll be right as rain soon enough."

The Bullhead began its ascent, engines breathing back to life in a low hum before igniting fully. They rose steadily, the pilots taking care to avoid disturbing those in back while initial treatment was underway.

Ruby kept her eyes on Blake, wearing a troubled frown while watching the doctors work. She inhaled sharply as the wound was exposed, the doctors cutting open what was left of Blake's tattered shirt. Ruby hugged herself against Olivia instinctively, seeking the older girl's comforting embrace.

"You're sure she'll be okay?" Ruby asked in a hoarse whisper.

"I promise." Olivia wrapped an arm around Ruby, pulling her in close. She had to fight to keep her anger in check. Cinder had promised her team wouldn't be harmed. Weiss, Blake… even Ruby's current fears were a violation in Olivia's eyes. She wanted to protect Ruby from the world, protect the innocence that Olivia had long since lost.

' _But for now…_ ' She needed information. Depending on how Ruby answered, Olivia wasn't afraid of breaking promises if it meant keeping her friends safe.

"What happened in the alley?" Olivia asked quietly.

Ruby's fingers tightened, curling into the sleeve of Olivia's sweater. "A… a man attacked us. I followed Blake out to see what she was doing, and there was a flash of red… she jumped in front of me…" Ruby blinked back tears that threatened to fall, watching Blake wince in pain as the doctors began to inject aura enhancers. "I couldn't see very well, but… Blake saved me from him. She told me to run, and… I couldn't… I didn't want to leave her like that…"

"Adam attacked _you?_ " Olivia's voice was like ice, frigid and cold while fighting to keep her blinding fury in check. Attacking Blake was one thing. She was older, more world weary. Blake was competent enough to handle herself in a crisis. ' _But Ruby…!?_ '

 _Unacceptable_. Ruby was just a child.

"He…" Ruby paused, face slowly adopting a questioning frown. She looked at Olivia quizzically, silver staring into magenta. "How'd you know his name?"

"Blake told me a little of what happened while you were with Yang. I just wanted to hear your side of it," Olivia deflected, "She said his name was Adam, right?"

Ruby nodded, suspicions beginning to dwindle. "Yeah. Everything happened so fast, I was having trouble remembering his name… Blake was… she…"

Ruby paled, biting her lip while staring off at their wounded teammate. Olivia narrowed her eyes, seeing the doubt working its way across Ruby's features. ' _Did she find something out from Adam?_ ' Olivia followed Ruby's gaze more closely, noticing that she was actually staring at the top of Blake's head, at the hastily tied bow wrapped around the faunus girl's ears. Ruby's eyes flickered to Weiss, her uncertainty palpable.

' _So that cat's out of the bag, and since Adam was involved… Does Ruby know Blake used to be in the White Fang?_ '

"She what, Ruby?"

Indecision eating away at her, Ruby finally sighed with a small shake of her head. She looked back to Olivia, feigning ignorance, "I don't know. I think he attacked because Blake caught him before the Bullheads showed up... maybe."

"Maybe?"

Ruby shrugged, "I'll um… have to talk with Blake. The alley was dark so I couldn't see much, ya know…?"

After a few moments, Olivia pretended to believe her. She hugged Ruby more tightly, one arm wrapped around the younger girl's shoulders. "You humans, always so helpless without the lights on~"

Ruby laughed weakly, "Yeah… us humans."

Olivia rocked to the side playfully, trying to help lighten the mood, "All things considered, I'm glad you're okay, kid."

"What happened to Weiss?"

"Don't worry about it. She'll be fine, too," Olivia shook her head when it seemed like Ruby might press for more answers. "I think the take away from tonight is that I shouldn't let _any_ of you out of my sight. You're all hopeless without me."

Ruby pouted, "Are not. Me and Blake could have held our own if we had our weapons with us."

" _If_ ," Olivia chastised, "Never waste your time wishing for things you don't have during a fight. Take stock of what you _do_ have and use that to the best of your abilities instead."

' _Even then, from the way Blake talks about him… I doubt the two of them would've been enough to take Adam down, weapons or not._ '

"I had my semblance," Ruby replied defensively.

"You should've ran when Blake told you to."

Ruby glared, half angered, half hurt by the remark. "I couldn't leave Blake behind like that…"

Olivia sighed, figuring out how best to approach the situation. "Listen, kid. Trust me when I say this… I'm _really_ glad you were chosen to be our leader. With the team we have… no one else was fit for the job. That being said…" She gave Ruby an apologetic smile, preparing her for the truth, "You have less experience than Blake or me. Spars aren't the same. In the real world, when lives are on the line... If there's ever another situation like that… please listen to us. Even a moment of hesitation can mean the difference between life and death."

" _Blake_ could have died if I left her there alone!" Ruby argued fiercely, drawing the attention of a few others.

"If Blake told you to leave then it was probably for the best," Olivia explained calmly. "She has enough aura left to have used her semblance a few times as long as she didn't need to worry about protecting you, too. She could have kept him distracted long enough to escape, maybe even long enough for you to get _help_."

"Olivia is right, Ruby," Blake spoke up before the younger girl could argue further. She winced as one of her stitches was put in, back arching slightly as if to avoid the pain. "Adam would have used you against me if it came down to it. I can dodge his attacks with my semblance… the alleyway was too cluttered for you to do the same."

Ruby shrank, shoulders falling and hands weakly held together in her lap. She stared at the floor sadly, fighting back tears.

"So I was just in the way…?"

"That's not how I meant it," Olivia tried to alleviate some of her sadness. "We all know you're good in a fight, just… not _that_ fight. You need to learn how to pick your battles. That was the wrong time to stand your ground."

"We'll trust you to lead us, Ruby," Blake spoke up once more, flashing the girl a wide smile when their eyes met. "But you have to trust us too, alright?"

Ruby leaned into Olivia, shoulders still slumped and hands still weakly held together. "Okay…" she spoke quietly, not entirely reassured by the two older girls. Olivia kept her arm around her but left the conversation there. Ruby's inexperience wouldn't last forever, nor her innocence.

Olivia was going to do her best to protect the latter of those for as long as possible.

It was only a few more minutes before the Bullhead landed at the top of Beacon cliff. Ruby jumped to her feet, followed by Olivia. They kept close behind the pack as Blake's stretcher was carted out, the girl wincing at every unfortunate bump on the paved path.

Olivia watched with concern as Weiss followed suit, guided along by the nursing staff in the wake of Blake's retinue. She walked in a slump, eyes glued to the ground and a permanent frown affixed to her face. Her clothes were a mess, blood and alcohol alike staining the previously immaculate white threads.

"I'll meet you there," Olivia said quietly to Ruby, splitting off from the crowd before her leader could get a word in edgewise.

Olivia made her way into the dorm building, taking the stairs three at a time until she reached their floor. She could guess what was troubling Weiss easily enough, and knew that continuing to wear her current outfit wouldn't help the situation at all. Weiss also wasn't the type to tolerate being in a hospital gown, especially when the wound she'd sustained didn't call for it.

' _Might as well make her comfortable. It's the least I could do…_ '

It didn't take long for Olivia to collect the items she needed, though her face did redden slightly while searching for one article of clothing in particular. Wrapping them all in a tightly knit bundle to avoid prying eyes, she hurried back downstairs and across the campus grounds, making her way into the infirmary.

Finding the rooms that Blake and Weiss had been given was easy enough, the noise alone removing any necessity for her sixth sense. Ruby paced outside one of the doors, balefully glaring at the interposing wood keeping her outside Blake's room while the nurses finished her treatment and redressing.

Ruby noticed her approach, along with the bundle of clothes tucked beneath one arm. Her eyebrows rose in sudden understanding, and she stepped out of the way to let Olivia pass into Weiss's adjoining room.

"Good thinking."

"It's the least I could do," Olivia shrugged, stepping past into the doorway of Weiss's room and knocking once against the wooden door. Weiss turned immediately, a disapproving frown etched across her features while staring at the hospital gown held in one outstretched hand.

"Figured you'd want something a little more comfortable," Olivia smiled, hefting the pajama bottoms, night shirt, and slippers that Weiss so often wore. Mixed in was a pair of her undergarments as well, Olivia uncertain as to whether or not Weiss preferred to go 'commando' in her sleepwear.

Weiss breathed a quiet sigh of relief and tossed the hospital gown down across a chair. She accepted the bundle offered by Olivia, then turned towards the bathroom to change. She nodded her silent thanks before closing the door, still incapable of vocalizing anything.

Olivia had seen the glimmer of sadness in her eyes, the effects of the night having fully caught up with the heiress now that all of the excitement had winded down. It was a mild struggle, but Olivia tried to imagine what it must be like to go your entire life never experiencing the things she'd already seen, only to be so brutally introduced to the realities of the world.

' _How does she feel right now?_ ' Olivia had seen her fair share of death, but never in her life had she come as close to dying at the hands of another person as Weiss had. ' _Except…_ '

Olivia wasn't sure whether or not the men that killed her family would have done the same to her. She hadn't given them the chance to try, after all. If Weiss felt even half as bad as Olivia had back then...

Olivia busied herself with her own thoughts for a few minutes while Weiss changed and got cleaned up. She waited patiently, focusing instead on the room next door and the progress the physicians were making with Blake's stitches. It wasn't too long before they were both finished, and Ruby was admitted into Blake's room while Weiss exited the bathroom.

Weiss caught sight of Olivia still in the room and stopped in place, hands holding the bundle of bloodstained clothes that she'd previously been wearing. She appeared uncertain of what to do with the bundle, keeping it awkwardly at arm's length while scouring the room.

Thinking quickly, Olivia felt out with her sixth sense and found what she was looking for, a box of trash bags that had been stashed beneath one of the counters. She snagged one of the bags and held it open for Weiss, letting her unceremoniously drop her tarnished clothes inside.

Olivia looked them over dubiously, "Did you want to try and get them cleaned?"

Weiss opened her mouth to reply, but with a rasping of air followed by a pained frown, simply shook her head instead.

"I'll get rid of them, then," Olivia promised, tying up the bag and setting it near the door. "Pity. You looked really good in those…"

The corner of Weiss's lip raised momentarily in the barest glimmer of a smile before she sat down on the edge of the hospital bed, laying back and pulling the blanket over herself. Olivia's heart went out to her, seeing how dispirited the heiress was. She scoured her mind, searching for words to say that might put Weiss at ease.

' _How can I cheer her up…?_ ' Not for the first time, Olivia bemoaned her own lack of experience when it came to this sort of thing. She'd tried in the past with varying success. Considering that it was Weiss of all people this time, Olivia didn't much like her chances.

Weiss was staring blankly at the sheet in her hands, pulled all the way up to her chest. Her entire body was slumped, as if no energy remained within. "Do you… want to talk?" she finally asked.

Weiss looked to Olivia. She seemed to be considering the offer for a few long seconds, but finally shook her head slowly instead.

"Guess it _would_ be a little one sided~" Olivia tried to say jokingly.

Weiss only flickered that same miniscule smile, the corner of one lip raising momentarily before falling back into place.

Olivia felt a pit opening in her stomach. She desperately wanted to help Weiss, to ease her suffering. However, the words wouldn't come. She had no clue what to say. She _owed_ Weiss for the night before though, for not judging her after she'd laid a sliver of her heart bare.

"Is there… Is there _anything_ I can do for you?" Olivia asked the question, then waited for Weiss's response with baited breath. ' _Please, just tell me how to help…_ '

Instead, Weiss rolled on to her side, facing away from Olivia and drawing the blankets further up her body. It was as much of a response as the heiress could manage in that moment, a clear sign that there was nothing Olivia could do for her.

Olivia stared at Weiss's back for a few long seconds, heart aching.

' _I wasn't made for this… Maybe… maybe Ruby can talk to her later…_ '

Olivia turned to the door and grabbed the bag of clothes, pausing in the exit with one finger on the light switch. "Have…" Olivia stopped, reconsidering what she'd been about to say. What kind of person could have a 'goodnight' after what they'd just experienced?

Instead, Olivia softly spoke the only words that came to her in the moment.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Weiss…"

Olivia clicked off the lights and stepped out, gently closing the door behind herself. She waited there for a while, feeling out towards Weiss now that the door was in place. Cut off from the rest of the world and thinking herself now in isolation, Weiss pulled her knees up towards her chest, shoulders shaking as she began to lightly sob.

Olivia sighed heavily, running a hand through her hair and stopping to hold the back of her neck. She glared at the ground. Her anger was slowly rekindling in the face of her own worthlessness. Weiss had given her so much relief the night before, but now that the tables were turned, there was nothing Olivia could think to do for her.

Dejected, Olivia walked past the room that Ruby and Blake were in, not up for a conversation herself anymore. Her sixth sense told her all she needed to know about the state Blake was in anyway, aura mostly recovering and gash beginning to heal. Besides, with the door closed and with her two teammates only a foot apart, it felt as if they were intentionally speaking in private.

Olivia found a trash bin to drop the bag into and left, heading back out across the campus grounds to the first year dorms. She stepped inside and climbed the stairs slowly, mind weighing heavily with the night's events.

' _Why can't my life be simple, like how I imagined it as a kid?_ '

Going to the academy, leaving home to study and become a huntress. That had been the life Olivia wanted while growing up.

' _Instead, I'm neck deep in secrets. Cinder's plotting to kill Ozpin, Ozpin's suspicious of me, my mother might be trying to get my teammates killed, and the White Fang is running rampant. We never would have butchered innocent people like that… even in Mistral…_ '

Olivia stepped into her team's dorm and shut the door quietly behind herself, not bothering to turn on the lights before crossing the room to her own bottom bunk. She looked at her clothes, only then noticing the blood stains splattered across her body. They were harder to spot in the dark material, but were unmistakable in the way her clothes stuck lightly to her.

Olivia changed into her sleepwear, taking only a few minutes to wipe clean some of the blood residue on her skin before slipping on her shorts and tank top. Her scroll vibrated on the nightstand as she was lying down, pulling the blankets over herself.

Olivia checked the message on her scroll with a sense of dread, wondering who was attempting to contact her and why. She hesitated for a moment before sliding it open. It was an official-looking message from Ozpin himself.

" _Teams RBOW and LYNN are hereby dismissed from classes for the remainder of the week. Over the next few days, you will be assigned individual appointments to speak privately with either myself or Miss Goodwitch so that we may evaluate the impact of tonight's events._

_The life of a Huntsman or Huntress is never easy, but I deeply regret that ones so young were forced to experience what you did tonight. Know that if you wish to speak outside of the appointed time, my office is always open to a student in need._

_Sincerely,_

_Headmaster Ozpin_ "

Olivia returned her scroll to the nightstand and rolled over. She was too tired to think of the implications the message might have in regards to her. After staying up all of the previous day and night, taking classes, training with Weiss, partying, and the attack… It was beginning to catch up with her. She closed her eyes and dug into the mattress beneath her, trying to keep at bay all the thoughts jumbling in her mind and fall asleep.

Olivia hadn't succeeded by the time Ruby entered the dorm ten minutes later. The young leader kept quiet, believing Olivia to be asleep. Without turning over, Olivia could feel her stepping into the room. Ruby slipped off her shoes, but didn't bother changing further other than to unhook her bra. She pulled it out from beneath her shirt and dropped it in front of her dresser unceremoniously, moving towards her bunk to climb into bed.

Surprisingly, Ruby stopped with one foot on Weiss's bunk, turning to look back at the discarded clothing. With a miniscule sigh, Ruby returned to pick up the bra and place it in the hamper instead. She then straightened out her shoes and combat boots, nodding her own approval once she'd finished.

' _At least one good thing came out of tonight…_ ' Olivia thought bitterly.

Ruby climbed into bed. She tossed and turned for a time, rolling back and forth while struggling to get comfortable. Olivia felt her turning to stare at her back a few times, never attempting to wake her in order to speak. With her previous failures with Weiss in mind, Olivia doubted there was anything she could say to make Ruby feel better either. She refused to acknowledge the younger girl's stares, and was eventually rewarded when Ruby fell into a troubled sleep.

' _Sorry, Ruby… I don't know what to say…_ '

The minutes ticked by. Olivia was still awake by the time Team Lion returned, entering their own room across the hall and in various stages of weariness. They were quick to follow Ruby's lead, changing and climbing into bed. The night's rigors had taken a heavy toll on them as well. It was to be expected, given the circumstances.

Olivia could still remember Yang and Pyrrha's shocked faces, likely as unused to seeing death as Weiss. It weighed on her conscience along with everything else, a reminder that she was different, broken. Despite how talented her newfound friends were, they were still woefully inexperienced when it came to dealing with death.

' _Not that I have anything to be proud of…_ '

She wished she could be like them.

Olivia flinched slightly when her scroll vibrated once more. With a weary sigh, she rolled over and opened it to see what new message Ozpin might have in store for her.

It wasn't a message from the Headmaster, though. Olivia blinked back the bleariness in her vision to reread the text, heart gripped in a sudden panic.

" _I warned you not to sneak another student out of my infirmary again. If Miss Schnee hasn't returned within the next ten minutes, I'll be forced to inform Miss Goodwitch. I'm sure a few detentions would set you kids straight. Bring her back. NOW._ "

Olivia ripped the blanket off herself and leapt from bed, immediately crossing the room to pull her shoes on. She hurried out into the hall, careful not to wake Ruby before speeding off. Olivia still clutched her scroll in one hand, and swiped through her contacts in order to call Weiss.

The scroll rang repeatedly, showing no sign that Weiss would pick up, or even had it in her possession anymore.

' _Think, Olivia, think!_ ' What could she do? Where could Weiss be?

Hit with sudden inspiration and forcing down her mounting dread, Olivia hung up the call to dial a new contact instead, one whose number she had only just received.

"Miss Mandevilla? I must say, this is a surprise. What-"

"Can you track Weiss's scroll!?" Olivia cut Ozpin off, already leaping down the last set of steps and exiting the dorm building into the brisk night air. She stopped once she was outside, eyes roaming the campus grounds uncertainly, not knowing where to go.

"Did something happen to Miss Schnee?" Ozpin's voice had lost its previous lightness, now possessing a commanding tone that demanded answers.

"The nursing staff messaged me. They think I snuck her out of the infirmary but I didn't. _Can you track her?_ "

"Only if her scroll is still on campus grounds and in her possession. Give me a moment," Ozpin replied hastily. A few seconds passed with Olivia nervously tapping her semblance infused heel into the steadily cracking pavement, body ready to break into a sprint in any of _many_ possible directions.

"Miss Schnee's scroll is in the combat arena," Ozpin's voice returned. Olivia's momentary relief shattered when Ozpin quickly continued, "Her aura level is _dropping_."

The web of cracked pavement suddenly widened with Olivia's first step, invisible pointed heel digging in to let her push off in a dead sprint towards the combat arena. It was a remote building, one of the few secluded places on Beacon grounds if someone wanted to execute her teammate. The only rooms it held were the arena itself, the changing rooms, and Miss Goodwitch's office. With Glynda down in Vale...

Olivia kept Ozpin on the line as she ran, ready to ask for assistance at a moment's notice if the situation warranted it. She could already hear the Headmaster in the background, speaking hurriedly with one of the pilots to prepare a Bullhead for take off. Olivia would have normally admired his dedication, but for the time being her thoughts were solely centered around Weiss.

A million thoughts ran through her head, bringing up ideas and dismissing them just as quickly. It couldn't be Widow. She would have murdered Weiss in her bed instead of going through the trouble of transporting her elsewhere. Adam, maybe? Could he have gotten past Beacon's security while so many of their personnel were being dedicated to efforts in Vale? Perhaps another member of the White Fang? There were no end of enemies for the Schnees.

Olivia was breathing heavily when she arrived outside the building. She slowed down, feeling out with her sixth sense while opening the first set of doors quietly. From this distance, she could only feel up to the last row of seats, the rest falling away into obscurity. Olivia crept into the hall, hoping to maintain the element of surprise if need be.

She peeked through the windows, and let out an audible sigh of relief upon seeing what lay within. Olivia brought one hand up to rub her face, and raised the scroll as well to speak into it and update Ozpin on the situation. Her heart was beating faster than it had in recent memory, but ever so slowly she was beginning to reign it back under control.

"It's fine, Oz."

"Are you sure? I'm headed-"

"No. There's no need," Olivia cut him off. She turned on her camera and faced it through the window, allowing the Headmaster to see what she already had.

"Weiss is just… training…" Olivia didn't know what else to call it. The heiress was sitting in the center of the arena floor, her back turned to the doors, knees pulled up and arms wrapped around them. A single, misty white glyph floated in the air, spinning lazily. She focused on it alone, chin buried in the space between her knees.

"I see…" Ozpin spoke lightly, now at least assured of his student's safety. Activating the camera had worked both ways, and Olivia could see some hesitance on his face when she spun the scroll towards herself once more. Ozpin looked at her keenly, seeming to judge her silently through the scroll's lense. He continued speaking after a few moments, tone betraying a modicum of the hesitance his features held. "Miss Mandevilla… I will be stuck in Vale for most of the night. Would you, by chance… be willing to speak to her?"

Olivia looked back up through the window. Her heart went out to Weiss, seeing the heiress so alone. Her already petite figure being curled up in such a way only emphasized how empty the rest of the room truly was.

Doubt ebbed away at Olivia's mind though. She bit her lip, looking back down to Ozpin with a worried frown. "What do I say? I want to help her, but… what if I only make things worse?"

The edge of Ozpin's lip curled into a smile, "I'm certain your presence alone will do wonders for Miss Schnee's current state of mind. All you must do is offer your friendship, Miss Mandevilla. Extend your hand, lend an ear. Let your teammate know that you're there for her."

"You make it sound so simple…"

Ozpin laughed softly, "It is for most. But even heroes falter, Miss Mandevilla. It is those who continue to _try_ that succeed in the end."

Olivia stared at Weiss for a few long moments, working up her own courage. ' _I owe it to her to be the best teammate- No. The best_ friend _I can be…_ '

"Thanks, Oz," Olivia offered him a small smile of her own, then shook her head with a quiet laugh. "I can see why Qrow likes you so much."

Ozpin grinned, "Qrow struggled with empathy as well, once upon a time." He nodded in satisfaction, finger moving towards the button to end the call. "Best of luck, Miss Mandevilla. I believe in you…"

Olivia didn't have a chance to reply before the call ended. She sighed, pushing out all thoughts on Cinder's schemes in favor of her current predicament. Olivia slipped the scroll back into her pocket, even as she opened the door to slip inside. She was careful not to make any noise, intent on giving herself as much time as possible to prepare for the conversation ahead.

Not for the first time that night, Olivia's plans were immediately flushed down the drain. "I know you're there, Olivia. Human senses might not be as fine tuned as the faunus's, but we aren't _deaf_ either."

Olivia was only shocked for a moment before letting out a small laugh, "Guess I should stop underestimating you then, huh?" She walked down the steps and into the arena, then sat down next to Weiss with her legs crossed and their shoulders brushing against each other. Olivia raised her eyes to the glyph that Weiss had created, the one the heiress refused to take her eyes off of. "What are you doing, Weiss? You should be in bed."

"I couldn't sleep," Weiss replied simply. From so close, Olivia could still hear the raspiness in her voice. The angry purple bruise had diminished greatly, however. Now it was a much lighter shade of green, with some small amount of yellowing mixed in.

"I don't think you'll have much better luck in here," Olivia rubbed both her own forearms with the opposite hands, feeling the mild chill in the air. "Not unless you like the cold."

The glyph immediately ignited, flames wreathing the exterior and expelling a wave of heat. Olivia's eyes flinched away from the sudden light, but Weiss remained unmoving. Olivia could see now that she was clutching a group of small Dust crystals in one hand, each type on display.

"Better?"

"Yeah, thanks…" Olivia replied.

They sat in silence for a while. Olivia was unsure what to say, but was content to simply stay by Weiss's side for the time being. Ozpin had said that her mere presence might be enough after all, and if Weiss wasn't willing to talk yet, Olivia had no intention of forcing her to.

Eventually, Weiss did speak. It was so sudden and quiet that Olivia nearly missed what she said.

"I'm sorry you had to do that."

Olivia hesitated, momentarily unsure of what Weiss was apologizing for until the sentence truly clicked. "You've got nothing to be sorry for, Weiss. It wasn't your fault you were attacked. It wasn't your fault that I was so late. If I'd arrived sooner…"

"You got there as quick as you could. You _saved_ me…" Weiss's shoulders began to shake, and she blinked back the moisture in her eyes while staring at the fiery glyph. "Everything was going dark… my body started feeling numb… I… I thought I was going to _die_ …"

"Well I couldn't let that happen, now could I?" Olivia asked. She wrapped an arm around Weiss and pulled her in partially, unsure of where exactly the heiress's boundaries lay at the moment.

Weiss went along with it, however. She leaned into the contact as Ruby had, seeking comfort in Olivia's embrace while keeping her hands wrapped around her knees. Tears were beginning to stream unabated down her cheeks, previous blinking now insufficient for stemming the tide.

Her voice came out in a raspy quaver, "Y-You killed him, for me…"

"And I would do it a million times over just to make sure you lived to see another day," Olivia confided, pulling Weiss in more tightly. "That might sound wrong, but… I've lost too many people in my life, Weiss. Friends… family… and now that I've finally managed to start making new ones again… I wouldn't give _any_ of you up for the world." Olivia sighed, " _I'm_ not sorry for what I had to do. There's no reason _you_ should be, either."

"But, it _couldn't_ have been _easy_ …"

Olivia frowned, glad that their current positions kept Weiss from seeing her face. Though she couldn't admit the truth to her, it _had_ been easy. What that said about Olivia as a person… she'd long since already known about herself.

"It wasn't," Olivia lied. She waited a few moments to let those words sink in, then shifted back to the truth, "But every second spent with you makes me more certain I made the _right_ choice."

Weiss exhaled shakily and leaned into Olivia more heavily, relying on the faunus to support her weight. She bore it unquestioningly, glad that her response had only served to draw Weiss closer instead of pushing her away.

Happy to have Weiss finally speaking and unwilling to let her fall into silence once more, Olivia decided to keep the conversation going with one of the night's revelations.

"I'm pretty sure Ruby knows Blake is a faunus now."

Olivia felt Weiss's eyebrows raise at that, but she remained staring at the glyph. "Really? If that's true then I'm glad it's finally out in the open, at least amongst our team. Blake can't be comfortable always wearing her bow like that."

Olivia laughed, " _That_ I can confirm. She goes into the bathroom all the time just to take it off and massage her ears. She gets _some_ relief when others aren't around."

Weiss shrugged minutely, "Now that we all know, she'll be able to keep it off in the dorm as long as the door is locked."

"So, that's two good things that came out of tonight."

Weiss shifted, turning to eye Olivia out of her periphery. "Two?"

Olivia chuckled, "Yeah. Ruby actually picked up after herself when she got back to the dorm. Seems our minor tirade earlier had some affect on her."

"Never thought I'd see the day," Weiss stated plainly. "I'll believe it when I see it though. We'll likely be finding her tights on the floor in a week."

"Hey, have some faith," Olivia laughed, "Ruby's full of surprises."

After a few moments, Weiss let out a quiet, "She is…" before returning to silence. Olivia frowned worriedly, but didn't know why the heiress's emotions had suddenly taken another dive.

"What's wrong?" She decided to ask the question blatantly, wanting to comfort Weiss further. It had been nice to have Weiss confide in her, if only a little.

The seconds ticked by while Weiss stared up at the glyph. After a minute had passed, the flames died out. The glyph returned to its typical, misty white appearance. Her breath trembling, Weiss sagged further in Olivia's grasp.

"It's my fault…"

Olivia's eyes widened in confusion, and she wrapped her other arm around Weiss as well to offer her support. "What is?"

"All those people… I didn't… I didn't react fast enough." The glyph shimmered, wavering in and out as Weiss began to lose concentration. Tears poured anew. After a few moments, the glyph vanished completely, snapping out of existence and leaving a wafting trail of silvery mist in its wake. Weiss's body shook, and she finally turned fully to embrace Olivia in a real hug, body racked with sobs.

"I-I could have saved _everyone_ if I acted sooner... If I'd blocked the bullets before they had a chance to fire... If I'd taken training more s-seriously… I've been picturing it in my h-head, over and over. I can't stop thinking about it! I-I let them die!"

"No," Olivia's heart sunk in her chest. " _Weiss_ , you can't think about it that way. You can't blame yourself for being _young_. You can't blame yourself for lacking _experience_. Someone else's actions _aren't_ on _you_. Everyone there did the _best_ they could. There are dozens of people _alive_ because of you. People that will be able to go home, people that will be able to see their families. All of them have _you_ to thank. Only… Only the White Fang is to blame for those that died..."

"What if they were just there for _me?_ " Weiss asked, shuddering in fear once the question was out in the open, once she was afraid of the possibility that Olivia might agree. "Why else would they attack a random bar? It… It _had_ to be because of me…"

"It wasn't."

"B-but-"

"It _wasn't_ ," Olivia repeated fiercely. "Who _knows_ why the White Fang did what they did tonight. We-... _I've_ never heard of them attacking citizens like that. Setting buildings on fire, killing guards, stealing from the SDC… _That's_ their usual M.O. _Not_ this."

"What else could it be…?"

Olivia bit her lip, knowing she couldn't reveal any of Cinder's secrets. "I… I don't know, but… I don't think they would have attacked like this if it was just _you_ they were after. Maybe they were trying to make a statement. Maybe the bar's owner wronged them in some way… As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter. Their choices are on _them_. You can't blame yourself for this."

Even without their faces being visible to each other, Olivia could feel the doubtful expression Weiss wore. Her assurances had fallen short. Though Weiss's body shook less, tears still fell down her face. Olivia hugged her even more tightly, desperate to make Weiss feel better, to help her in the same way the heiress had helped her the night before.

"I'm sorry that I don't know what to say, Weiss. I just… I _want_ you to be happy. You've grown on me these last couple weeks, and… I care about you." Olivia let out a short, singular laugh, "If someone told me a month ago that I'd end up with a Schnee heiress on my team and be _happy_ about it, I'd have called them crazy. _Or_ flown back to Mistral to _escape_ such a horrible fate~"

Weiss let out a sobbing laugh. She nuzzled her face more deeply into Olivia's neck, letting go of the Dust crystals to hold her more firmly instead, "Well, I'm glad to hear _that_ at least."

Olivia smiled widely when she heard Weiss laugh. She was surprised by her own previous admission, but quickly realized it was the pure, honest truth. Weiss had grown on her so much in such a short amount of time. She'd become precious to her, just as much as Ruby or Blake. She was a true friend. One of the best Olivia could have ever asked for.

Olivia allowed her hands to drift up and down Weiss's back in what she hoped was a soothing motion, trying to ease the pain her friend felt. "I'm here for you, Weiss. Whether we're training, fighting Grimm, the White Fang, or even just putting up with our teammates' antics… I'll stand by your side… You can turn to me when you need support, so please… the next time you're feeling down, don't seclude yourself. Come to me. I promise I'll do _whatever_ I can to help… even if I'm not good at this sort of thing..."

Weiss laughed once more, clearer, devoid of the sobbing rumbles that had been there before. "You're wrong about that. I'd say you're _very_ good at this... Thank you, Olivia." She pulled away, lifting herself out of Olivia's lap to regain some semblance of composure. Her blue eyes glimmered as she blinked away what remained of the moisture in her eyes. "I still believe the White Fang was there for _me_ , but… you're right. I shouldn't blame myself like that."

Olivia nodded her agreement while Weiss's eyes grew clouded with doubt. She stared at the faunus, hesitant to speak.

"Go on," Olivia smiled softly. "Let it out."

A smile flickered across Weiss's face, attempting to take the edge out of her next question. "How… How do you feel about the White Fang now? You wouldn't… defend their actions, right?"

Olivia shook her head sadly, "No… not this time. Fighting for equality or sticking it to the man is one thing, but the White Fang should _never_ be about killing innocent people. What they did tonight was wrong."

' _What_ I _let happen tonight…_ '

Weiss breathed a sigh of relief, the smile returning effortlessly to her face. "That's good to hear. I was worried, but… I wasn't thinking straight. I should have known you wouldn't approve of something like that. I'm sorry for doubting you."

"It's fine…" Olivia kept the smile from falling off her face.

Weiss's words were like a punch to the gut. Olivia's delight at helping dried up after being faced with the harsh truth. While Weiss definitely wasn't to blame for the events of the night, Olivia _was_. Cinder had told her the White Fang would attack, and she'd… she'd done nothing. Olivia had waited a minute upstairs as she'd been told, allowing Cinder to make her grand entrance before descending herself.

Because of her, Weiss had nearly died. Because of her, Blake and Ruby had been attacked. A hero wouldn't have let that happen.

' _Because you_ aren't _a hero… You're only playing pretend..._ ' Widow's words came back to haunt her. Words that, deep down, part of Olivia _agreed_ with. How could she hope for redemption after all she'd done? Was all of this just some ploy to make _herself_ feel better? Could she ever _truly_ be a hero?

Weiss interrupted Olivia's thoughts by wiping the tears from her eyes. She dabbed her cheeks, trying to rid herself of the watery residue. "Are you ready to head back to the dorm? I think… I might be able to sleep now."

Olivia stood up and offered a hand down, one that Weiss seemed all too pleased to accept. She pulled her to her feet with ease, all the while trying to push out the doubts crowding her mind.

"Are you sure you don't want to go back to the infirmary?"

Weiss shrugged, "I don't see the need. I can breath easily enough and my aura is back in full effect. I should be healed by the time we wake for breakfast."

Olivia grinned, rubbing a hand across the back of her head, "Well, it would be pretty hypocritical of me if I tried to force someone _else_ back into that place. Besides, I think my ten minutes was up ten minutes ago."

"Ten minutes? What do you mean?"

Olivia started towards the stairs, pulling Weiss along by the hand as they left together. "Oh, I found out you escaped the infirmary because the nurses sent me an angry message, demanding I bring you back ' _or else_ '." She flashed Weiss a smug smile, "I thought it was beneath you to... How did you put it? 'Skulk in the shadows'?"

Weiss's cheeks colored slightly, and she glanced off to the side while giving her response, "I didn't have to _sneak_. They were just… busy."

"Waited for the opportune moment, eh?" Olivia bumped her shoulder into Weiss, content to remain in the moment instead of dwelling on her previous thoughts. "Guess I am rubbing off on you after all."

"Maybe that isn't such a bad thing…" Weiss spoke quietly, a small smile gracing her lips.

"Oh, trust me. It _is_ , Princ-" Olivia stopped short, shooting the other girl an apologetic smile before continuing. "Sorry, that's going to take some getting used to."

"I don't mind it."

Olivia's eyebrows rose in surprise, and she stared at Weiss, wondering if she'd just heard the heiress correctly. "Come again?"

Weiss's cheeks were still dusted a slight shade of red, but she spoke with conviction, "I kind of like the name, or at least, what it entails. It's sort of… our own little thing. Like Yang calling you 'short stack', or the way you always call Ruby 'kid'. I don't mind if you slip up now and then."

"Well… I'll keep that in mind," Olivia replied. It was surprising to say the least, but not altogether unwarranted. Weiss was right about the nicknames already being thrown around. Olivia wouldn't continue doing that to Ruby if they weren't close, and while 'Princess' had _started off_ as an insult, it had slowly worked its way into becoming a term of endearment between them.

Weiss groaned, stretching out while they walked by raising the opposite hand from the one Olivia still held. Her body creaked and her back popped, still overcoming the day's rigors. "Oh, I don't know _how_ I'm going to deal with classes tomorrow. I can't even imagine sitting through one of Port's lectures right now."

"No worries. Our team and Lion don't have to take classes for the next couple days. Special orders from ol' Ozpin. We _will_ have to attend private discussions with either him or Goodwitch, though," Olivia shrugged at the curious expression on Weiss's face. "I'd guess therapy sessions, just in case there were any… _lasting effects_ on the younger students involved."

"Like say, someone blaming themselves for what happened…?"

Olivia grinned, "Yeah. Good thing nobody would believe something silly like that, right?"

"Right…"

"If I get detention for not bringing you back to the infirmary though, that _will_ be your fault," Olivia teased.

"If _you_ go down, _I_ go down."

Olivia's lips parted, ready to make a jab at the phrasing Weiss had used but stopping herself. She remembered the promise she'd made earlier that night. Nicknames might be one thing, but she didn't want to tease the heiress and make her uncomfortable now that she knew Weiss shared the same sexual orientation.

Olivia became all too aware of the fact they were still holding hands and gently slipped hers free, raising it as if to stretch. She took a wide step away as well, distancing herself an extra foot from Weiss's side.

' _None of that,_ ' Olivia reprimanded herself silently. ' _She's a…_ '

Olivia's train of thought faded into obscurity. The excuse that Weiss was a 'Schnee' no longer held any weight. Olivia didn't care about that anymore. Weiss was her teammate. Her friend. Someone she could turn to in a time of need, and someone she hoped would do the same in kind.

Olivia let her gaze stray over, looking at Weiss from the corner of her periphery. The sky blue eyes, the delicate smile playing at her lips, the beautiful mane of white hair flowing down her back. Weiss was intelligent, kind, and forgiving. Her laughter was like a song and her flashes of anger were enticing. Martially she may have been Olivia's inferior, but she was quickly remedying that through training, becoming far more competent in such a short span of time.

' _She's…_ '

Olivia paused, reflecting on herself. The years of bloodshed, the many mistakes she'd made. Olivia wasn't intelligent or studious like Weiss… Past revenge proved that she wasn't forgiving… A member of the White Fang, an assassin, and now… a failure of a pretend hero. All in all...

' _She's too good for me..._ '

Weiss flashed her a smile as they walked and Olivia reciprocated in kind, but deep down, she could only sigh in remorse.

She needed another drink.

And she needed to talk with Cinder.


	62. Self Doubt

Gentle rays of sunlight were only just beginning to peek their way through a slight gap in the window shades by the time Ruby's alarm began to sound. Ruby woke with a surprised snort, eyes opening blearily and hand searching by hearing alone to follow it to the source. She found her scroll a few moments later, and swiped her finger across the screen to end the torturous tune.

Ruby breathed a tired sigh and sat up in bed, rubbing a hand across her eyes to rid herself of the vestiges of sleep. She opened them to discover the room exactly as she'd left it, aside from Olivia now also being awake. She was sitting up in bed with her back against the wall, an open book propped up in her lap. Squinting in the low light, Ruby could also see a slight puffiness around her eyes, as if she'd failed to get any rest at all.

' _I thought so…_ ' Ruby had known Olivia was faking the night before, but hadn't wanted to pressure her into speaking. Whatever happened inside the club was clearly troubling them all, and Olivia was no exception. It had been a long time since Yang went full sister mode, and to see Olivia agreeing so vehemently only inspired Ruby's vivid imagination.

They clearly wanted to protect her, but even so, it was _her_ duty as leader to look after the wellbeing of everyone on the team. So what if they were more experienced?

Ruby yawned, holding her hands above her head to stretch. "Good morning."

"Good morning," Olivia replied automatically.

"Did you get much sleep?" Ruby already knew the answer, but asked anyway to see how Olivia would respond. The younger girl hopped down from her bed to move to her dresser, ready to begin the day fresh despite the previous night's incidents. She stopped in surprise when a brief groan sounded next to her, revealing Weiss to have already returned to their dorms.

"Plenty." Olivia let out a tired laugh, closing the book in her hands. "You're up pretty early yourself. Planning to check on Blake?"

"Yup. Wanna come with me?" Ruby opened her dresser and pulled out her usual outfit, black and red corset with matching combat skirt. "The nurses said she'd be mostly healed up by morning, but if not then we can grab her breakfast on the way."

Olivia glanced over at Weiss, considering Ruby's offer. "Do you want to wait a bit longer until Weiss wakes up? I don't think… She shouldn't be alone right now, that's all."

Ruby eyed Weiss worriedly, "You didn't tell me what happened to her last night…"

Olivia smiled sadly at the heiress, "I wanted to spare you the details, but considering what Weiss told me last night… Maybe you can get through to her?" She sighed, following it up with a small, uncertain shrug of her shoulders. "Weiss was blaming herself for what happened. I _might_ have helped her get past some of her guilt? At least I hope I did… She thinks the White Fang was there for her. You know, Schnee heiress and all that… There's plenty of faunus that would love to try and take down a Schnee, let alone anyone from the White Fang."

Ruby sent the sleeping Weiss a pitying look. ' _She shouldn't be blaming herself for something like that._ ' Olivia was clearly having troubles convincing her, but Ruby now knew at least one person that could say for certain. Blake had assured her that she wasn't part of the organization any more, but even so, she might have some insight into why else they might have attacked that club in particular.

' _Weiss wouldn't have any more reason to believe Blake though, not unless she revealed herself as an ex-member._ '

"You don't think they were after her?" Ruby asked, just to be sure. From the way Olivia had said it, it didn't sound like she agreed with Weiss's assessment.

Olivia waved a hand dismissively, "Of course not. If you want to assassinate someone then you don't make a big _show_ out of it. There were too many bystanders there, not to mention how only _one_ actually attacked Weiss." She shook her head, "The White Fang was there for something else entirely. Either that, or they really just suck at their jobs."

"That makes sense," Ruby agreed after spending a few moments thinking on it. She'd seen plenty of news stories about the White Fang in Vale. By all accounts, they were incredibly efficient and always managed to get away relatively unscathed. If Blake had been one of them until recently, then there was no wonder they'd managed to do so well for so long.

On the other hand, Ruby couldn't imagine what else the White Fang might have been there for. The club had held humans and faunus alike. They _seemed_ to be getting along well enough. Could it really have been some personal vendetta, and only a _coincidence_ that Weiss was there?

' _I'll just have to ask Blake_ ,' Ruby decided finally. Fretting over it here wouldn't do her any good.

Ruby bundled up her clothes and pointed her feet towards the bathroom door, ready to get dressed and hurry down ahead of her teammates. "You should definitely stay here until Weiss wakes up. She'll feel better having someone there for her when she does. I… need to go check on Blake. There's something I need to talk with her about, uh-" Ruby quickly thought up an excuse, "I want to make sure that man doesn't come after her again. Or at least prepare in case he does."

"You and me both, kid. If Weiss feels up to it, we'll meet you down there?"

Ruby stepped into the bathroom, "Sounds like a plan. Message me when you do. Blake might be well enough to meet in the cafeteria instead, after all."

Really, she just wanted a warning before her teammates showed up. It would be important if they chose to reveal Blake's secret that it was at the appropriate time, under the right conditions. Ruby didn't think Olivia would really mind at all, considering how highly she spoke of the White Fang. Weiss, however, was an entirely different ordeal. Ruby could only imagine how a truth like that might tear her teammates apart. After fixing the divide between Olivia and Weiss, Ruby didn't want to go through it all again with Blake in her stead.

Olivia nodded assent and shuffled in bed, pushing away from the wall to lay down while facing towards Weiss. "Let Blake know I hope she feels better, and… we'll definitely talk later. For now, I'm going to try and get a little more sleep."

"Consider your message delivered!" Ruby whispered. She closed the door behind herself and quickly changed before heading out, making sure to remain as silent as possible in the hopes of not disturbing her teammates' slumber.

There were no signs of life from the dorm across the hall as Ruby left. With the way her sister had been acting the night prior, Ruby knew she would need to talk to her as well, sooner rather than later. She'd always been good at cheering others up, especially Yang. There wasn't anything quite like a hug from your sweet younger sister to free you from all your earthly woes.

The trip from the dorm to the infirmary was brisk enough, hallways and walkways littered with various students that were easily bypassed by a lone girl of small stature. Ruby overheard many talking about the terrorist attack along the way, most details of which were either overly exaggerated or outright _wrong_.

' _Twenty Bullheads? Where on Remnant would the White Fang get their hands on twenty Bullheads? It was shocking enough that they managed to steal two!_ '

Ruby rolled her eyes in exasperation and chose to ignore the idle gossip she overheard. People liked to make events sound far more extravagant than they actually were, and it appeared that Beacon students were no exception.

There was only one nurse working the front counter when Ruby entered the waiting room to the infirmary. She gave a polite wave when the woman looked up from behind her desk, a gesture that was reciprocated in kind. The nurse's smile was tense, though, as if she'd been reminded of something she'd rather not have been upon seeing Ruby.

The young huntress shrugged it off once the nurse turned back to her work, figuring Olivia had done something to earn the staff's ire again. She set off for Blake's room, and took a moment to smooth out her clothes once she'd arrived. Ruby knocked, hoping she hadn't chosen to come down too early. No matter what Olivia said, Blake's injury had certainly _looked_ serious to Ruby. It was worse than any she'd ever seen.

"Come in!" Blake's voice called out from beyond the door, muffled by the wood and followed by an indistinct yawn.

Ruby opened the door and peeked inside, making sure Blake was decent before entering fully. Blake was laying where Ruby had left her the night previously, now resting on her back as opposed to her stomach. The nurses had said she would be free to switch positions once her aura was in full effect, bandages and stitches alike working in tandem to shore up the damaged tissue.

Blake's face had recovered much of its color from the night before. She no longer looked drained, but healthy and refreshed. Ruby smiled happily despite the issues weighing on her mind, glad that her friend had managed to recover in such a short amount of time.

"I didn't expect you this early. Are you sure you got enough rest?" Blake asked worriedly.

"Pfft, me? I'm fine!" Ruby brushed off her concern. In truth, she hadn't slept _well_ , but she _had_ slept. ' _Even so, I'm not the injured one here!_ '

"That's good to hear," Blake nodded acceptance, reaching over to pat the chair next to her. "I know we left things… unresolved, last night. Was there more you wanted to ask me?"

"There were some things I still wanted to know, yeah…" Ruby took the seat offered and smoothed out her skirt, deciding to pass along the promised message. It would give her a few more moments to think about how she wanted to tackle their issues, after all. "Olivia says she hopes you're feeling better, and that she'll talk with you later."

"I'll hold her to that…" Blake spoke in a very subdued manner. She perked up after a few seconds, raising her eyes to Ruby's. "But for now… I suppose you wanted to know more about my time with the White Fang?"

"...A little bit," Ruby agreed timidly. "How'd you join them in the first place?"

"Right," Blake chuckled, raising a finger to scratch her chin awkwardly. "Makes sense you'd ask that. I guess you could say... I was born into it? My father… My father was the one that started the White Fang in the first place."

"Your-!?" Ruby stopped herself, placing a hand over her own mouth to stifle the words begging to come out. She released her hand a few moments later, dropping her voice into what could at least pass as a shocked whisper. "Your _dad_ is the leader of the White Fang!?"

" _Was_ ," Blake corrected with a small shake of her head. "The White Fang used to be peaceful back when he was the leader. We organized rallies, held petitions and marches, boycotted goods created through unjust faunus labor and working conditions… But, humans kept disrupting them. Attacking us on the road or harassing us at protests, doing everything in their power to keep the faunus down, to make sure we remained second class citizens."

Ruby's eyes widened, "What changed all that?"

"Sienna Khan. She replaced my father when the faunus started becoming disillusioned with his tactics. We weren't getting through to the humans. We managed to bring about _some_ change, but once Sienna took over…" Blake sighed, "Lien makes the world go 'round… The humans responsible for suppressing us were suddenly _much_ more amiable when they couldn't profit from it. We robbed stores, burned down buildings, and ransacked shipments of everything from food to Dust. The humans were _forced_ to respect us, else they would invite swift retribution."

Ruby frowned, "So why'd you leave?"

"Because we started going too far. I thought it was bad before, but with what happened last night…"

Ruby could see the pain behind Blake's eyes. Pain for what the White Fang had become, for what they'd done. She reached a hand out to place it overtop Blake's, offering up her support.

Blake smiled in thanks, reassured that Ruby wasn't there to judge her, only to understand. "I never thought my father's creation would turn into what it is now. I was impatient before. I saw the results that Sienna was bringing about and decided to stay in the White Fang, even after my parents left. Adam's gone too far, though. I can't condone his actions. He was bad before, but… something's pushed him even further."

Blake bit her lip, hand turning over to grasp Ruby's. "What if… What if _I_ was the only thing holding him back? What if, now that I'm not there…"

Ruby squeezed, interrupting Blake's train of thought and bringing her eyes back to her. "Don't think that way. You aren't responsible." She paused, reminded of the earlier issue brought to light that morning. "Neither is Weiss."

Blake's brow furrowed, "Weiss? What do you mean?"

Ruby hesitated a moment, sincerely hoping that Blake would be able to assuage her doubts. "Weiss thinks the White Fang attacked the club because they were going after her. She blames herself for the people that died, since in her mind they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Blake's eyes widened, "No... No way. Adam already _agreed_ -" She cut herself off with a start, averting her gaze while deep in thought.

' _Agreed?_ '

Parts of the conversation from the night before came back to Ruby, words that had been exchanged between Blake and Adam. 'If you hurt us, _she_ won't be happy about it.' Afterwards, Blake had declared that Weiss was inside, and said 'If you think attacking me will make _her_ angry…'

"Who were you threatening Adam with?" Ruby asked slowly. "You mentioned a girl. Did you mean Sienna?"

Blake's hand pulled away from Ruby's, moving to instead fidget nervously with the other in her lap. "...I…" She glanced in Ruby's direction, clearly torn over how she should respond. "I wasn't talking about _Sienna_ …"

Ruby's confusion was palpable. Adam had seemed incredibly strong. Strong enough that even Ruby had her doubts on whether or not the two of them could have held their own, even _with_ their weapons. As far as she was aware, it wasn't often you came across someone powerful enough to cause harm _through_ aura.

' _Who would someone like Adam be afraid of, then?_ '

After a few long, drawn out seconds, Blake gave her head a small shake. "I'm sorry. It isn't my secret to give."

Given no answer and no other recourse, Ruby couldn't help but mull the question over in her head. ' _Another girl, most likely a faunus… she would have to be incredibly skilled to pose a threat to Adam… and she would need a reason to want to protect us, specifically. Me, Blake, and Weiss…_ '

It clicked in her mind, obvious after all the facts had been considered. "It's Olivia, isn't it?" The answer seemed clear enough to her. Who else fit?

Blake froze in panic, giving Ruby all the answers she needed.

"How does _Olivia_ know Adam? Unless…" Ruby connected the dots further, expanding on the recent deductions she'd made. She couldn't help but laugh incredulously, realizing exactly what secret the pair of them had been keeping. " _Wow_ , Weiss has some really bad luck to end up with _two_ White Fang members on her team."

"Ex! Ex-White Fang!" Blake said in a panic, making sure her point was driven home. "Olivia and I, neither of us are in it anymore." She reached back out to grab Ruby's hand, suddenly pleading, "Please, you can't tell Weiss any of this. She-"

"Blake!" Ruby interrupted in exasperation, "I'm not stupid! I _know_ how Weiss would react if she found that out! Do you think I _want_ to break our team apart!?"

Blake's mouth moved for a few moments without any sound coming out. She finally came back to herself, giving her head a small shake. "No, you're right. I just… like I said, it wasn't my secret to give. I didn't want to break Olivia's trust."

Ruby sighed, taking a moment to consider what she'd learned. No matter what their pasts were, all she cared about was the here and _now_. Blake was worried about what Ruby would think of her, worried what she'd think of Olivia now that their secret was out. In the ensuing silence, Ruby looked deep within to consider how she truly felt.

"I understand. I don't think any less of her. I don't think less of _either_ of you." She'd seen how the faunus were mistreated at times. Ruby could understand wanting to fight back against oppression. On top of that, she _knew_ her teammates. Perhaps not as well as she'd thought, but Ruby could see the _good_ in them. Blake might like keeping to herself more often than not, and Olivia always doubted herself, but they were both undeniably trying to change for the _better_.

"You… you mean that?" Blake asked tentatively, amber eyes staring worriedly into silver.

Ruby smiled, "It _is_ a bit of a shock, but… you saved my _life_ , Blake. How could I possibly think less of you after something like that?" She eyed the bandages within view, saddened to know her actions had caused Blake pain. "You could have dodged that attack. Instead, you took it for me… _Thank you_."

A hesitant smile flickered across Blake's lips. Ruby could see her eyes beginning to brim, quickly dashed away by a few rapid blinks of long lashes. Blake turned her head away in embarrassment, and raised her free hand to wipe away at the tears that fell across her cheeks.

Worried, Ruby stood from her chair and clutched Blake's hand more tightly, "Blake! I'm sorry! Was it something I said!?"

Blake let out a shaky laugh, a slight warble in its tone. "N-No, Ruby. Of course not. I… I'm just…" she sniffed and shook her head back and forth, "It's been so long since… since someone thanked me for doing something _good_. I guess I'm just… I'm just really happy, you know?"

"Ohhh~" Ruby smiled and leaned forward, wrapping both arms around Blake in the fiercest hug she dared to give. "Well, get used to it! With me as leader, I'll never forget to thank my teammates for what they do!"

Ruby felt Blake's arms wrap slowly around her in kind, returning the hug with much less ferocity. Ever so slowly, the contact strengthened, until Ruby was more so laying across the bed than standing on her own two feet.

' _Ruby hugs are the best hugs~_ ' she quietly hummed to herself, glad that Blake had finally reciprocated. It was nearly thirty seconds later before Blake sighed in contentment, and pulled away to allow Ruby to stand once more.

"So, now that's out of the way… we need to convince Weiss as well," Blake said. "Have any ideas? Revealing my past or Olivia's is out of the question, but… what else can we do?"

Ruby sat back down and raised a hand to her chin, stroking it thoughtfully while pondering the question that had been raised once again. Ruby wanted to help Weiss as she'd just done for Blake, but with how standoffish her partner could be, she doubted a hug would do the trick.

"Weiss needs evidence. Olivia already tried to convince her and failed. Maybe…" An idea came to Ruby's mind, slowly forming into more than just a passing thought. Her eyes sought out Blake's, expression mirroring the doubts for her own plan. "What if we captured someone in the White Fang and asked them directly?"

Blake's expression soured, immediately causing Ruby to raise her hands and wave them frantically, "We don't have to if you don't want to! I know you'd run the risk of exposing yourself! It's been a while since you were a member though, right? There should be some new recruits that don't know you… If we can work together and catch one, then we can have Weiss ask them instead!"

Blake sighed, "I don't know, Ruby… It's risky, to say the least. On top of that, I don't think Olivia will want to put _you_ at risk, either."

Ruby crossed her arms defiantly, "I'm _not_ helpless. What's one or two White Fang members to a Huntress like me? With the rest of you at my side, there shouldn't be any problems!"

"Huntress in _training_ ," Blake corrected, but quickly flashed an apologetic smile when Ruby's eyes narrowed further. " _Not_ that I think you couldn't take down a few of them by yourself. Just that _Olivia_ might not see it that way."

"She doesn't have to come if she doesn't want to."

Blake made a small 'tsk' sound, "You _know_ she will if _you_ do. Do you really think _Weiss_ would be okay with this plan either, though?"

Ruby frowned, "I don't see why not. She's always had a bone to pick with them. We wouldn't need to _hurt_ the Fang member, anyway. What's there to worry about?"

"Weiss is already a potential target, Ruby. Drawing more attention to herself could be the exact _opposite_ of what she needs."

"Then we just go _ourselves_ ," Ruby blurted out. She knew it was a bad idea as soon as she said it. How would they pull off something like that?

Blake opened her mouth to argue, then paused in thought. She frowned as well, eyes going to the ceiling as if actually considering the sudden proposition. After a few moments, her eyes returned, an uncertainty in her gaze.

"We… could do that. If Adam hasn't moved the safehouse in Vale, then I'll be able to lead us to it. There aren't usually many members stationed there, since that would draw suspicion. We could sneak in-"

"What!? That's-" Ruby stopped herself, wanting to say 'that's crazy!'. At the same time, she was _tired_ of being underestimated. ' _Where's the harm? I took out a dozen of Torchwick's men! I can do this!_ '

Even so, the proposition of going with only Blake by her side was daunting. She had the utmost confidence in her friend, but to go without the other _half_ of their team?

"How would that help us prove to Weiss that she wasn't the target?" Ruby said, backtracking on her own idea. "We'd have to call her up on our scrolls or something while we were still holding the White Fang member captive… Unless you think she'd just _believe_ us. Then we might as well not and say we did…"

"We could get a recording?" Blake suggested, face still twisted with her own self-doubt.

Ruby scoffed, "Yeah, that would look great. ' _Hey, Weiss! Watch this video! No, don't mind that he's tied to a chair! Just listen to what he's saying!_ ' We'd look like total maniacs!"

"Maybe, but at least Weiss would have some peace of mind…"

Ruby's mouth worked despite no sound coming out. She finally gave up with a sigh, sitting back in her chair to allow herself to calm down and try to think rationally. "Let's just… consider that as a last resort. We can try and convince Weiss the regular way first. Who knows, Headmaster Ozpin sent those messages to us about having one on one meetings, maybe the teachers will manage to get through to Weiss. We don't need to rush into anything just yet."

After a moment, Blake nodded acceptance. "You're right. We can wait and see what happens with her session before we make any big decisions like that. If it comes down to it… I would feel better having Olivia with us."

"She'd try and stop us from going at all… and Weiss is smart. She'd wonder how you knew _where_ a White Fang hideout was…" Ruby shook her head, " _If_ we end up doing this, it has to be _just_ the two of us."

Blake stared at Ruby carefully, "You'd have to follow my lead. No arguing, no second-guessing what I tell you. If I say run, you run."

"Pfft, we won't have to-"

" _Ruby_ ," Blake cut her off, a note of absolute resolution in her voice. "If I say run, you _run_. Promise me that, or I'll never agree to go."

Ruby grimaced in mild defiance, but seeing the worried look on Blake's face, changed her mind. Her shoulders slackened, and she let out a small sigh of defeat.

"Alright, I promise. If the teachers can't help Weiss and we end up going through with our plan… I'll do whatever you say. No arguments."

Blake continued staring at her for a few moments, trying to determine whether or not Ruby was lying. Seeming satisfied, she nodded.

"I'll hold you to that."

Ruby opened her mouth to speak once more, but was interrupted by a loud rumbling sound coming from Blake's stomach. The cat faunus's face brightened, and she pressed a hand against her midriff to try and quell its complaints.

Feeling the tension dissipate immediately, Ruby smiled and glanced towards the door. "So, feeling up for a walk to the cafeteria, or do you want me to get you something?"

"Let me see…" The color slowly faded from Blake's cheeks, though a slight tinge remained. She shifted in bed, using her hands to prop herself up and test the muscles in her back. A few seconds passed before she gave a satisfied nod and spun on the bed, resting her feet over the edge while taking another moment to check how she felt.

"I think I can manage. The nurses might not like it if I leave so soon, though."

Ruby grinned, "It won't be the first time a member of our team snuck out beneath their noses. I think they're already mad at Olivia again anyway."

Blake laughed, standing up and spotting what remained of her clothes across the room. If she put her pants back on, the hospital gown would serve well enough as a shirt if she tucked it in.

"If anyone asks, Olivia was the one to bust me out."

Ruby laughed as well as she stepped to the door and opened it, letting herself out into the hall to allow Blake some privacy while she got dressed. "See you in a few~"

She closed the door and pulled out her scroll, sending Olivia a quick update that the pair of them would be in the dining hall. ' _Just in case Weiss wakes up soon._ '

All things considered, Ruby was nervous about the prospect of going through with their plan. She would rather find some way to talk Weiss out of her guilt instead of risking her own and Blake's lives on a secret mission.

At the same time though, Ruby was tired of being underestimated. Nerves or no, she knew she was a capable young woman. Fighting Torchwick's goons had been a cinch. She doubted an untrained White Fang member or two would pose much of a threat.

' _As long as we're careful…_ '

Ruby was confident they could pull it off.

* * *

Olivia shifted restlessly in bed, turning on her stomach to stuff a pillow over her head and try to drown out the world. With it, she hoped to ignore the thoughts that ailed her. All it managed to do was suffocate the light from her eyes though, a fact that held little meaning when she could still distinctly feel every aspect of the room around her.

' _What should I do…?_ '

Olivia had been asking herself that question all night, with little in the way of an actual answer. She was riddled with guilt, both for what had happened to her friends, and for what she had _let_ happen to so many others.

For years, all she'd had to call her own was pride in her work, the renown that came with being the 'Black Lotus'. She couldn't go back on her word. A deal was a deal, and Olivia _owed_ Cinder for helping her escape Mistral in the first place. To turn her back on her now went against every fiber of her being, except…

' _Are you just going to keep pretending to be a good person?_ '

Olivia knew what Cinder and the others were doing was wrong. Killing innocent people went against what she stood for as well. Even as the Black Lotus, she had always kept her contracts centered around those with shady dealings of their own. Other members of the underworld, gang leaders, corrupt politicians… never innocents.

' _At least, not when I could help it…_ '

Vasilias had been innocent. A man brutally drowned, left for his child to find in their pool… Olivia had thought him responsible for the deaths of the White Fang at the time, only to find out that Widow had driven them all to it. How much blame had truly rested on his shoulders?

' _And the Alabasters?_ ' Olivia had hunted the married couple down with Widow at her side, targets whose death had felt wholly justified upon discovering her brother's weapon in their possession.

Olivia rolled back over restlessly, scrubbing her hands across her face. ' _Even if I did turn against Cinder… How long would it be before they revealed_ my _secrets?_ ' Olivia tightened her hand as it began to shake, mind immediately envisioning how her friends would respond. She would be an outcast again, bereft of all the ties helping her to become a better person.

Ruby, staring at her in fear and disappointment. Yang, holding her sister back, protecting her from the monster Olivia truly was. Ren and Nora, eyes full of pity but incapable of bringing themselves to reach out, knowing that she had been lying to them all along. Blake, disgusted to discover the secrets she'd been helping to protect.

Weiss, unable to forgive her.

Olivia let out a rattling sigh, opening her eyes to try and rid herself of the mental image. She stared at the bunk above her, no closer to a decision than she had been so many hours before.

The quiet rustle of movement and a soft groan from across the room interrupted Olivia's thoughts and announced Weiss coming to consciousness. The heiress grumbled minutely, curling up more tightly on her bed while burying her face deeply into her pillow. Olivia smiled, glad at least one of them was getting the rest they deserved.

' _Maybe I helped more than I thought…_ '

Weiss jolted up from her bed in the next instant. She gasped loudly, hand moving to her throat as if fending off an attacker. Olivia was on her feet immediately, silently reprimanding herself for being so foolish as to believe she could help anyone.

"Weiss! You're okay!" Olivia stated quickly, waving her hands in the other girl's field of view to help orient her with her surroundings, instead of whatever nightmare-scape still gripped her in its clutches.

Weiss's wide eyes settled on Olivia, taking a moment to comprehend the other girl's presence. She let out a shaky sigh once she had, blinking back the slight wetness that had appeared and laying back down with a huff. Weiss brought her arm up, burying her face in the crease of her elbow.

Olivia bit her lip, psyching herself up to at least try and help again. ' _Practice makes perfect, right?_ ' She stepped tentatively forward, turning slightly to sit awkwardly on the edge of Weiss's bed and offer up her presence once more.

The pair remained quiet for a few long seconds, Olivia debating what to say while Weiss got her breathing back under control. The heiress beat her to the punch, speaking up while Olivia failed to think of something to say that might make her feel better.

"It was just a dream. Nothing to worry about," Weiss said calmly. Olivia could tell that she was more so trying to assure herself, an almost imperceptible tremble remaining in the tone of her voice.

Olivia let out a soft chuckle, "Yeah, that's what I always tell myself, too." She stared down at Weiss, the heiress still blocking her own vision with her forearm, "Wanna talk about it?"

Weiss gave a small shrug from her place on the bed, "What would be the point? You probably already know what I was dreaming about…"

Olivia considered the question for a few seconds, shifting a little further onto the bed to gain a modicum of comfort. "Well, I guess… If there's one thing you've taught me over the last couple days, it's that opening up and sharing with those you can trust… It does help... It certainly made _me_ feel better."

Weiss remained motionless for a time before slowly pulling her arm away, revealing the tear tracks that had grown while her face was obscured. She wiped her blanket across her face, trying to rid herself of the evidence after Olivia had already seen it. With a weary sigh, she pulled herself up into a sitting position and leaned back against the headboard, patting the space next to her to let Olivia know she should move closer.

Olivia did so without complaint, drawing herself fully onto the bed to sit next to Weiss. The heiress was still firmly tucked beneath her blanket while Olivia sat atop it, Weiss clutching the edge while silently considering what to say.

"It… it was that faunus… the White Fang member… I dreamt he was strangling me again, but this time I was still in my bed, not at the bar…"

Olivia nodded her understanding, "Sorry you had to go through that, Weiss." She pondered how best to continue, wanting to assure her that nothing like that could ever happen within the dorm. "If it makes you feel any better, there's not a chance in hell _anyone_ would be able to get in here without waking me up."

Weiss glanced in her direction, "Your sixth sense still works that well in your sleep?"

"Yup. If anyone I didn't know or trust came anywhere near our room, I'd be the first to know about it." Olivia shrugged, "I can typically tell who's who, as long as I've felt their presence before. Everyone is a little bit distinct, though being around them more often still helps."

"Really?" Weiss tilted her head slightly. She grinned a moment later, "I'm not still 'like a car alarm' anymore, am I?"

Olivia laughed, "No, not by a long shot." She felt out, taking stock of exactly how 'threatening' Weiss's presence was before pausing in confusion. Somehow, the sense she was getting from the heiress had managed to become even more muted, paling by far in comparison to what it once had been. If Olivia had to compare, she would have guessed it was even lower than Ruby's. Lower even than Widow's had ever been.

Weiss noticed the frown on Olivia's face and raised an eyebrow, "What? What's wrong?"

Olivia shook her head, confused by the development but choosing to ignore it for the time being. "Nothing. I was just thinking about what we could do to help you." She looked away sheepishly, uncertain on whether or not Weiss would appreciate what she was going to say next. "I uh, told Ruby about how you felt. I know I wasn't able to convince you so I hoped she might be able to in my stead."

Weiss scoffed, "If you couldn't then how would Ruby manage to? It isn't about my feelings, anymore. I just…" She trailed off, a haziness appearing in her eyes while she thought deeply. "I don't think there's anything anyone could do, really. Not without finding out for certain why the White Fang was there."

"Did he… say anything? I know it might hurt to think about, but…"

Weiss frowned, lip raising in a grimace while she recalled the night's events. "He _was_ talking at first, but I don't really remember much of what he said. I was a little too busy trying not to die… Something about rules, and… a… a 'race traitor'?"

' _Weiss not remembering is for the best. I'm probably the 'race traitor' he was referring to, after all. I doubt Widow went around giving out my real name to any of them either. Still, with no proof to go off of, I can't convince her that they weren't there for her…_ '

Olivia gave a somber shrug, "No clues there. Anyone that works with humans would be seen as a traitor in the White Fang's eyes."

Weiss was still frowning, appearing lost in thought while trying to dredge up what memories she could from the encounter. Olivia decided to get in the way of her remembering too much and broke her concentration, bumping a shoulder into the other girl and sharing a soft smile when she looked her way.

"Don't think too hard about it. It's better to move past these things instead of dwelling on them too long."

Weiss slumped tiredly, "Yeah, you're probably right." She looked at Olivia closely for the first time, now only a handful of inches away from each other. Her features flashed with concern, eyes traveling up and down Olivia's face. "What about you? You don't look like you got much rest yourself."

Olivia waved off her concern, glancing away as she did so, suddenly feeling less comfortable with Weiss being quite so close. "Nothing to worry about, Princess. I'm the same old faunus I've always been."

' _Irredeemable…_ '

"Olivia," Weiss said sternly, drawing herself up as well as she could and placing her hands on her hips. "What was it you said earlier about sharing making you feel better? If I opened up then so can you."

Olivia was saved from Weiss's glare by her scroll going off across the room. She jumped up, more thankful than ever to hear it vibrating against the tabletop. Olivia checked it, seeing a message from Ruby on screen that said she and Blake would be in the dining hall.

Olivia raised the scroll so that Weiss could see the message, waving it back and forth slowly. She brought her other hand up to her own stomach and rubbed it playfully, "The only thing I'm feeling is _hungry_. Wanna meet up with them and have breakfast?"

Weiss glared, easily seeing through Olivia's attempts at dodging the question. She deflated a moment later though, knowing the other girl well enough to understand she was too stubborn to answer something if she didn't want to.

"Yeah… let me take a quick shower and we can head down."

"Sounds good to me," Olivia nodded, sitting down on her bed. Once Weiss was in the bathroom, she'd go ahead and change as well. Olivia sent Ruby a response while Weiss got up and gathered what she needed.

The heiress stopped at the bathroom door, holding it open and looking back at Olivia. Her eyes narrowed once more, sending a shiver down the faunus's spine. "Don't think I'll forget about this. Fair's fair, Olivia. I want to help you _just_ as much as you want to help me."

' _The difference is, only one of us is actually worth helping…_ '

Olivia smiled sadly, making a small shooing motion while she spoke. "Foods not getting any warmer. C'mon, Princess, I'm starving."

Weiss stared at her for a few more long seconds before sighing, "I'll be out in a few…" She stepped inside without another word, door closing softly behind herself. Olivia could feel her leaning against it for a few moments on the other side, a considerable slump to her petite shoulders.

' _I must not have helped…_ ' Olivia berated herself silently, wishing she could be better at this. She stood up from her bed and moved to her dresser, grabbing out a change of clothes, thankful she didn't need to wear her school uniform for the day.

' _If only there was someone that could relate. Someone that knew what I was going through…_ ' Olivia couldn't exactly voice her concerns to anyone on team Carmine, nor to any of her friends on Rainbow, Lion, or Coffee. The teachers and Headmaster were obviously out of the question, and Olivia would be _damned_ if she ever opened up to _Widow_ again.

' _There's no-..._ ' Olivia paused, mind going to one individual in particular. It wasn't the safest of bets, seeing as anything she said might end up making its way back to Ozpin anyway. She wouldn't be able to go into _specifics_ , but if there _was_ anyone that might understand what she was going through…

Olivia returned to her bedside to grab her scroll and typed out a message, hesitating only a moment before hitting send.

" _Hey, old man. You free any time soon?_ "

Qrow was the only person she could think to confide in.


	63. Death of Innocents

The slow, rhythmic clatter of metal hitting metal. A foot drumming against the carpeted floor. A whetstone scraping along the edge of a long since sharpened blade. They were the only sounds to be heard within the seclusion of Beacon's gym, the rest of the students either attending classes, missions, or free elsewhere, in the case of team Rainbow.

Ren sat upon one of the benches, watching his teammates continuing to pretend as if nothing was wrong. As of yet, none of them had chosen to open up about the horrors they'd all witnessed. Even so, no matter how hard they tried to hide it from themselves, Ren could feel what they were so desperate to bury. Their anger, grief, and regret.

Yang was the sole occupant actually using the gym for its intended purposes. She had heightened her regimen, using the machines available to lift more than she ever would have regularly. Ren could feel the anger fueling her every movement, along with her attempts to syphon off that rage with her workout. Thus far, she had been wholly unsuccessful in her efforts.

Pyrrha sat close at hand to the blond. She'd taken the time to retrieve her weapon from her locker, and was idly sliding a sharpening stone against its edge. Pyrrha was trying, and failing, to keep her mind off the previous night's events. Ren could feel her emotions roiling beneath, a tumultuous wave that waxed and waned with each passing moment. Pyrrha's face would slowly twist into a grimace, only to relax back into her facade whenever she managed to pull her thoughts out of the depths.

Nora was on the same bench as himself, scroll in hand and foot tapping incessantly against the floor. She was sifting through the news from Vale, reading each and every update on the victims they'd been too preoccupied to protect. Death totals, injuries, statistics. Ren even noticed a few posts that had caught images and videos of the students involved. Some were calling them heroes, while others demanded to know why they hadn't done more.

' _How can I help them?_ '

Ren knew he wasn't exactly the type to give rousing speeches. Typically, you needed someone with the energy to do so, and in that particular department, he was sorely lacking.

' _I could use my semblance…_ '

It wouldn't suppress those emotions in the long term, but it _would_ allow them to vent. To open up about what they'd seen, what they'd experienced, and begin healing.

As the appointed leader of the team, he needed to do _something_.

Ren closed his eyes, dipping into the calm stillness of his own mind. With only a moment's preparation, that calm began to seep out, spreading to those near and relieving them of their own negative emotions. All at once, the sounds that had been there before fell to silence. A foot stopped drumming, a stone stopped sharpening, and Yang allowed the stack of weights to rest with one final clink of metal.

"I didn't ask you to do that," Yang stated simply, rising from her previous position to look across at Ren. She breathed heavily, hands snagging her towel to wipe the sweat from her brow. "That _does_ feel better, though."

"Have you seen the news this morning?" Nora chipped in, eyes still locked onto her scroll. "Everyone is looking for someone to blame. A few faunus shops were attacked already, and there's protests from humans _and_ faunus all throughout the city... People are demanding that something be done about the White Fang."

"As they should," Pyrrha spoke adamantly, eyes momentarily glazing over in thought. "What they did last night… It goes far beyond anything they've done before. All those people…"

"It was awful…" Yang finished for her. "Any credibility that the White Fang had was just thrown out like last week's trash. I can't believe they could… _anyone_ could do something like that."

Nora shook her head in mutual disbelief, "Even the White Fang in Mistral weren't that extreme, and from what Ren and I have seen, the racism against faunus was a lot worse there."

Ren let out a quiet 'hmm'. "The White Fang wasn't active _at all_ in Mistral for the last few years. At least, not as far as I heard. There were, uh…" He cleared his throat roughly, " _Other_ events involving faunus that ended up making the news. If the White Fang had still been around, then maybe they would have done something on par with what happened last night."

Nora sighed, turning off her scroll's screen and laying it down on the bench beside her. "I can't believe that while you were all fighting for your lives, Ren and I were…" She cut off, cheeks managing to glow even despite his semblance.

Yang grinned, "Playing patty cake? Doing the bedsheet shuffle? Putting the Storks out of business?"

"Yang!" Pyrrha's cheeks were crimson, Ren's semblance incapable of entirely masking three people while their emotions flared.

Yang raised both hands with a smug 'what can you do' gesture. "Just getting all the facts straight."

"Like we're the only ones…" Nora mumbled under her breath. Ren was glad he was the only one close enough to hear it, and rightly chose to ignore it in favor of bringing his teammates the peace of mind they were due.

"Yang, don't deflect from your issues," Ren reprimanded lightly. "Let's really talk about last night. Get whatever you're feeling off your chest. We can't all sulk forever."

Yang's smile fell, mind returning to what she had been trying to avoid. Her hand gripped the towel tightly. "Do we really have to talk about this now…?"

Ren adopted what he hoped would come across as a consoling smile, "I've seen what ignoring issues can do to people. Better to not let it fester, I think…"

Yang sighed minutely, "If you say so…" She leaned back against the equipment behind her, drawing up one foot to wrap her arms around her knee. "I just... wish we could have been more useful. Weiss managed to stop their guns, but… all we could do was cower on the dance floor."

"I know what you mean," Pyrrha agreed weakly. "What worth are any of my accolades if I still can't protect people? I _tried_ to use my semblance on the Bullheads, but with the distance, and the size…" She shook her head in frustration. "Even with all my training, it was more than I could handle."

"At least you were _there_ for it…" Nora muttered sadly.

"We all did what we could," Ren stated simply. He nudged Nora, giving her a soft smile, "We kept the people upstairs from going below in a panic. They would have ran into the line of fire if we hadn't been there to keep them safe." He raised his eyes to Yang and Pyrrha, "Both of you undoubtedly did your best. You and the other students came together to stop the White Fang. Your efforts _weren't_ in vain. There are people still alive because of you."

Ren could feel his aura waning, his semblance's effects beginning to deteriorate with every passing moment. "...All we can do is learn from this experience, and do _better_ should the occasion ever arise again. I have complete faith in all of you, and nothing will ever change that."

Ren swayed wearily as he relinquished his semblance and withdrew its effects. The others came back to themselves, negative emotions coiling to life. However, among the thoughts that once more troubled them dwelt a small glimmer of hope, and a reaffirmation that they belonged within Beacon's halls.

Nora leaned sideways to wrap an arm around him in thanks, while Yang and Pyrrha both nodded theirs to him as well. He could only reciprocate the gestures in kind, glad to have had some small effect on those he was supposed to lead.

Yang glanced back to the workout equipment she had been using, and instead chose to begin toweling herself off more thoroughly. "Well, I'm up for a shower if anyone wants to get brunch afterwards. I'd rather avoid waiting until lunch time with all the other students."

Pyrrha nodded, paling slightly. "Yes, that sounds good to me. I already receive enough unwanted attention without…" she gestured half-heartedly, "everything that's happened."

Ren was about to voice his own acceptance when his scroll chimed from inside his pocket. He pulled out the device and slid it open, wondering who would be messaging him aside from those currently there. His first thought was Olivia, but his expectations were immediately subverted upon reading the message.

" _Lie Ren, you are to report to my office for our first meeting. Please come as soon as you are free to do so._

 _\- Glynda Goodwitch_ "

"Seems like you'll be eating without me." Ren closed the scroll and slid it back into his pocket, pulling away from Nora's arm that had still been wrapped around his shoulders.

"I'll bring back your favorites," Nora promised, smiling encouragingly.

"Let us know what you talk about," Yang spoke apprehensively as he began to leave.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Ren assured her.

Ren had his suspicions on what the 'meetings' were actually for, and among those that had been involved in the previous night's incidents…

He certainly wasn't the one that needed them most.

* * *

The dull murmur of indistinct conversations continually reached Olivia's ears, other patrons and Junior's men speaking quietly about the news spreading through the city. Faunus businesses being protested, riots from both humans and faunus in various stretches of the city, the final death toll from the previous night. They were all things she'd rather not think about at the moment.

Olivia sat on one of the stools at the bar, head in her hand and heel steadily drumming against the footrest beneath. Despite her wishes, she couldn't stop thinking of the number that had been reported. '... _Thirty-two…_ ' How many had she killed with her own hands before then? Surely that was the most she'd ever been responsible for in one night?

' _Except for the attack on the Council members…_ ' How many had that been? ' _Why…_ when _did I stop counting…?_ '

Olivia forcefully stopped her foot from drumming, her sixth sense feeling the approach of the person she was there to meet. He spotted her easily enough, one of only a few patrons at the bar so early in the evening.

"You look how I feel," Qrow stated gruffly, sliding onto the stool nearest Olivia. She could feel a similar slump to his shoulders, an exhaustion that spoke volumes about how his own night had gone.

Olivia gave him a weary wave before drinking from the half empty glass of ice water resting on the bar in front of her, courtesy of Junior's boundless hospitality. She opened her eyes to glance in Qrow's direction afterwards, and let out the barest hint of a laugh upon seeing how ruffled his own clothes were. She couldn't have looked much worse than him.

"Speak for yourself, old man." Olivia tried to sound casual but failed, a forlorn anxiety holding her back. She desperately wanted… _needed_ advice from someone more experienced than herself. She would have to tread carefully, but her heart held at least one small glimmer of hope that Qrow would have the answer to her current predicament.

Qrow shrugged. "Between sleep and a fresh pair of clothes, I chose sleep. No way was I going all the way back to Patch just to come back first thing in the morning."

Olivia smiled apologetically, "Sorry for taking up your time."

"Heh, don't worry about it, kid," Qrow waved a hand dismissively. He motioned Junior over for a drink while looking Olivia over carefully, taking note of her bedraggled appearance and the dark bags under her eyes. Once Qrow had paid, he took one long drink and sighed in appreciation. "So… how are you doing?"

"I've been better," Olivia admitted before taking another long sip. She tilted her head back, letting out a deep breath and staring towards the ceiling. "I'm just…" she shrugged dejectedly, "...I don't even know where to begin."

"Did you have your meeting with Ozpin yet? He told me he'd be having sessions with your team."

"No… not yet. Ruby went earlier this morning, then Blake a little while after. Weiss was waiting for her turn next by the time I left. I couldn't stand just sitting in our room for that long..."

Olivia could feel Qrow smiling softly. He nodded, sitting back in his chair and laying an arm across the backrest. "Last night getting to you, huh? Can't say I'm surprised. Even a Mistralian would be hard pressed to walk away from something like that unscathed… And from what I saw, only one of the White Fang members ended up dying in the attack. Considering the _way_ he died… Sorry for asking, but…"

"That was me," Olivia confirmed quietly. "And no, I… I don't feel bad about it. He was strangling Weiss. I had to do something."

Qrow frowned, "C'mon, kid. You can open up. Even the most seasoned huntsman would feel _something_ after a kill like that."

"I did what I had to."

Qrow let out a small 'hmm', eyeing Olivia with a considering eye. "What's got you down in the dumps, then?"

Olivia was silent for a time, thinking about how best to ask her question. She couldn't clue Qrow in to her own involvement, but even so, she _needed_ guidance. At the rate she was going, she'd end up tearing herself apart in sheer confusion over what actions she should take. Settling on a line of questioning, Olivia pushed down her own trepidation.

"How did you do it?"

Qrow's eyebrow raised, "Do it? Do what?"

"How did you leave the tribe? They sent you to Beacon to gain strength, but you ended up defecting instead… How did you do it? How did you convince yourself it was for the best? Didn't you owe them? Weren't… weren't they your family?"

"Ah…" Qrow picked up his drink and downed the rest of it, finishing with a small shake of his head. "I… think I can guess what spurred on this particular conversation."

Olivia's heart fell in her chest, panic beating a distant drum from the depths. "Y-You can?"

"You're wondering whether or not you should be loyal to the White Fang anymore, right? After last night…?"

"Oh," Olivia laughed in minor relief, having thought Qrow had somehow deduced her connection with Cinder. All things considered, the White Fang angle wasn't a bad one. It would give her some leeway to not tip off Qrow any further. "Yeah. What they did last night was unacceptable. I mean…" Olivia's face contorted, worried over Qrow's reaction to what she was about to say next. "I've… I've killed people before, Qrow. I told you that night in the forest… I'm not a good person, but… _innocent_ people…? Even I know where to draw _that_ line."

Qrow looked at Olivia sadly for a time, and waved Junior over for a refill. He sighed heavily, and downed the shot before finally speaking quietly.

"I didn't…"

Olivia's eyebrows rose in surprise, but Qrow held a hand up to stop her from interrupting. His brow was furrowed, and his shoulders slumped. Olivia could see a deep sadness in his eyes. Regret that matched her own.

"You know that saying? Something along the lines of, 'It takes a village to raise a child'? Well, that couldn't be any further from the truth for the Branwen tribe. Growing up there, out in the woods with nothing but murderers and thieves to look up to… It warps your perception for what's right and what's wrong. My sister and I both trained from a young age, not in how to fight, but how to _kill_. Even before getting sent off to Beacon…" Qrow cleared his throat, turning away to stare at the liquor bottles behind the bar. "Let's just say I had more than enough opportunities to prove myself."

"Wow… Qrow, I…"

Qrow shook his head, "Like I told you that night, kid. Everyone deserves a second chance. Whatever you've done in the past… I won't judge you for it." He snorted, "From what I've seen, you're trying your hardest to change for the best. I'd never try to dissuade you from that."

Olivia smiled sadly, and wiped a hand across her eye as it began to blur. She blinked fiercely, fighting back the wave of emotions that surged forth. "Thank you." Olivia spoke with a small hitch to her throat, and cleared it with a small cough afterwards.

"Heh, it's the least I could do. To answer your question… I did feel some loyalty to the tribe for a while. Raven and I, we pushed Tai and Summer away for a long time." Qrow laughed, "They always kept coming back though, stubborn fools. I didn't convince _myself_ to leave the tribe. They did. My teammates. The ones that _showed_ me what it was like to have someone that truly cares about you."

Olivia slumped, resting her chin against her forearm on the bar in front of her. ' _Our situations still aren't the same…_ '

"What if… What if turning on the tribe meant that Tai and Summer would find out about what you'd done? What if you still felt like you owed the tribe? What if…" Olivia glanced to Qrow before averting her gaze further, shame denying her the right to look him in the eye. "What if you killed people they might have known?"

Qrow frowned slightly in confusion before his face eased in apparent understanding. "Ah. Weiss, you mean?"

After a moment's hesitation, Olivia nodded. She had meant Amber, but was willing to accept Weiss as an alternative. Even with Qrow's promises of acceptance, Olivia was terrified that he would find out about her own involvement in his charge's death. Worse still, her own failed attempt to kill him.

Qrow sighed, "That _is_ a tough one. If you don't mind me asking, how well have you been getting along with her?"

Olivia smiled weakly, thoughts of Weiss bringing the small rise to her lips. "We've been getting along really well since I started giving her a chance. She's been helping me with classwork, while I teach her how to fight. It's been… more fun than I ever would have imagined, honestly." Olivia shook her head, "All the more reason to hide the truth… If I lost that, too..."

"I understand." Qrow laughed good naturedly, "I'll admit, you've got it worse than I did in that regard. Still… Do you really want to keep a secret like that bottled up for the rest of your life? Every time you're doing homework together, every time you're training… To have that thought in the back of your head?"

"...No…"

"Neither would I," Qrow agreed. He played with his empty glass in one hand, rolling the edge along the counter while deep in thought. "I know it might be hard, but… the sooner Weiss knows the truth, the sooner _both_ of you can heal. On the other hand, the longer you wait, the more betrayed she'll feel when, or _if_ , she does find out the truth. And if she never does, _you'll_ be the one to suffer for it."

Olivia hid her face further as she began to choke up. What Qrow had said applied to _himself_ as well. How long would she wait to reveal the truth to him? Every moment spent in his presence felt like a lie, a moment stolen from the reality in which she was a better person.

' _Will it really be worse if he finds out later…?_ '

Olivia couldn't bring herself to speak up. Even with his assurances, so much of her life risked falling apart, and unlike with Weiss and the White Fang, those secrets would lead to further questions that she simply wasn't ready to answer. There was too much to consider when it came to Cinder, too many lives at stake.

' _If I did reveal the truth, what would stop her from resorting to Salem's tactics? She could just as easily try and take what she wants by force… and kill a lot more innocents in the process…_ '

Olivia flinched as she felt Qrow's hand against her back, slowly moving to the opposite shoulder. She didn't fight the contact, only adamantly keeping her face obscured while feeling his arm drawing her in close. By the end of it, she was leaning sideways off her stool, shoulder resting against his chest in a surprisingly comforting embrace.

"Hey, I know it'll be tough, kid… I remember how hard it was to admit all I'd done to Tai and Summer… What Raven and I had done. I don't envy you. Just keep in mind, you've got _so_ many others willing to help you both work it out. Ruby, Yang, your friends from Mistral and the Belladonna girl… They want what's best for you, too."

Olivia knew what he was saying was true. Even so, she wasn't used to being close to anyone other than Widow. For years they'd been all each other had, an unsteady foundation of trust, built on lies, though Olivia hadn't known it at the time. She failed to fight back her tears, simultaneously sad _and_ happy for the way her life had turned around.

Olivia choked back a sobbing laugh, "Look at me… I thought I was stronger than this…"

Qrow snorted, hugging her more tightly. "Someone that's alone can only be so strong. _Real_ strength comes from having others around you that you can depend on. They'll love you even when you can't love yourself."

Olivia was thinking about the advice Qrow had given when a dull buzz sounded from her pocket. She wiped her face off as well as she could and reached down, pulling the scroll from where it had been sandwiched between herself and the older huntsman.

" _Come to my office whenever you're ready, Miss Mandevilla._

 _\- Headmaster Ozpin_ "

"Guess that means Weiss's session is over with. I shouldn't keep him waiting too long." Olivia finished wiping off her face and pulled away from Qrow, turning as if to hop off the stool before a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"You know… I could send him a message. Tell Oz to reschedule? Unless you really are feeling up for it. Your choice..."

Olivia took his offer into consideration. Truth be told, with the possibility of it turning into an interrogation, Olivia would much rather put off her meeting with Ozpin as long as possible.

"Yeah, if you could do that. I uh, would rather take my mind off things for a bit…"

Qrow nodded, pulling his hand away. "Go relax if you can. I'll let Oz know about our little chat. He'll probably still want to see you at some point, but this should be good enough for now."

"Thanks, Qrow."

Qrow chuckled, "Hey, my pleasure. Maybe next time I'll choose the locale. I would kill for a burger right about now."

Olivia smiled, finally freeing herself of the last vestiges of tears. "What? Alcohol _isn't_ the breakfast of champions?"

"It hits the spot. Just not the _right_ spot." Qrow smirked and nodded his chin towards the stairs, already guessing where Olivia was headed next. "Have fun, kid. I'm just gonna polish off a few more and be on my way."

Olivia smiled, saluting her last faint goodbye before turning towards the stairs. She would mull over the conversation in due time, taking into account Qrow's suggestions and experiences.

For now… she wanted to have a little fun and forget.

Olivia just hoped Melanie was up for it.

* * *

Qrow watched Olivia walk away with a sad smile, and a dull hope that he had helped her in some way. He wasn't lying about not envying her. Just imagining being in her shoes gave him painful flashbacks from his own past. Truth be told, Tai and Summer had taken a while to finally come around, and Raven had done anything but make things easier for them. Even so, their team and the bonds they shared had become far stronger because of it.

He had no doubts that Ruby would be accepting, in time. But the other two…?

' _Best of luck, kid…_ '

* * *

Weiss shut the door weakly behind herself, shoulders slumped and feet dragging. She avoided Ruby and Blake's questioning gazes, vying for the comfort of her bed instead. She walked across the room and slipped beneath the covers, pulling the blanket up across her shoulders, tempted to hide herself away completely.

"Weiss?" Ruby's voice piped up quietly, dripping with concern. "How was your talk with Professor Ozpin?"

' _Our talk?_ ' Weiss shifted, burying her face further into her pillow. She had put on a brave face during the session, trying her best to appear formal, the perfect picture of a proper Huntress.

The answers that Ozpin gave her, though… Weiss had asked if they'd found out why the White Fang attacked. Even now, she could remember the slight hesitation in his response. The lie that sprung from his lips.

' _Currently, we are unaware of the White Fang's motives. Further investigation may bring light upon the issue, but as of yet, we simply don't know._ '

Ozpin knew. Weiss had spent enough time around her father to know a lie when she heard it.

The meetings themselves were thinly veiled counseling sessions, meant to help the students through their traumatic event. ' _Of course he would try to protect me from the truth… They... really were there for_ me…' Tears brimmed in Weiss's eyes, making her glad that she'd chosen to face the wall instead of her teammates.

"Weiss? Are you okay?" Blake spoke softly, drawing nearer to the heiress's bed.

Weiss let out a rattling sigh. "Thirty-two, Blake… Thirty-two people died, because the White Fang were after me…"

"What!?" Weiss could hear the alarm in Ruby's voice, her leader crossing the distance to rest a hand on her shoulder. Weiss shrugged it off, wanting more than anything to be alone.

"Ozpin as good as told me, even if he couldn't admit it outright. The White Fang was there for _me_. Everyone else… they were just in the way…"

"Weiss, I-"

"Just-... leave me alone…" Weiss cut Blake off, curling in on herself further. "...I don't want to talk about it…"

It was a few long seconds before Blake and Ruby decided to leave the room. They closed the door quietly on their way out, clicking it shut and giving Weiss what she wanted. Finally alone, she let her tears flow freely.

Even though she'd asked for it…

Part of her desperately wished they'd come back.

* * *

"So, we're doing it, right?" Ruby asked, eyes staring at the door as if she could see through it.

Blake sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I don't think we have a choice. It's either that, or I tell her the truth about myself…"

Ruby shook her head, "You saw how she was. Another blow like that…? I don't think Weiss could take it."

After a few seconds, Blake nodded. "Alright. We'll track down a Fang member and get answers." At Ruby's look of determination, Blake placed a hand on her shoulder, " _Not_ tonight. I don't want to make Weiss wait, but it'll be better to make sure we're fully prepared. Let's just… give ourselves a night to think about it, alright?"

"Blake, if you're getting cold feet-"

" _No_ , Ruby. I just… not tonight, okay?"

Ruby smiled reassuringly at Blake, and brought her own hand up to grasp the one resting on her shoulder. "Okay. We'll track them down tomorrow. We'll get our answers… and we'll help Weiss get through this."

Blake smiled in return, and nodded her thanks.

"Tomorrow night, we capture ourselves a terrorist…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll likely be going back into part of the bar scene from previous chapters and reworking the birth dates I made up. A friend pointed out that the Beacon school year fits more with the Japanese term than with America's. And with all of the RWBY girl's birthdays finally being revealed, that puts Weiss's actual birthday near enough that nothing much will change. Beacon would have started in early April, while Weiss's birthday is May 15th. That puts it around 3 weeks away from where we're currently at in the story.
> 
> Thanks, Psiah~
> 
> And thank you all for reading,
> 
> \- Sybaen


	64. Experience

The steady pattering of a muffled shower was the first thing Olivia heard as she came to consciousness. She groaned, feeling the pounding headache that followed immediately after. Olivia rolled onto her side, body twisting within the thin mess of bed sheets wrapped around her naked form. She grabbed a nearby pillow and stuffed it over her head, trying to blot out both light and sound alike.

Despite most of the evening being a blur, Olivia remembered easily enough that she'd left Qrow to be with Melanie. They'd spent an exorbitant amount of time indulging in carnal pleasures and drinking, all in the hopes of keeping Olivia's mind off her problems. Considering she'd finally managed to fall asleep, they'd clearly been successful in that endeavor.

Even so, now that she was awake… Olivia sighed, rolling onto her back and guarding her eyes from the room's lights. Aside from the shower, the only other sound was the steady ticking of a clock on the wall. Olivia dared to peek, and let out another small groan at seeing the time. ' _11:38am…_ ', she'd long since broken Ozpin's curfew.

' _Great… the perfect way to start earning his trust… or forgiveness…_ '

Now rested and freed from the rigors of days spent awake and on edge, Olivia could finally stop to consider her stance with a more sound mind. She'd been an emotional mess the day prior, her usual steadfast walls crumbling to the foundation due to exhaustion and rampant anxiety. Guilt for her friends that were injured, civilians that were killed, and anger that Cinder failed in her promise.

Weiss and Blake had _both_ been harmed during the attack. ' _But…_ ' Blake and Ruby had been attacked by Adam, while Weiss's attacker had been invisible. Considering Olivia's _own_ failure in killing Qrow, it stood to reason that she could forgive Cinder in exchange. It didn't help to ease her discomfort of the entire affair, but she wasn't going to seek retribution against the Maiden for it either.

' _Adam, on the other hand…_ ' Blake was going to have a tough time convincing her not to hunt him down. Olivia had promised herself she would protect Ruby. Any infraction against that desire was grounds for execution.

Olivia's mind instead shifted to the advice Qrow had given. Olivia _knew_ she couldn't keep her past a secret forever. The reveal of herself as the infamous 'Black Lotus' was bound to happen in time. Whether it was a few weeks away, or a few years, Olivia would have to pay that price eventually.

' _The longer you wait, the more betrayed she'll feel when she finds out the truth._ '

Olivia shifted anxiously in bed, rolling onto her side and curling her knees further up towards her chest. ' _Do I have any chance at being forgiven, regardless of when they find out?_ ' How could her pure-hearted, heroic friends _possibly_ understand the choices that led her to where she was now?

' _Weiss was understanding when I told her about the day my family died…_ '

Olivia felt a warmth spread across her body while picturing her time spent with Weiss, remembering the utter relief she'd felt in that quiet hallway. The hug they shared, the tears Olivia shed. Opening up and being forgiven had given her such pure elation for what seemed so simple an act afterwards.

Did she dare take it a step further?

How would it feel to have all of her secrets revealed?

' _What if…_ ' Olivia paused, feeling the warmth in her body shift into an overbearing yearning, ' _What if they truly knew_ me _?_ '

It was an insane dream. A thought of pure fantasy without any hope for becoming reality. Still, Olivia couldn't snuff out that desire. To become so close to them, to finally be freed of all the secrets weighing her down, to prove Widow wrong… to prove _herself_ wrong.

The sound of the shower vanished, its stream ended in an instant and Melanie's presence slowly drawing back into focus. Olivia remained on the bed, letting her mind wander to the other girl's actions while she dried herself off and got dressed. Melanie exited after only a few minutes, noticing Olivia was awake in passing but vying for her dresser instead. She dug into it, pulling out an assortment of feminine products to prepare herself for the day ahead.

"Nice to see you're finally up. I was going to wake you earlier, but you seemed like you needed the rest. I guess this is as good a time as any with my shift starting soon." Melanie spoke while staring into the mirror above her dresser, carefully curling her eyelashes.

"Thanks. I really did," Olivia confirmed. She unwrapped herself from between the sheets and slipped off the bed, searching the room for her own clothing while Melanie was busy. It was slow going, as the headache pounding within her skull kept her from focusing easily.

' _What the hell did we even drink last night?_ ' Olivia was pulling her pants on when she took a moment to scan the nearby bed stand, noticing the glass bottle on top. She lifted it to read the label and nearly groaned out loud.

' _95 percent…_ ' Olivia felt her body shudder at the smell alone, stomach clenching in a brief refusal to consume any more of the beverage.

"It was a parting gift…" Melanie spoke quietly. She glanced through the mirror long enough to notice what Olivia was doing.

Olivia frowned, setting the bottle well away from herself. She turned to regard Melanie, wondering exactly what it was she was talking about. "Parting gift?" Olivia smirked, shifting her pose to stand with one hand on her hip, breasts still on display. "You aren't dumping me, are you~?"

Melanie's focus returned to the mirror, slightly raising her shoulders defensively. She began using the curler again, though Olivia could see a tremble in her hand. Melanie's lips pursed into a thin line. Though she tried to hide it, her eyes flickered in Olivia's direction, looking at her through the mirror every few seconds.

"Mel…?" Olivia allowed her previous pose to falter, uncertainty weighing on her mind. She bent down and grabbed her bra from the floor, putting it on while stepping closer to the other girl. "...Don't be afraid to talk to me. I promise I won't bite."

Melanie continued using the curler until the tremble in her hand proved too much. She winced and dropped it, bringing up both hands to massage the pain flaring across her eyelid. Olivia took another hurried step forward but was roughly pushed away. Melanie returned to rubbing her hand across her face a while longer, ignoring Olivia as she stood awkwardly nearby.

Melanie finally let out a shaky sigh and turned around. She crossed her arms and averted her gaze, leaning against the dresser behind herself. "Junior had his little talk with me… about how you really feel."

Olivia stepped back, seeing the fatigue in Melanie's eyes. Freed from her previous exhaustion and with a fresh perspective, she could tell that Melanie had long since made her decision. Perhaps even before they'd spent the previous evening together.

' _The alcohol wasn't the only parting gift…_ '

"I'm sorry, Mel. Just, with Beacon to focus on, and my team-"

Melanie raised a hand, cutting Olivia off. "Save it. Junior already told me everything. I just…" She sighed, finally looking Olivia in the eyes. "I thought we could be something more… I was hoping you'd be different from the rest."

"The rest…?"

Melanie shrugged dejectedly, "You aren't the first person I've shared a bed with. The others before… they always treated me like a prize. It was never _me_ they wanted to get into bed with, but 'the twins'." She grimaced, "Like your friend the first night we met. The one you wanted my sister and me to sleep with."

Olivia let her gaze fall to the floor. "Sorry…"

Melanie sighed, "It's fine, because at the same time… That isn't what _you_ wanted. I flirted with you, and you fired right back. You didn't glance at Miltia. Didn't ask to include her. For the first time…" a small smile flickered across her face, "Someone had eyes only for me…"

Melanie let out a choked laugh, "You even kept coming _back_. It wasn't a one time deal like all the others. Just using me for some conquest, something to brag about to their friends or check off their bucket list… Maybe for you it was just about the sex, but I… I started hoping you'd see me differently, in time."

There was a moment of silence, punctuated by Olivia giving a small sigh and sitting back on the bed in a slump. "I never wanted to give you false hope or lead you on, Mel… For what it's worth, I enjoyed spending time with you, even when we weren't having sex. You're a nice girl…" She smiled sadly, "Even if your kink _is_ a little sadistic."

Melanie laughed with a shake of her head, "I could tell you were only ever putting up with it for my sake. I should thank you, really… Before you, I'd grown complacent with my lot in life. You showed me what I wanted. A _real_ relationship… not just a cheap fling."

Melanie finished fixing her eyelashes, now with a much steadier hand. Once she'd finished, she gave a small nod of determination and turned back around, feet facing towards the door.

"I wish you all the best, Olivia. Really, I do. But I can't let myself be strung along anymore. I need to find someone that wants me for _me_."

Melanie walked to the door and opened it, taking a moment to give one last parting smile. "Feel free to shower if you need to. I trust you can see yourself out once you're ready. After that… please don't come back around…"

"Mel!" Olivia spoke quickly as the other girl began to leave, stopping her once more. Melanie didn't turn back around, but paused with her shoulders raised defensively, afraid of being given hope. Olivia sighed, "For what it's worth… Thank you. And I wish you the best of luck, too. I really do think there's someone out there for you. Someone better than me."

After a few moments, Melanie nodded her thanks and closed the door wordlessly, retreating downstairs while Olivia remained on the bed. She fell back to lie down in a slump, staring towards the ceiling while coming to terms with the conversation. In truth, she really was sorry that she couldn't be what Melanie deserved. Olivia had used her like all the others that first night they met, not seeing Melanie for herself, but as one of 'the twins' that Mercury had challenged her to coerce.

' _I'm not really girlfriend material. Better she realized that sooner rather than later…_ ' With a weary sigh, Olivia pulled herself off the bed and collected the last of her things. She would shower at Beacon, well away from the girl that no longer desired her presence.

Finally getting a look at her scroll, Olivia could only let out one final groan of despair. Aside from the note she'd left herself about her birthday, there were a dozen missed messages, from both her team and Ozpin alike. Slipping on her shoes and exiting downstairs through the club, Olivia began to read through the ones from her team first, responding where necessary to let them know she was fine and would be back soon.

Ozpin's messages on the other hand… Olivia started from the first, and by the third, was once again feeling the anxious doubt spreading down throughout her body. She reread the message once more, intent on getting to Beacon as soon as possible.

" _Lotus…_

 _We need to talk._ "

* * *

Olivia was forced to hold her hands over her ears several times during the trip from Junior's to the Bullhead tarmac. The city was alight with activity, human and faunus protesters alike marching down the streets. Some remained in groups while others were segregated, all arguing their point of view on what should be done about the White Fang. Sirens wailed, distant echoes carried over the crowds.

It did little to help ease her hangover. By the time her Bullhead landed on Beacon cliff and the doors opened with an airy hiss, she couldn't help but let out a long sigh of her own. She stepped down the ramp and began her long walk along the paved path.

Olivia never thought seeing her own name would be capable of inspiring so much dread. A shudder coursed through her spine, trepidation for the meeting that was close at hand. She had messaged Ozpin back upon seeing the message, letting him know she was on her way. The headmaster had responded with a simple, " _I'll be waiting_ ", and left Olivia's mind to fill in the blanks on exactly what that entailed.

There was one small glimmer of hope that remained. ' _If Ozpin was going to do anything drastic, then he wouldn't be waiting for me to come to him, right?_ ' If anything, the Headmaster would have shown more signs of discontent the previous night. Trusting Olivia to console Weiss wasn't something he would do if he considered Olivia a threat.

' _Or at least, not a threat to her…_ ' Olivia could still very well be a threat to Cinder, despite showing no signs of aggression towards her during the incident at the club. Second thoughts could always be followed by thirds. A mind changed could always be changed again.

All too soon, Olivia arrived outside the front doors to the CCT. She could see some activity through the glass front, attendants for the tower itself going about their work. No students were in sight, a fact that gave her little comfort as she entered.

Olivia stopped long enough to take a look around. It was her first time entering the CCT, but even so, she had no difficulties spotting the elevator off to the side. It was built into the wall of the large, circular chamber. A hefty white pillar dominated the center of the floor, the foundation for the tower itself that kept it from yielding to outside forces.

' _Better to not keep him waiting…_ ' Olivia ignored the attendants and stepped purposefully towards her destination. The elevator doors opened automatically, allowing her to enter the confined space. No buttons decorated the panel next to the door. There was only a simple display, a list of floors ordered from top to bottom.

" _Welcome to Beacon Tower. What is your destination?_ " A feminine, computerized voice asked once the doors closed behind her.

Olivia bit her lip, taking a moment to psyche herself up before speaking. "Headmaster Oz-"

Before she could finish, the confirmation chimed and options disappeared. "Top floor, Headmaster's office. Request accepted."

' _Okay, no time like the present…_ '

Olivia leaned back against the railing as the elevator rose, an odd feeling of sudden momentum that did nothing to ease the queasiness she felt. She could feel the floors rapidly flickering past.

Olivia let out a slow breath, psyching herself up for the imminent exchange. ' _Oz wants you at Beacon. He's just… making a power play... Nothing to worry about…_ '

She wished she could believe it herself.

The elevator slowed before it finally came to a stop, doors opening to reveal the headmaster's office. Enormous gears spun overhead, an entire story worth of twisting steel that seamlessly and silently meshed together. A green light illuminated the room itself, dimly clashing with the daylight streaming in through the floor to ceiling windows. Olivia could only see blue sky from where she stood, Beacon tower being the tallest building in Vale by a wide margin.

Ozpin sat behind his desk. His fingers were laced, not an ounce of displeasure showing on his face, nor hint of compassion. Olivia stepped into the room, preparing for the worst.

Ozpin held his hand up as soon as she was inside. Olivia froze in place, curious as to the reason behind the wordless gesture.

"Headmaster?"

"I'm at least partially aware of what your semblance is truly capable of, Miss Mandevilla. I would prefer if you kept your distance during this little _chat_."

Olivia turned slightly when the doors closed behind her. She suppressed a small shiver, body disagreeing with the feeling of being trapped in a room with the unknown. Olivia turned back and nodded her acceptance all the same. She leaned back against the wall for good measure. With around thirty feet between them, there was no way for her to reach him with her semblance.

"So… how long have you known?" Olivia asked first, curiosity getting the better of her despite the tense atmosphere.

Ozpin shrugged minutely, "The day after your… _expedition_ into the Emerald Forest, when Qrow helped you kill the Death Stalker."

Olivia frowned. That was nearly the entirety of her stay in Vale. "That long? Why wait? Why all the games?"

Ozpin raised an eyebrow, "Why, you ask?" He lowered one hand to type on his keyboard, quickly bringing up a video. It was dark, and hard to make out the details from this distance. Even so, Olivia knew exactly what it depicted once Ozpin hit play.

" _All I ever wanted was to be the Hero!_ " Olivia's voice played loudly, an accidental slip of the tongue when pushed to her absolute breaking point.

Ozpin closed the video. "You gave me _hope_ , if not through any direct attempts of your own. I have lived a long time. I could _feel_ the truth of that statement. To your very core, that desperate wish is what you truly want for _yourself_."

' _A long time is an understatement…_ ' Olivia could still feel that second, ancient soul inhabiting Ozpin's body. She nodded numbly all the same, but it appeared that he wasn't quite finished.

"Of course, I didn't simply stop there. It's better to have some sort of proof, especially when dealing with someone as dangerous as yourself. I looked into the academies in Mistral, and found an applicant matching your name within their records." Ozpin pulled open a drawer and rooted within, finally hefting out a small packet that caught Olivia's interest. He flipped through the pages, then raised his eyes with a questioning glance, "You were accepted into Sanctum, but never attended?"

Olivia's eyes fell to the floor, memories of those she'd celebrated her acceptance with coursing through her head. Of the bloody mess she'd found the day after.

"My faction was massacred before I left… I chose to get revenge for them instead of going to school…"

Ozpin let out a self-satisfied hum. "I believed that might be the case, though it wasn't until you told Qrow about them that I was finally able to connect the dots. Reports from Mistral's Hunter Association and the SDC told of the raid on the White Fang, putting it just before the school year would have started. There were also strange reports mixed in… the Hunters involved claimed to be hearing voices during the confrontation. The White Fang were acting crazed. They seemed to believe the Hunters were there to kill them, rather than apprehend them." He watched Olivia carefully, "It matches the semblance of an individual that Qrow fought just recently."

Olivia nodded, letting out a shuddering sigh. "Widow."

"After your arrival in Vale, you tracked down Nicholas Arc, one of the Hunters responsible for murdering your faction. I'm assuming _he_ was the one that told you of Widow's betrayal? Which in turn, sparked your _jaunt_ into the Emerald Forest?" Ozpin was silent for a moment, regarding Olivia closely. "Did you kill Nicholas and his son for telling you the truth?"

Olivia's eyes widened, "What!? No! _Widow_ killed them! I wanted to let them _live!_ "

Ozpin held up a hand, stifling her outrage with a satisfied nod. "I had to be certain. Your venue was well chosen, leaving no footage of the route you took. I couldn't be sure that Widow was there."

Olivia crossed her arms haughtily, trying to allow herself a few moments to cool off. "Well, she _was_. Widow tried to keep me from finding out the truth, but I forced her to let Nicholas speak. I didn't believe him at first, but once everything started falling into place…" She let out a shaky breath, "Widow has been manipulating me for five years…"

Ozpin raised an eyebrow, "And yet you chose to work with her again? You secluded yourself with Miss Fall while Widow attacked Qrow, keeping him from intervening on the students' behalf."

Olivia narrowed her eyes. "I'd never work with _Widow_ again. Cinder is alive and well, last I saw. I didn't 'seclude' her on purpose, and I wasn't trying to kill her."

Ozpin regarded Olivia curiously. He exhaled, giving a small shake of his head, "Imagine my surprise when I arrived to find that was indeed the case? After being told by Qrow that you had gone upstairs with the Maiden in tow?"

Olivia shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. "I don't know why that's surprising…"

Ozpin sat silently for a time, regarding Olivia closely. His eyes scanned over her, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. After a while, he gave up with a weary sigh. "I'll admit, I'm confused by the night's events. I refuse to believe it was only _bad luck_ that put you in that room with Miss Fall, but at the same time… If you had plans to kill her, you clearly didn't go through with them. For _that_ , I am truly thankful. I don't doubt for a moment that someone of your caliber could have taken the Maiden powers for yourself if you wanted to…"

"Yeah, well…" Olivia let her arms loosen, falling down to her sides. "I'm supposed to be turning over a new leaf, right? I promised you _and_ Blake that I wouldn't kill anymore."

Ozpin sat back in his chair, raising his mug to sip before speaking. "That brings us to the actual 'therapy' portion of our little chat. I hold no delusions that you will have lost any sleep over the event, but you _did_ kill someone, Miss Mandevilla."

Olivia bit her lip nervously, wondering if Ozpin would truly see that as her crossing a line. "...He was strangling Weiss."

Ozpin nodded, "Naturally, you wanted to protect your teammate. Even so… was killing him necessary? With your strength and skill, surely you could have knocked him unconscious?"

Olivia frowned, ready to bring light to her own line of reasoning. "That was his second chance. I already warned him to leave Weiss alone. Should I have let him off easy? Let him have a _third_ chance at killing my teammate in the future? Mercy can only be taken so far before it becomes stupidity. He could have come back more prepared, or at a time when I wasn't around. I wasn't about to give him that chance."

"I gave it to _you._ "

The simple statement caught Olivia off guard. Ozpin didn't speak with malice or contempt. He only pointed out the truth. He had been willing to allow Olivia a second chance, and even extended that past the death of Cardin. By all rights, using her _own_ rules, Olivia shouldn't have been given that mercy.

"Your past is far more bloodied than his ever could have been. Even so, I've allowed you to remain at Beacon. Trusted you to turn a new leaf. Turned a blind eye to the unfortunate death of one of your peers. Ignored your past desires to harm Miss Schnee in the hopes that you might grow… Did _he_ not deserve the same courtesy?"

"He… He wouldn't have changed…"

Ozpin sighed tiredly, leaning back in his chair. "Now we'll never know… will we? Every saint has a past, Miss Mandevilla. Just as every sinner has a future. You may become a shining example of the latter… but not if you continue to treat life as something so easily revoked."

Olivia could only remain silent, thinking on what Ozpin had said.

After a minute passed, Ozpin nodded in weary satisfaction. "I trust you have much to think about. Aside from our obvious disagreements… I would ask that you tend to Miss Schnee. She did not appear reassured at the end of our session, and your leader has since confirmed as much. I worry that something I said may have been taken out of context."

Olivia's eyebrow rose, "What did you tell her?"

"She asked if we knew why the White Fang attacked. I, of course, couldn't reveal the true reason. I told her we had no current leads, and needed to continue our investigation into the matter."

Olivia leaned her head back against the wall in exasperation, looking up towards the gears that slowly rotated above them. "Weiss was blaming herself for the attack. If I know her _at all_ , she thinks you're lying to cover up the White Fang being there for _her_."

"Oh dear… I will have to rid her of that notion during our next session. I trust you can do your best to ease her grief until then?"

Olivia rolled her eyes in frustration, "Do you even need to ask?" She began to turn back towards the elevator but paused, recalling the application Ozpin had unearthed, and a note she'd left on her phone.

' _If anything is going to have it…_ '

Olivia turned back around, and rubbed her hand against the back of her neck. At Ozpin's questioning look, she nodded her chin towards the papers sitting on his desk.

"I know it might be an odd request, but… can I… have that?"

"Your Sanctum application? Whatever for?"

Olivia fought to speak the truth, believing it would sound ridiculous to the older huntsman. "I just… wanted to remember something?"

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. He picked up the packet and held it loosely, eyes going between it and Olivia. "May I ask what that might be?"

Olivia sighed in vexation, battling against her own pride, "My… my birthday. I stopped celebrating it after… everything. Widow and I just sort of made up a day… The one I put on my Beacon application wasn't real, but _that_ one…?"

With a look of deep consideration, Ozpin set the packet back down on his desk. After a few moments, his hand reached out once more, and he inched the papers closer to the opposite edge of his desk.

"By all means. I can always print spares."

Olivia barely suppressed a smile, and attempted to appear as non-threatening as possible while crossing the room to Ozpin's desk. With one final nod of gratitude, she slipped the pamphlet off and held it against her chest.

"Thank you…"

Ozpin nodded wordlessly and gestured back behind her, towards the elevator that was only then beginning to reopen. Olivia went where she was directed, keeping a tight hold on the application as she did. She turned once she was in the elevator, and gave a slight wave in expectation of the doors closing.

The doors didn't close, however. Olivia waited a few long seconds, confusion rising steadily.

Ozpin only sat quietly, a curious expression on his face. His eyes changed, beginning to contain what Olivia could only call a mischievous light. Her eyebrows knit together, and she was just opening her mouth to speak when the Headmaster interrupted.

"About Miss Schnee's current condition… Might I make a suggestion?"

Olivia wasn't sure she could trust the smile he wore.

* * *

' _Maybe a fundraiser…?_ '

Weiss sat in a slump at her desk, tapping the back of her pen against the wooden top while a half empty page rested in front of her. On it, she'd written ideas for how to rectify what the White Fang had done. Paying for funerals, damages to the building, perhaps putting up a statue in honor of the deceased…

The scroll next to her began to vibrate once more. The caller ID was all Weiss needed to see before swiping to end the call. Her father was growing incessant, trying to get into contact with her despite her obvious desire to the contrary.

One of several cameras on scene had caught the heiress leaving the establishment, throat injury and all managing to make its way into the tabloids. If Weiss knew him, Jacques would definitely have seen the news before it was even posted. He had his own influence within all the major networks, after all. That her father had let the story run meant he was going to try and use it towards his own ends.

Weiss could only guess what that meant. Some ill-advised PR stunt in order to make her come home? Undoubtedly, her father would once more be making the SDC out as the 'true victims' of the White Fang's machinations.

All Weiss wanted to do was make amends. She gave a soft sigh while looking over her list again, gently rubbing a hand against her temple.

Weiss was pulled from her musings as the door's lock clicked. The door itself swung open soon after, admitting a swish of black hair and magenta eyes that glanced around it towards her.

"Just you, huh? Where'd Ruby and Blake run off to?" Olivia asked, stepping in fully and closing the door behind herself. She looked mostly worse for wear, with the same wrinkled clothes she'd worn the day prior. Her face looked more rested, at least. Weiss was glad to see that.

"They mentioned something about outfits, then headed down into Vale an hour ago," Weiss replied offhandedly. She turned slightly to rest her arm across the ideas she'd written down, not wanting to clue Olivia in on her plans. The faunus would likely write them off as ridiculous, considering her not responsible for what had happened in the first place.

Olivia didn't bother to take notice of her paper, though. She looked mildly flustered, and was trying to hide it by only glancing partially in Weiss's direction.

"Something wrong, Olivia?" Weiss asked curiously, raising one eyebrow as she did so and leaning closer to her teammate.

"Right, uh… no, just going to take a shower." Olivia pointed awkwardly towards the door to the bathroom.

Weiss shrugged, "Go ahead. All yours."

"Thanks."

Olivia set a stack of papers down on her own desk, then walked to her dresser and began pulling out a change of clothes. She seemed to be considering each more than she might have otherwise, but eventually settled on what looked to be a nice, casual outfit. Olivia snagged a towel along the way and stopped at the door long enough to look back at Weiss. She met her gaze expectantly, but Olivia could only avert her eyes once more.

Weiss sat staring at the door in confusion after it had closed. She'd never seen Olivia quite so flustered before, if that's what she was. The stoic faunus rarely let down her walls, aside from the occasional sassy joke at her friends' expense. ' _Or when she told me about her family…_ '

Was Olivia thinking about revealing more of her past? Weiss tapped her pen against her chin in thought. The shower turned on, water drumming against tile. The steady thrum was soon interrupted by a body getting in the way. The sound became more intermittent, Olivia now cleaning herself beneath the stream.

Curious, Weiss got up from her own desk and crossed the room to Olivia's. She picked up the packet of papers, wondering if it had anything to do with her friend's current mood.

' _Application to Sanctum…? And it was filled out by Olivia..._ ' Weiss read down the page, taking note of some of the information it held. Olivia had apparently applied to the school in Argus four years ago. She'd never mentioned that fact to Weiss, though, and Pyrrha had never spoken to her as if they'd met any earlier than the first day of Beacon.

' _So she never went?_ '

Weiss set the application back down and returned to her own chair, sitting in thought. After a while, she decided to leave it alone for the time being. If Olivia wanted to bring it up, she'd do it on her own time. It wasn't Weiss's place to snoop into her past, especially when the faunus seemed to be downright ashamed of whatever she hadn't summoned the courage to speak of yet.

Weiss turned back to her own plight for the time being. Olivia was a welcome distraction, but regardless of her presence, the heiress still needed to come up with a way to make amends. If her father was going to try and use her injury for his own gain, then she could at least find a way to help out those _actually_ affected.

A fundraiser wasn't a terrible idea. Unfortunately, Weiss wasn't as well connected within Vale as she was in Atlas. Aside from Headmaster Ozpin, she hadn't met any of the members residing on the Vale council. Wealthy business owners were also a bust. Weiss didn't doubt that she could put on a sizable gathering in time, but her father's influence would go a long way in finalizing anything.

Weiss was still sitting at her desk, idly tapping the screen of her scroll with one nail when the sounds of the shower ceased. Two wet steps echoed out from beneath the door, followed by a slow bustling of movement while Olivia dried herself off and got dressed. Weiss smoothed out her skirt when the door finally opened, admitting an Olivia that was more nicely dressed than Weiss had first given credit.

As always, Olivia wore a long sleeve top, currently in the form of a black turtleneck. This one however, was designed to utilize a small purple clasp around her throat. The bunched cloth was left open around her chest, leaving a clear view of perky cleavage that forced Weiss's eyes to dart away immediately. They traveled down instead, only drawing attention to a pair of well-toned thighs.

"So… nice enough?" Olivia asked, waiting for Weiss's response.

Weiss raised a hand to cough into it and clear her throat. "Nice enough for what, exactly?"

Olivia shrugged, "We're going out."

Weiss choked, now truly coughing into her hand. She waved Olivia away when the other girl approached in concern, and finally got a hold of herself long enough to let out a strangled, "W-What!?"

"You've been cooped up in here all day," Olivia explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Blake and Ruby already went out, and we've got no clue what they're doing. So it's just the two of us. Let's go do something."

Weiss let out a long breath, realizing Olivia hadn't suddenly been demanding one of the things she herself wanted most. ' _We're just going out on the_ town _. Gods, Olivia needs to work on her phrasing around me…_ ' Or better yet, her reasons for saying those exact words.

"Did you have somewhere in mind?" Weiss gained control of herself and stood, hiding a portion of her previous anxiety by heading over to her own dresser. The idea of going anywhere _alone_ with Olivia was still enticing. Even her question was only really posed in order to feign composure.

Olivia rubbed a hand against the back of her head, suddenly regaining that previous shyness she'd sported earlier. She raised her eyes to Weiss's along with a cautionary hand, holding it as if to ward off judgement.

"Don't laugh or anything, but…" Olivia winced as she spoke, "an... amusement park…? It wasn't my idea! Someone suggested we go!" She finished in a rush.

Weiss frowned, taking in Olivia's entire demeanor. The caution in the reveal, the choice of garb. Understanding surged to the forefront, and she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow along with a friendly smirk, "Olivia, have you _never_ been to an amusement park?"

Olivia's hand stilled against the back of her head, "...No."

"I haven't either. Sounds fun," Weiss admitted eagerly, turning to pull out a change of clothes for herself.

Olivia sent her a shocked expression, " _You_ haven't?"

Weiss shrugged while rifling through her garments, "My father was always strict about how his children spent their time. If we weren't doing something that furthered our _prestige_ then it wasn't worth considering. Dance recitals, singing lessons… They were the most I could talk him into, and that was after _years_ of only ever doing as he said."

Olivia sat down on her desk chair in a slump, "Wow… I always sort of thought you just did whatever you wanted."

Weiss shook her head while bundling up her choice of outfit. "It was only ever what _he_ wanted." She perked up, flashing Olivia a smile, "But, he isn't here now, is he? And _I_ want to go to an amusement park. I'll be out in a few."

Olivia nodded her assent as Weiss stepped past into the bathroom. She got to work, stripping off the casual clothes she'd been wearing in the dorm to vie instead for a white, short sleeved blouse. A pair of light blue jeans came next, taking a bit of effort to work their way up her hips. Weiss let out a breath when they were finally buttoned and gave a little spin to look at herself in the mirror. Lastly, a pair of white high heels rounded off the outfit.

Weiss stepped back out to find Olivia still sitting at her desk. The application had vanished, tucked away somewhere to be displayed when Olivia was ready. Weiss spoke nothing of it and instead gave a little spin, showing off the outfit to her waiting teammate.

Olivia flashed her an appreciative smile, but had a touch of concern in her eyes. She kept smiling to make it apparent that what she said next wasn't meant as an insult, "Do all of your clothes have the Schnee snowflake on them?"

Weiss frowned and glanced over her shoulder, noticing that the blouse did indeed have the Schnee logo emblazoned across the back. She paused in thought, "...All of my clothes are specially tailored… Why? Is it a problem?" She couldn't help but sound a little defensive, even though she knew Olivia hadn't meant any offense.

Olivia shook her head, "Not exactly. It's just… have you seen how crazy it's gotten out there? I don't know if you want to draw too much attention when there are so many faunus rights' protestors marching in the streets."

Reminded of her own involvement with those riots, Weiss's excitement began to diminish. ' _Should I really be enjoying myself right now?_ ' Her paper rested on her desk, half finished list of ideas ready to implement if only she could pick up her scroll and face her father.

Olivia noticed her crestfallen expression and jumped up, grabbing Weiss by both shoulders to force the heiress's attention back on her. "No, nevermind! Not a problem! We'll just…" She looked around the room as if still thinking of a solution mid-sentence. Like a lightbulb going off, Weiss saw a glimmer of an idea behind Olivia's eyes. She let go and moved to her own dresser, rifling around inside for only a moment before withdrawing one of her own garments.

"How about my coat? It'll cover up the logo easily enough, and I bet black would look good on you." Olivia held up the coat that Weiss had seen her wear only once before, the first night after initiation. It was similar to the top of her own combat outfit, leaving the entirety of the chest exposed while only covering the arms and back.

Weiss couldn't help but blush slightly. She held her hand out to accept the garment, but was surprised when Olivia moved to help her put it on instead. She slipped a hand down one sleeve, and accepted Olivia's assistance when the faunus wrapped it around her to the other side.

Once it was on, Weiss peeked at herself in the mirror, taking a moment to appreciate the gesture. All things considered, black didn't look too bad on her. She wouldn't have said no, regardless. The coat was comfortable and warm, and Weiss couldn't stop from hugging herself in it momentarily.

"Th… This'll do…" Weiss finally replied, taking note that the material in the back did fulfill its purpose in covering up the Schnee logo.

"As an added bonus, it should scare away any prospective faunus mates. They'll catch my scent and know you've been claimed."

Weiss's cheeks turned beet red, and she spun to give Olivia a flustered look of surprise. The faunus was fighting to hold back a grin though, and Weiss realized all too late that she was only pulling her leg.

Olivia laughed good naturedly at Weiss's expression. She gave her head a little shake and walked to the door to hold it open for her, "Sorry, Princess. That's just one of those wild beliefs I've heard humans spread before. Faunus don't 'claim' anything with scents."

Weiss grabbed Myrtenaster and brushed haughtily past the other girl on her way out the door. She attached the rapier to her belt and stood with her arms folded until Olivia joined her, locking up their dorm on the way out. "Well, I would hope not. Besides, you already have a girlfriend anyway. I'm nobody's mistress."

Olivia gave a nonchalant wave of dismissal as they began to walk down the hall together. "I told you, she wasn't my girlfriend."

Weiss raised an eyebrow, "Wasn't? _Past_ tense?"

"She dumped me this morning."

Weiss felt her heart skip a beat, but played it off as well as she could by trying to act casual. "I'm sorry to hear that… D-don't you need to be _dating_ in order to get 'dumped', though?"

Olivia held a hand to her chin in thought, as if truly considering Weiss's words of wisdom. She flashed the heiress a smirk after a few moments, a familiar light sparking behind her eyes. "For my own sake, I think you're right. That brings the number of times I've been dumped back down to zero… Hurray for loopholes!"

Weiss scoffed at the girl's antics, but the topic did bring up something she'd been wondering for a while. "How many girls _have_ you dated?"

"Hmmmmm," Olivia hummed out, glancing at Weiss while thinking hard on the number. She brought her hand up and started counting off fingers, finishing off one hand, then the other, then the first again. She trailed off in thought, eyes raising to the ceiling while trying to remember all of her past flings. Weiss's heart fell in her chest, wondering exactly how much more experienced Olivia really was compared to herself.

Finally, the faunus finished counting in her head. She nodded to herself, and Weiss gulped when Olivia turned to her with a serious expression.

"Including everyone I've ever been with, and subtracting Melanie thanks to your _valuable_ insight… One."

Weiss felt her pent up anxiety release with a sudden laugh, and smacked Olivia lightly across the shoulder while shaking her head. "All that build up and you've only dated _one_ girl? I thought you were more experienced than that?"

Olivia smiled and raised her hands in a 'what can you do' gesture. "Hey, there's plenty of fish in the sea… but not many of them ever really managed to catch my eye..."

"High standards?" Weiss asked in the most casual voice she could muster.

Olivia gave an uncomfortable shrug. "It's hard to find someone you can trust. And I was, well…" She glanced at Weiss uncertainly, but eventually shook her head, "Some other time."

' _She was what?_ ' Weiss had to admit to her own curiosity. It was getting to a point in their… _friendship_ , where she was beginning to yearn to know what secrets she kept. Opening up had given Olivia so much relief before. What else could she be holding back?

Weiss stepped in closer, bumping a hip against Olivia before they began descending the stairs. "So?"

"So what?"

Weiss scoffed as if her question was obvious. "So, tell me about the girl. What made her special?"

Olivia took the lead, Weiss following close behind. "Nothing much, really. She was just my first."

"Your first as in…?" Weiss blushed when Olivia nodded confirmation.

"Yeah. I was young, and thinking more with my libido than anything. She would babysit for a married couple that lived nearby, and we met each other a few times in passing before anything happened that could have been considered an actual _date._ " Olivia shook her head ruefully, "She was a year older and could see I was nervous, so she took charge when it came to planning everything."

" _You_ letting someone _else_ take charge? I never thought I'd see the day," Weiss teased.

Olivia gave the heiress a smug grin, "Hey, everyone's gotta start somewhere. What about you, Princess? Any maids catch your fancy? Any sheets need cleaning after a quick romp in the sack?"

"C-certainly not," Weiss blustered.

"Really? So you're…?"

Weiss's silence was all Olivia needed to have her question answered. She gave Weiss a brief pitying look, "I don't mean to judge. Everyone goes at their own pace, after all, and there's no shame in waiting. Still, to never…?" She shook her head sadly.

"I…" Weiss fidgeted with the cuff of Olivia's coat sleeve, working up the courage to admit how truly inexperienced she was. "I didn't know until recently that… that I even _liked_ girls… It was your book that opened my eyes…"

Olivia frowned in confusion. "I'm glad you learned something about yourself, Weiss, but what book are you talking about?"

Weiss frowned in return, "Uh… N-Ninjas of Love?"

Olivia laughed incredulously, "Princess, I don't read _smut_. Where'd you get that book from? It certainly isn't mine."

' _Not Olivia's…? Then…_ ' The truth of the matter flashed into Weiss's mind, a sudden realization that the book had been Blake's all along, and she'd been too ashamed to admit it. ' _B-but then, when I read more…_ ' Blake had left the room, knowing _exactly_ what might happen when Weiss read further. She'd left, _knowing_ …

Weiss smothered her face in her hands, blindingly hot embarrassment heating her cheeks to a crimson red. She could feel Olivia's eyes on her, the quiet snicker aching to leave her lips. Blake must have known all along what Weiss did that night. No amount of bleach or vanilla extract would have covered it up. Even without her faunus nose to fall back on, the other girl was smart enough to put two and two together.

"I-It must have been Blake's… She said she'd ask whether or not you minded if I borrowed it."

"Oh~?" Olivia grinned, "Maybe I'll ask her if _I_ can borrow it. Must be a really _steamy_ book if it managed to sexually awaken a prude like you."

"I'm not a prude," Weiss argued weakly, still too distraught over her previous realization to put much force into it.

Olivia held her hands up as if to drop the subject, "Sorry, Weiss. I won't tease you too much. Just let me know if you want help winning some girl's heart, alright? I told Ruby I'd show her the ropes and I have no problem extending that offer to you as well. Think of it as a... a bonus lesson for my half of our deal."

Weiss averted her eyes as Olivia held the dormitory building's door open for her. She looked to the ground in consideration, and waited until Olivia had stepped up beside her once more before gathering her courage to make a daring request. It was the next best thing, as far as she was concerned.

"Well, I… I think I'll take you up on that offer. We're going to an amusement park, so… Why don't you take this opportunity to teach me? Sh… Show me what you would do if it was a real date…?"

Olivia paused, looking Weiss over for a few moments before smiling. "If you're sure…?"

Weiss nodded, trying to keep her cheeks from heating.

"Well then! First thing's first," Weiss felt her heart stop as Olivia's hand brushed against her own, fingers intertwining to hold her hand in a soothing grip, "Hand holding is an important step. It helps the other girl become more comfortable with your presence, and will hopefully make her want to stay close to you." Olivia smirked, staring into Weiss's eyes, "Is it working?"

Weiss managed to recover her breath long enough to let out a quiet, "I-I'd say so… What's next?"

"Hmm," Olivia thought out loud, gently pulling Weiss along as they began to walk together towards the Bullheads. Weiss fought to not stare at the hand holding hers. She couldn't help but falter in her steps, heart beating a rapid drum beat inside her chest. "I'm not totally sure what there is to _do_ at an amusement park. I guess we'll have to figure that out together, eh~?"

"I-I guess we will," Weiss spoke breathlessly.

Together, they boarded the Bullhead. Weiss was eternally grateful to see no other students on board. Seeing as the last time they'd been this close, Olivia had been adamant to make it seem like the two of them weren't remotely together. Weiss wouldn't have wanted a similar scenario to ruin what she currently had.

The Bullhead lifted off, and the pair descended towards Vale, towards their eventual destination.

In lieu of her current predicament, all thoughts of guilt firmly vacated Weiss's mind.


	65. A Spider and A Snowflake

' _Olivia wasn't kidding…_ '

Weiss had looked up the location of an amusement park on her scroll, and had guided the both of them through the city, avoiding the larger commotions wherever possible. Sirens blared in the distance, and the streets themselves echoed with the din of thousands of voices. Some shouted in tandem, while others loudly announced their thoughts, opinions, or demands over loudspeakers and microphones.

Olivia still held her hand through it all, though her playful attitude had subconsciously diminished to one far more wary. Weiss could only guess it had to do with the crowds themselves, the faunus having displayed a dislike for them in the past. In light of that, Weiss made sure to give them a wide berth with the route she chose, and clutched all the more tightly to Olivia's hand whenever they were forced to draw near.

Olivia herself didn't seem to notice the efforts Weiss was taking, or was refusing to acknowledge them on account of her pride. Weiss didn't mind either way. Seeing Olivia relax more with every step put between them and the crowds was good enough for her. She'd quickly grown accustomed to the feeling of the other girl's hand in hers, and walked with far more confidence and purpose with Olivia at her side.

' _I could get used to this…_ ' Weiss sighed internally, a long standing debate battling it out within her heart. Olivia was blissfully unaware of the struggle taking place in Weiss's mind, the desire to throw away the facade deepening with every step, with each brief glance into the other's eyes. What if she asked Olivia out for real? Right here, right now, before they arrived at the park? Could they enjoy a true date, instead of her half baked scheme?

' _Or is Blake right… Would Olivia become more distant… Would she… would she say no?_ '

Weiss desired more than anything for the date to become real. At the same time… she was just glad to get whatever she could.

"Smells like we're almost there, Princess," Olivia commented, pulling Weiss's focus from her own troubled mind.

' _Smell…?_ ' Weiss closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, catching a scent on the air that was both indistinct, and wholly familiar. "Is that…?"

"Popcorn," Olivia confirmed with a grimace.

The loud rumbling of a rollercoaster followed soon after, the shrill cries of its occupants echoing out across the street. Turning one final corner, the city opened up into a much wider expanse. The area nearest them was forested, but even so, Weiss could see the brightly colored buildings and railings overtop the canopy of green.

The entrance to the amusement park itself lay before them, equally vibrant buildings and booths providing a welcoming atmosphere that beckoned them inside. Unfortunately, it appeared that they weren't the only ones looking to have a little fun. A long line of patrons wrapped out of the entryway and along the property's tall iron fence, winding down the sidewalk and around a distant corner.

"It _is_ a Friday…" Olivia stated glumly, staring at the line of people already waiting to enter. She smirked soon after, a twinkle in her eye. "Want to hop the fence?"

Weiss laughed lightly, pulling Olivia towards the front of the line instead. "Don't be ridiculous. Hunters already get a free pass. At least, that's what their website said when I was looking up directions."

Olivia raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure that includes Huntresses in training?" Her gaze wandered wistfully back to the fence line, "We wouldn't even need a running start..."

Weiss shook her head in amusement. One brief glance across the arranged booths was all she needed to notice the one currently in disuse. A bored attendant sat behind the counter, reading a magazine. 'Hunters only' was written across the plaque above him, signalling the express lane for humanities' defenders.

"Admittance for two, please," Weiss stated kindly, trying to garner the attention of the young man behind the counter.

He didn't take his eyes off his magazine, but instead raised a hand to point up towards the plaque above him. "Hunters only. You'll have to go wait in line like everyone else."

Weiss frowned. Normally she might have had some choice words to share with someone slacking on the job. With Olivia at her side though, she found it hard to get worked up.

"We _are_ Huntresses," Weiss replied calmly.

The young man, perhaps a few years older than Olivia and Weiss, flicked his eyes away from his magazine long enough to give them a cursory glance. He returned to the pages immediately, expression not changing in the slightest.

"Too young."

Weiss scowled, "We're Huntresses in training."

The young man glanced at the watch on his wrist, and gave a small shake of his head without turning to face them. "Beacon students don't get out for a few more hours. You're either lying, or playing hookie."

Weiss couldn't help but notice the slow grin working its way across Olivia's face. The faunus squeezed her hand lightly, silently cheering her on while enjoying the show.

Between the young man's attitude, and Olivia's growing amusement, Weiss was beginning to lose her temper. She very nearly stamped her foot in frustration, but managed to hold back her indignation by the skin of her teeth.

' _Stay civil, Weiss… A tantrum will get you nowhere._ '

Weiss let out a long breath, then forcefully worked the best smile she could on to her lips. "We were given special permission by Headmaster Ozpin himself to skip classes for the rest of the week. Would you please just let us in? We have Beacon IDs on our scrolls, if that will help persuade you."

The young man lifted one hand, and raised a finger for each point he made. "Anyone can look up who runs the school. Beacon IDs aren't hard to fake."

Weiss snapped.

" _You-!_ "

The man was saved from her wrath by Olivia slipping between herself and the booth. The faunus's hand was already on the counter before Weiss knew it, withdrawing soon after and leaving behind a hefty stack of lien.

Olivia let out a small laugh, "I told her we should just hop the fence."

The attendant's expression still didn't change, but he pulled the lien off the counter and replaced it with a paper band for each of them.

"Probably would've gotten in sooner that way."

Weiss could only sputter with indignation while Olivia wrapped the band around her wrist. Olivia paused long enough to put her own on, then grabbed Weiss's hand again to lead her inside the park.

Olivia smirked, "Dating tip number two. Don't be afraid to flash a little cash to get your way. I bribe people all the time. Ladies love it." She scratched her chin in thought, "At least, I'd assume so. Who wouldn't want to find out their date is loaded?"

"I can't believe you paid that… that _arrogant_ little-!"

Olivia laughed, bumping a shoulder into her. "Forget about it. He probably gets people trying to fake their way in all the time. Besides, what's a bit of lien compared to expedience? We're in now, so let's enjoy ourselves."

Weiss took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm herself down. "You're right. Let's just… have some fun." She finally stopped to take in their surroundings, eyes roaming across the busy plaza packed with dozens upon dozens of fellow patrons.

The treeline opened up almost immediately to reveal the amusement park in all its glory. A myriad of colors decorated every building in sight. The air was filled with panicked and excited cries from children and adults. The smell was overwhelming, an assortment of scents all seeming to attack her nose at once, overpowering it until they all became an indistinct mess. Even the paved walkways were brilliantly colored, various patterns worked into the concrete to help guide people to their chosen destinations.

"So, where do you want to go first?" Weiss asked uncertainly. Given so many options to choose from, she wasn't sure where to even begin. Weiss knew she wanted their 'date' to be special, ' _But where will we have the most fun…?_ '

Olivia glanced around the plaza, eyes finally focusing on something a little ways off to their right. She nodded her chin in its direction and pulled Weiss along, weaving through the crowd until they were standing in front of a large, detailed map.

"This should give us an idea…" Olivia's eyes roamed across it. She pointed to one of the symbols in particular, a small black star with the words 'You are here' written above it.

Weiss looked at the corner of the map, where the key listed off all of the various destinations the park offered.

"Rides, carnival games, bumper cars, fun houses, karaoke, food court…" Weiss read them off one by one, finding each on the map as she did so and pointing them out to Olivia.

"Hmm," Olivia hummed while considering the possibilities. "Is there anything you want to try first? We could probably hit up everything on the map by the end of the day."

Weiss shook her head, "Not really. I want to try out the roller coasters eventually, but if there's something you'd rather do…"

Olivia let out a brief laugh, "Sounds like fun to me. Just don't chicken out when we get there~"

Weiss rolled her eyes, turning to lead Olivia away from the map and down the trail towards the rides. "We kill _Grimm_ , Olivia. I highly doubt anything here is going to measure up."

Olivia grinned, "You just keep telling yourself that, champ. In the meantime…" She bumped her shoulder into Weiss playfully, "Dating tip number three! Talk about something your date is interested in. Hobbies, plans for the future. Pay attention and listen closely to whatever she has to say so that you can respond appropriately."

Weiss raised an eyebrow, "Does that mean you or me, then? Should I practice by asking you, or are you going to demonstrate by putting the moves on me?"

Olivia frowned in thought, "Which would you prefer?"

Weiss bit her lip. While she was nervous about potentially killing the mood and dredging up part of Olivia's past, the chance to learn more about her was too good to give up. ' _As long as I steer clear of any sensitive subjects, then we should be fine._ '

"I'll practice on you," Weiss announced, already racking her brain for a question to ask Olivia. The faunus only nodded her approval and waited patiently, allowing Weiss the time she needed to collect her thoughts.

Weiss was still curious about the application she'd seen earlier, but decided against asking anything so intrusive. Aside from that, there _was_ a question she'd wanted to ask previously, but had been far too embarrassed to voice. Now given free range to ask anything she pleased, she was tempted to try her luck.

' _Olivia promised not to tease me, and she's mostly kept to it…_ '

Mind made up, Weiss cleared her throat in preparation. Even so, she could feel her cheeks heating prematurely, and sweat gathering in her palms.

"You… you mentioned your first time earlier…" Weiss struggled to finish her question, but after a few moments, managed to gather enough resolve to power through. "What… what was it like?"

Olivia laughed lightly, stifling her mirth with a hand before flashing Weiss an affectionate smile. "Getting curious now that you know what you like, Princess?"

Weiss fidgeted with the hem of Olivia's coat, but nodded all the same. In truth, she was interested because it involved Olivia more than anything. At the same time, she was anxious about what to expect should she ever get the chance, Olivia or not. Weiss hadn't worked up the courage to research the topic at all, despite the CCT network being only a swipe away on her scroll.

Olivia seemed to take pity on her. She squeezed Weiss's hand gently, as if to signal that she wasn't taking the question lightly. "I'm not going to shame you for being worried, Weiss. It's only natural that you would be. I think _everyone_ is when it comes to their first time."

"Really? So you…?"

Olivia nodded, "Yup. There were a few older women that I knew, ones I worked up the courage to ask advice from. I started begging them for tips… I wanted my first time to be special, ya know? I think most girls go through that phase… Wanting it to be perfect…"

"Was it?" Weiss asked tentatively.

Olivia laughed, eyes zoning out into the distance while taken by her memories. "No, not at all. There's a big difference between being told something, and actually trying it for yourself. Before then… I'd at least figured out some of the things _I_ enjoyed. The places that felt the best when I touched myself…" She shook her head ruefully, "It's a lot harder when you're trying it for the first time with someone else, though, and everyone's a little bit different. I was so excited… so _nervous_. We were both too embarrassed to talk, so we were just blindly doing to each other what we'd normally do to ourselves… It was an experience I'll never forget, but I can't say it was anything remotely close to the perfect first time I was craving."

Weiss silently reflected on Olivia's answer. It didn't spell high hopes for her, considering she'd only just recently arrived at the 'touching herself' part of her development. Weiss only knew the absolute basics from her own recent experience. She hadn't done any real exploring, no testing the waters to find out what felt best.

If she did get with Olivia...

' _Just lay back and relax, Princess. I'll show you how it's done~_ '

Weiss's cheeks heated at the thoughts that inevitably began coursing through her mind. Flights of fancy, each involving Olivia continuing her tutelage in a _bedroom_ instead of on their fake date. She focused on keeping her breathing even, and fought to dispel the images running through her head.

' _Get a hold of yourself, Weiss! Now is not the time!_ ' Their fake date had only just begun. She couldn't risk falling apart so soon when they had the entire day ahead of them!

"Is there anything else you wanted to know, Weiss? I'm an open book until we find a ride to try out, so ask away."

"Umm, let me think," Weiss delayed. Her heart still beat rapidly in her chest, but she could feel it beginning to slow with each passing moment. ' _No more sex questions. Just… hurry up and think of something tame. Something normal!_ '

"Have you ever owned a pet?" Weiss blurted out, cringing before the words had even finished leaving her lips. ' _What a lame question!_ '

Olivia laughed, "A bit random, but I'm still game. No, I've never owned a pet. My life up until now hasn't really been the most stable to warrant trying to take care of anything. If I was going to get one though…" She pondered the question for a moment, head tilting to the side. "I think I'd want a dog like Zwei… He's such an excitable little fellow… And it would be nice to have something that loyal to come home to… That was always happy to see me, no matter what..."

Olivia shrugged after trailing off for a few seconds, "What about you?"

Despite everything, the topic had done its job in firmly diverting Weiss's mind away from her previous, depraved thoughts. "...My sister had a cat when we were both really young. It was pure white… I don't really know what breed it was. We didn't have it for long. My mother bought it for Winter without consulting my father, and it turned out he was allergic."

"Don't they make pills for that?"

Weiss scoffed, "As if he would have inconvenienced himself for a meager issue like his childrens' _happiness._ "

In retrospect, it was painful how true that statement really was.

Olivia shook her head sadly, "Well, I'm sure wherever that cat ended up, it was in a better place. As _far_ from Jacques Schnee as possible."

Weiss laughed. It started off as a quiet giggle, building up in force the longer it went on until people nearby were glancing in their direction. She couldn't help herself. The same could be said about _her_ , after all. The further she was from her father, the _happier_ she could be.

Olivia smiled widely, waiting until Weiss's laughter had died down before commenting sincerely, "Have I ever mentioned you have a beautiful laugh?"

Weiss choked, her tongue freezing against the roof of her mouth while her steps faltered. "Y-you… _what!?_ "

Olivia grinned, "Dating tip number four, Princess. Compliments are key! There's no better way to win a girl's heart, except maybe through her stomach. That's what the older women told me, anyway."

"Are _all_ of your tips just handed down from a bunch of old ladies?" Weiss managed to strangle out.

"Eh, only the cliff notes," Olivia grinned. "I wouldn't pass anything along to you that didn't have the Mandevilla seal of approval!"

Weiss was opening her mouth to argue, but Olivia's eyes darted away instead. She gestured with her chin, the smile on her face only widening with each passing moment. "We're here!"

Weiss let out a quiet, indignant huff before turning to regard the rollercoaster they'd arrived at. The path through the trees had finally winded its way into another, the new trail leading past an assortment of different rides. Olivia's eyes remained on the first one they'd come across, tracking the coaster itself as it flew through the various twists and turns.

"You ready?" Olivia asked with a challenging tone, flashing Weiss a smirk to see if the other girl was going to back down.

Weiss stood up straighter and set off, briefly pulling Olivia along before the faunus fell back into step. She pointed up ahead, towards a sign set up near the front of the line.

"Hunters' Fast Pass," Weiss read aloud, pausing to check the paper bracelets they'd each been given. Thankfully, it appeared the attendant hadn't screwed them over one final time, as each band _did_ clearly display 'Hunter' across its surface.

Olivia grinned, "Vale knows how to treat its saviors!" She flashed Weiss a playful smirk, "Last chance to back out, Princess~"

Weiss rolled her eyes in exasperation. ' _This is nothing._ ' She slipped her hand free from Olivia's and stepped up first, showing her bracelet to the operator behind the gate. "Two for the ride, please. Preferably in the _front._ " She shot Olivia a pair of narrowed eyes, daring her in turn.

Olivia snorted and stepped up next to her, putting both arms behind her head and humming while they waited for the rollercoaster to finish its previous run. In less than a minute, it was pulling back into the bay and letting its occupants off, many cheering for the exhilarating experience they'd just had.

The operator waited until they'd all stepped off the platform before waving Weiss and Olivia through, followed by the rest of those in line. Weiss went straight for the front cart, and had already pulled her bar down by the time Olivia slid onto the seat next to her.

"If you're going to throw up, make sure you aim _that_ way," Olivia joked, pointing across Weiss to the other side of the cart. She pulled down on her own bar, the mechanism producing a loud ratcheting sound with every few inches. It locked into place with a final click, both of them now secured, regardless of potential second thoughts.

Weiss frowned, a glimmer of worry flickering through her mind after Olivia's previous comment. She leaned over the side and glanced along the railing, then looked up at all the twists and turns the track had to offer.

With all of the seats now filled, the operator pressed a button on his console to start the ride. The coaster let out a loud, airy hiss, it's brakes releasing so that they began inching forward, up a tall hill that would initiate the ride.

"Um… Olivia?" Weiss spoke loudly over the rumbling of the cart, watching as the ground grew further and further away.

Olivia sensed the concern in her voice, and reached the wrong conclusion. "Don't tell me you want to back out _now,_ Weiss. Dating tip number five, ladies love confidence."

"No, it's just… Remember how you don't do so well on boats…?"

Olivia stared at Weiss in confusion for a few moments. Ever so slowly, her face began to pale, and she looked out over the edge of the cart to the twists and turns that had been so enticing only seconds before.

The cart reached the apex of its initial climb, brakes grinding to a halt to add to the suspense. Olivia turned back to Weiss with clear panic in her eyes, and a curse ready to leave her lips.

"Oh fu-"

The rest of Olivia's words were lost to time as the cart rocketed down the track. The wind whipped through their hair and clothes, deafening the screams of the people behind them. Weiss had eyes only for Olivia, for the green tint that immediately began to work its way across her features.

Up, down, and around. The rollercoaster blasted through each and every turn, throwing Weiss and Olivia back and forth, held in their seats only by the grace of the bars across their chests. Olivia desperately fought to keep control, one forearm already stuffed across her mouth to fight back a sudden urge to vomit.

Weiss watched in horror, silently cheering Olivia on but hoping that if all else failed, she'd remember her own advice and aim the opposite direction.

As suddenly as it had begun, Weiss felt the cart slowing back down. They were already winding through the final turn, the docking bay ahead. Olivia didn't seem to notice, so determined was she in fighting to keep control of her bodily functions. Weiss placed a tentative hand on her back and rubbed up and down, trying to sooth while being careful not to disturb her any further.

"We're there, Olivia! We made it! Just a few more feet!" Weiss coaxed gently. The faunus looked miserable.

Olivia raised her eyes, relief washing over her as she realized the ride was over. The coaster finished pulling into the bay, brakes hissing once more to announce them coming to a complete stop. After a few seconds, the bars gave way as well. Olivia jumped up, happy to be back on her own two feet. She stepped hurriedly away from the ride, pushing through the exit and back out onto the path.

Weiss followed close behind, and breathed a sigh of relief once the coast was clear.

"That was a close call," Weiss grinned, "I'm surprised you managed to-"

Olivia puked.

Weiss averted her eyes, refusing to look at the contents being emptied from Olivia's stomach. The stench of alcohol hit her, and she couldn't help but wrinkle her nose. Regardless of her own qualms, Weiss graciously offered up her previous ministrations. She rubbed Olivia's back in small circles while the girl retched, silently glad that her teammate's hair was short enough to not get in the way.

After a few minutes, Olivia let out one final shuddering sigh and stood up straight. Weiss continued rubbing her back, intent on providing as much comfort as possible until Olivia said otherwise. Her eyes were closed, body subconsciously leaning back into Weiss's touch while she breathed deeply.

"Are you feeling better? Is there anything I can get you?" Despite the thought briefly crossing her mind, Weiss couldn't bring herself to tease Olivia as revenge for her earlier comments. It wasn't her fault that her sixth sense had such an unfortunate drawback. It was a little sad, even. ' _Olivia was so excited to come here… I hope this hasn't ruined her mood._ '

Olivia finally pulled away, allowing Weiss's hand to fall back down to her side. "I'm fine… If we can find something to drink I'll be even better, though."

Weiss frowned in disapproval, "Do you really want _alcohol_ after all that? I can smell it in your puke _already_."

Olivia snorted, some of the color returning to her face, "I meant like soda or some _water_ , Princess. Even I'm not _that_ self-destructive."

"Oh," Weiss calmed, raising her eyes to glance around the vicinity. She spotted a wayward food stand nearby, and gestured for Olivia to follow before leading the way over to it.

"Anything I can get you, dears?" The woman asked, taking in the two girls as they stepped up to order.

Olivia's eyes roamed across the options. She grimaced with each, hand still gingerly holding her stomach. "Just some water for me, thanks."

The woman nodded and turned an eye to Weiss, filling a cup for Olivia while she waited for the heiress to speak, "And you?"

"An iced tea for me, please." Weiss pulled out her lien as the woman finished pouring their drinks. For once, Olivia didn't protest, but quietly accepted the large cup of water when offered. She drank tentatively, careful not to ignite any lingering nausea that might set her off again.

Weiss placed a hand on her back and steered her away, a small distance to a bench just wide enough for both of them to sit comfortably. Olivia sighed as she sat, leaning back and relaxing while Weiss watched her carefully. The color had fully returned to her cheeks now, cold water being the final ingredient on her brief road to recovery.

"Thank you, Weiss…" Olivia said, sparing the heiress a genuine smile. It faded after a few moments, her eyes filling with regret.

"Sorry for ruining our fake date…"

Weiss laughed lightly, leaning over to bump her shoulder into Olivia's. "Who says it's ruined? We've still got a full day ahead of us. Don't tell me one little old ride is enough to put _Olivia Mandevilla_ down for the count?"

Olivia raised her eyes in surprise, "I don't think I can handle any of the others, either… You really want to keep going?"

Weiss smiled, "Of course. You're not getting off _that_ easy. I still have so much left to learn, and there's still so much left to do. Who else is going to teach me?"

Olivia grinned, "You know, a lot of it really _is_ just advice from old ladies."

"That's more than I have now~"

Olivia stood, appearing rejuvenated and taking one last sip off her now empty cup. Weiss could only see the barest hint of the warm smile she wore. "Well, I'd say you've already mastered dating tip number six."

"And what's that?" Weiss asked curiously.

"Being perfect…"

Olivia spoke quietly, and kept facing away when she said it. Weiss's cheeks colored and her heartbeat raced. The iced tea was entirely forgotten in her hands. She didn't know how to respond. She wasn't even sure Olivia had _meant_ for her to hear it, possibly judging the crowds around them as loud enough to deafen her words.

Weiss needed to be sure… ' _Maybe I misheard her…?_ '

"Wh… what did you say?" she asked timidly.

Olivia turned back to her with a cheshire grin. Weiss could see a hidden strain in her eyes though, an unknown resolution holding her back. She shook her head weakly.

"Sorry Weiss, just another one of my jokes."

Weiss didn't believe her. Didn't _want_ to believe her. Could there be something there? Weiss had heard Olivia crack jokes before, had heard the way she teased on so many other occasions.

' _Is she just as afraid to ask_ me _out? Or am I just hearing what I want to…?_ ' Indecision ate away at Weiss's mind. She couldn't bring herself to speak up, not without confirming her suspicions first. There was too much at stake, too much riding on their relationship for her to trip at the finish line.

' _If I'm even close to it…_ '

Olivia glanced around, looking across the crowds that filtered past and pretending as if nothing had transpired. "So, where to next? I don't think we should try any more rides. Not unless they're painfully slow, but in that case, what's the point in even riding them? Maybe the carnival games instead? There might be some fun stuff over there."

When Weiss didn't speak up, Olivia turned back with a cautious frown. "Weiss? What do you think?"

"...The carnival sounds like a safe bet…" Weiss replied finally, standing and hiding her own disappointment by sipping off her drink. Olivia watched her closely for a few moments before nodding acceptance.

"Alright. All we need is another map. I hope the one at the entrance wasn't the _only_ one."

Weiss shook her head, "There has to be more. Let's just walk for now. I'm sure we'll find one along the way."

"Sounds good," Olivia tossed her empty cup into a trashcan before falling back in line next to Weiss. Her hand reached out, seeking the warm comfort of intertwined fingers they'd enjoyed since leaving Beacon. Weiss accepted the contact readily enough, but couldn't help but sigh, yearning for those final steps to make the contact _real_ , to make it mean what she wanted it to mean.

The two of them made small talk along the way, eventually finding another map to guide them to the carnival section. The walk to find the map was longer than the trip to their actual destination. Soon enough, Weiss and Olivia passed through a gate into a wide assortment of colorful tents. Children and adults ran to and fro, exchanging lien with the attendants in the sizable booths. There were an array of strange games to be had, from pools of ducks whose purpose eluded Weiss, to a tightrope someone was currently failing to traverse.

Prizes decorated the walls behind each attendant. Weiss wasn't too impressed, taking note that most were stuffed animals or children's toys. Here and there she could see more expensive items locked in displays, undoubtedly the prizes for games that were either far too difficult, or rigged to be impossible.

"What do you want to try first?" Olivia asked, also busy gazing around at what the carnival had to offer.

The sound of a blunt object slamming heavily against something else drew Weiss's attention. She turned to look, peeking over the top of a few passersby towards where the sound had originated. Weiss's eyes caught on to a beefy, muscular man wielding a large mallet. He raised his arms for the gathered crowd, eliciting a brief cheer before hefting the hammer up once more. With one reckless swing, he slammed the mallet down against a contraption connected to a nearby post. The act catapulted a metal puck up the post, past a series of lines signifying the height he'd reached. It didn't quite manage to ring the bell at the top though, and the crowd groaned in disappointment for his failure.

' _Olivia is due for a win after that rollercoaster ride_ ,' Weiss smirked, nodding her head towards the game she'd chosen.

"Think you could get it all the way up?" Weiss teased, watching as the strong man went for another attempt. It went higher the second time, but was still a half dozen feet shy of the top.

Olivia grinned, pulling Weiss along after accepting her challenge. "It would be my pleasure~"

The man was breathing heavily when they arrived, the mallet resting at his side while no others dared to step forward and take his place. Olivia pulled Weiss past the edge of the crowd, and smiled up at the mountain of a man when the murmurs drew his attention.

"Need some help, big guy?" Olivia asked sweetly, a playful grin decorating her lips.

The man looked down at her and scoffed, raising the mallet to lay it across his shoulder. His accent was terribly thick, belonging to the far reaches of Vacuo if Weiss had to take a guess.

"You think _you_ can do it?" Several members of the crowd laughed, sizing Olivia up compared to the muscle-bound man. He towered over her, several feet taller with arms thicker than her torso. "It's not as easy as it looks, let me tell you."

Olivia shrugged, "No harm in trying then, right? We're just here to have fun after all."

The large man grunted, letting out a derogatory laugh that was echoed by several others in the crowd. He set the mallet down and held the handle out to Olivia, then nodded his head to a sizable pot of lien set off to the side. "If you manage to ring the bell then you get all of it." He smirked, "Fifty lien per try."

"Is that all?" Olivia raised an eyebrow, surprising the man with her complete disregard for what should have been a daunting amount. Still acting in order to rile the man up, she turned to Weiss and flashed her a wink. "Sorry, sweetheart. I've gotta take care of a little business~"

Weiss smiled, deciding to play along. She winked in return, shifting her stance to place a hand on her hip. "Ring the bell and we can do _whatever_ you want later~" Weiss couldn't stop herself from blushing when she said it, but was proud to hear a few ' _ooh_ 's emanating from the crowd.

"You spoil me," Olivia smirked. She hefted the mallet up with one hand, her other still occupied with Weiss's own. After the large man's eyes had gone wide at seeing the ease in which Olivia lifted it, she finally slipped her hand free and walked the last few feet to the target she was meant to hit.

Olivia dug into her pocket and pulled out a wad of lien that was certainly more than the amount required. "That oughta be enough," she stated casually, tossing the lien into the wide pot. Olivia lifted the mallet up, pointing towards the end of it, then down at the target. She turned slightly to the mountain of a man still standing nearby, a playful frown on her face.

"I smack this against that, right?"

"Y… Yes…"

Olivia brightened, "Sounds easy enough!" She pivoted back around, twirling the mallet in her hands, mimicking the way Nora might have swung Magnhild before going for a heavy attack.

With one fluid motion, Olivia slammed the end of the mallet down against the target. It blurred in her hands, going from above her head to buried in the wood faster than Weiss could blink. Hundreds of pounds of pressure suddenly applied itself to the metal puck, sending it rocketing up along the post and crashing into the bell at the top.

There was the sound of piercing metal and the brief snapping of wood. The bell was cracked in half, board surrounding it splintered and broken from the impact. Weiss frowned, then raised her eyes to the sky worriedly, realizing where the puck had gone. She spotted it soon enough, a small black speck in the clear blue sky.

Weiss pulled Myrtenaster from her hip and focused, ignoring the crowd that began to panic as they also realized where the puck had gone. Their eyes scanned the sky, some managing to point out the large piece of metal hurtling back towards the ground.

With a measured glance at it's trajectory and a brief moment to focus, Weiss waved the end of her rapier through the air. The gravity dust within its chambers activated along with her semblance, conjuring a black glyph in the sky above them. It wasn't a moment too soon, as the puck was brought to a halt a mere dozen feet over the crowd's heads.

Weiss sent Olivia a disapproving frown. The faunus at least had the decency to rub a hand against the back of her head, smiling sheepishly while silently conveying her thanks.

Olivia turned back to the strong man as Weiss lowered the puck into his hands. He stared in astonishment, eyes going between Olivia and Weiss in utter disbelief.

"So… I guess keep the lien and buy yourself a new thing-a-majig?" Olivia laughed nervously. When the man only stared at her, she hurried to Weiss's side and grasped her hand once more. "Best be off, darling."

Weiss sighed and reattached Myrtenaster to her hip while Olivia led them both away. She wasn't truly surprised by how events had played out. Really, she'd been asking for it the moment she called Olivia's attention to the game. The faunus couldn't turn down a challenge like that, especially with such an obvious opportunity to showboat.

"Well, I rang the bell. _What_ was it you said I could have if I did?" Olivia teased while they weaved through the crowd, glancing at Weiss with a mischievous light in her eyes.

Weiss rolled her eyes, waiting for Olivia to make some ridiculous request, "Whatever you wanted."

Olivia smirked, "Such an open ended offer. I'll have to keep that in mind. Your word is your bond, right~?"

Weiss narrowed her eyes, hearing the note of challenge in Olivia's voice. "I'm not a liar, if that's what you're asking…"

"Good!" Olivia said cheerily. "I'm sure I'll think of something by the end of the night."

Weiss ignored Olivia's obvious attempt at riling her up once more. She was on to the faunus's game now, growing more accustomed to spotting when she was only trying to elicit a reaction. Frowning for a moment in thought, Weiss decided to take the opportunity to turn the tables on her. Olivia loved to taunt, but how well could she take being teased?

In a flash of daring, Weiss took a step closer and lowered her voice to speak privately in Olivia's ear. She tried to mimic the women she'd seen in movies, changing the pitch of her voice into an approximation of the sultry tones they used while seducing others.

"As long as it's something we can _both_ enjoy~" Weiss spoke suggestively. She fought to keep a straight face, hoping to hold out long enough to see Olivia's reaction before she herself could break character.

Olivia's steps faltered, and she turned to Weiss with a look of pure shock on her face. Beautiful magenta eyes stared deeply into her own, and Weiss's breath hitched, suddenly anxious upon seeing the reaction to her own joke.

She couldn't keep up the act, not with Olivia looking at her that way. Weiss's coy grin faltered, replaced with rapidly heating cheeks as her eyes darted in embarrassment away from Olivia's own.

Olivia let out a relieved laugh, clutching Weiss's hand more tightly and raising her other to fan her face. "You had me going there for a second, Princess. I'm impressed."

"I… wanted to try it out. You're always teasing _me_ , so..."

Olivia chuckled, "No, I get it. Turn about is fair play." She shook her head in amusement, "I really _am_ rubbing off on you. You'll be turning the ladies into a stuttering mess in no time if you keep that up."

"Was it really that good?" Weiss asked cautiously.

"Let's put it this way. Any girl would have to be _blind_ to turn down an offer like that," Olivia praised, not bothering to consider that she herself fell into that category.

Olivia pulled at the neckline of her shirt as if overheating, causing Weiss to dart her eyes away when the girl's bra and cleavage were put briefly on display. "I'll have to be careful if you keep pulling stunts like that. I don't have Melanie to scratch my itch anymore." She shook her head sadly, "Guess I'm back to taking care of business the old fashioned way."

Weiss blushed deeply upon hearing Olivia admit to something so crass. ' _How often does she…? No, no! I'm not going down that rabbit hole again!_ ' She fidgeted anxiously, fantasies fighting for dominance while her eyes desperately searched for anything to take her mind off what Olivia might do in her private time.

"How about that game!?" Weiss pointed randomly, pulling Olivia's attention away from her own quiet thoughts. The faunus looked up, following Weiss's finger to the game she'd chosen. There was a wall along the back filled with stacked cups, and a few patrons taking turns throwing balls to try and knock them down.

Olivia shrugged, "If that's what you wanna do, then sure. Let's try it."

Weiss nodded fiercely and led the way to the booth. The previous players were just then finishing up, each collecting a series of rewards after their minor successes. Weiss caught the man's eye and nodded to the game, making sure to bring her voice back under control before speaking.

"How much to play?"

The man smiled welcomingly, gaze darting down to their hands still held between them. "Five lien for three throws, or you pay ten for ten." He pointed to the side wall and along the upper edge above the board, where the prizes resided. "Six cups gets you one of the smaller toys, ten for the medium, fifteen for the large, and all of the cups nets you the biggest prizes we can offer."

The 'biggest' prizes in question consisted of oversized, stuffed Grimm. Taijitu, Ursa, Beowolves, and Goliaths. There was a wide assortment of stylized fluffy toys, designed to make the Grimm look cute and harmless. Weiss was certain they drew excited children in from all around.

Olivia cooed, "Awww… Weiss~" You must already be familiar with dating tip number seven. Girls love a winner. Are you going to try and get the fluffy Ursa for me?"

"If that's what you want~" Weiss teased right back, reaching in her pocket to count out ten lien. The employee nodded acceptance and set ten balls down, spreading them out in front of Weiss. He then stepped to the side, gesturing for her to throw whenever she was ready.

Olivia slipped her hand free and leaned against the counter, waiting and watching as Weiss sized up her targets. The heiress hefted one of the balls, feeling its meager weight while focusing on the task at hand. She might have only pointed the game out on a whim, but even so, she still wanted to _win_.

Taking aim towards the middle of the stack of cups, Weiss pulled her arm back and let loose, hurling the ball with all her might. It flew true, straight towards the center. The ball collided, producing a satisfying eruption of plastic as many of the cups were knocked from the table and down onto the grass below.

"Nice first shot," Olivia praised. The center of the pyramid stack had been split in two. While her aim had been on point, it hadn't been nearly enough to finish the game in one, decisive blow. In the aftermath, over a dozen cups still remained standing.

"Nine more, Princess. Don't fail me now~"

Weiss took aim with the next and let loose, earning herself another satisfying clash of plastic as more of the cups were knocked off. One by one, Weiss continued to throw, dwindling down her targets until only a few cups remained standing. Two more had fallen on their sides, still on the table.

Olivia raised an eyebrow, and caught the employee's attention with a small wave. "Do they all have to be knocked off the table, or just over?"

"Off the table, otherwise it doesn't count."

Weiss narrowed her eyes, staring at what remained and trying to figure out how best to knock the rest off with only two balls left. The cups were spread thin, with only one real stack of three remaining while the other two were dispersed more widely.

"You've got your work cut out for you," Olivia announced smugly.

"I'll make it work, somehow…" Weiss muttered, tossing one ball up in the air while considering her options. The stack of three needed to go, and she was more than confident in her own aim to get rid of it. Doing so would only leave one ball for the other two cups on the table though, neither of them were close enough to hit at the same time.

Weiss turned to the employee as well, her own question ready to be asked. "Just to get this straight, what are the rules, exactly?"

The man shrugged, "You can only throw the balls you paid for and can't step or reach past the counter. As simple as it gets, really."

' _Well, if there aren't any rules against it…_ ' Weiss thought cautiously. At the end of the day, the game had been designed with regular citizens in mind. ' _Do I really need to restrict myself? It's not my fault if they don't take Hunters into consideration…_ '

Weiss frowned, competitive spirit fighting against her desires to play fair. ' _I could use my semblance to try and bounce the ball off and hit the last two cups, but at that point I might as well just sweep them off with my glyphs…_ '

Weiss sighed, resigning herself to not using her semblance. She hefted the ball once more, and aimed for the stack of three cups first.

Olivia leaned over conspiratorially, speaking quietly into her ear before she had a chance to throw. "Maybe you could send part of the triple stack into one of the other two? You'll have to hit it hard though, and in _just_ the right spot."

Weiss pondered the suggestion for a few moments, eventually giving a small shrug of her shoulders. ' _What do I have to lose?_ '

Focusing more acutely, Weiss eyed the center of the stack, now aiming for the edge of one of the bottom cups in particular. She drew her arm back once more, let out a deep breath, and let loose with all her might. With the minor weight of the balls to consider, she needed to make up for the lack of force with speed alone.

The colorful ball blurred across the intervening distance, flying straight for the center of the triple stack of cups. It collided at the fastest speed Weiss could muster, the stack erupting with the sudden scraping of plastic. The cups themselves exploded every which way. Weiss watched closely as one careened across the table, doing exactly what she and Olivia had hoped for. It smacked into one of the already tipped over cups, sending _both_ to the ground below.

Olivia stood from her slouch to give Weiss a high five, and let out a loud "Nice!" that made the heiress tingle with pride.

Weiss smiled confidently and picked up the last ball while glaring at her final target. Only one cup remained, already tipped on its side and at an awkward angle that would offer a challenge of its own. Even so, the hard part was behind her. Weiss rolled the ball in her hand, finding the most comfortable way to hold it along its seam.

' _You can do this, Weiss…_ ' She realized how nervous she'd become over such a simple game and let out an incredulous laugh. Weiss took a moment to roll her shoulders, relieving some of the tension in the air.

With one final, slow exhale, Weiss whipped her arm forward and released. Time almost seemed to slow as the ball flew through the air, on a direct collision course with the final cup. It collided with the cup's edge and bounced off, pushing it towards the lip of the table. Weiss watched with bated breath as it rolled, drawing ever closer with each passing moment.

' _Come on… come on!_ '

Weiss's heart stopped when the cup did, remaining on the edge of the table by only a hair. It rested there for what felt like an eternity, no one daring to breathe while they stared in silence.

"Well, better luck next-" The employee began, but stopped suddenly when the cup shifted the final millimeter and fell, plastic impacting the ground below. Weiss stared in disbelief, heart pounding with excitement.

"I knew you could do it!" Olivia announced cheerily, grabbing Weiss by the shoulders and pulling her into a brief hug. Weiss reciprocated, happily hugging Olivia in return while the girl congratulated her.

The employee brought a hand up and scratched the back of his head, but eventually gave up with a shrug. He swept his arm wide, gesturing to the large fluffy Grimm on display, "Take your pick."

Weiss pulled away and eyed the prizes. She turned to Olivia with a grin, "Which did you say you wanted? The Ursa, right~?"

Olivia smiled and nodded confirmation, "If I had to choose _any_ of them…"

Weiss whipped her head back and pointed to the Ursa, "I'll take that one, please." The man reached up and pulled it down, crossing the short distance to hand it off to Weiss. She promptly held it out to Olivia, a wide smile gracing her lips. "Girls love winners, right? I guess I really _am_ learning."

Olivia accepted the fluffy Grimm, holding it to her chest as if she would cherish it forever. She raised one hand and wiped a fake tear from her eye, voice dropping into a flirtatious tone, "Keep this up and you might win my _heart_ , too~"

' _Oh, just you wait…_ '

Weiss refused to let Olivia's teasing get the better of her, "Where to next?"

Olivia shrugged, looking around at the games yet to be conquered. "Wherever you want to go, Princess. Lead us to victory~"

Weiss nodded her assent and took the lead, Olivia trailing behind while clutching the fluffy Grimm protectively.

In that moment, with a long day still ahead of them, Weiss made up her mind. She wouldn't chance ruining their time together. They would have their fun, and spend the evening on their fake date.

But once it was over...

' _We'll enjoy what time we have left, but at the end of the night… I_ will _ask you out, Olivia Mandevilla. I'll make sure you know exactly how I_ really _feel._ '

Weiss could only hope she'd say yes.

* * *

' _Stop it, Olivia… Stop staring…_ '

Olivia turned away from the subject of her affection, silently berating herself for being so weak willed.

The table in front of her was currently filled, a wide assortment of stuffed Grimm and prizes arranged across it. They'd gone on a tear, winning games left and right. After hours spent at the carnival, both of them had agreed to take a break and head to the food court instead.

Weiss was standing in line at one of the shops, waiting for her turn to order. Olivia would have stayed with her, but she was currently preoccupied with the bounty they'd amassed. Stuffed Grimm, a fake guitar, a wide array of beaded jewelry… Olivia wasn't even sure _when_ they'd gotten the balloon made to look like Beacon's headmaster, but there it was, tied to the table.

Olivia glared at that prize in particular. It was _Ozpin's_ fault she was in this mess, his fault she was feeling so… so… Olivia turned back to stare at Weiss. Her heart ached, growing more and more pained as the day went on. Every time Weiss smiled at her, every time she was allowed even a _moment_ to stare into those clear blue eyes, every second spent with their soft hands intertwined…

Olivia sighed, pulling her eyes away again. ' _Coming here was a mistake…_ ' Agreeing to the fake date had been a mistake as well. Olivia's feelings for Weiss had only deepened in the process. She'd only begun to appreciate her more than ever.

' _Can I really go through with telling her now…?_ ' Part of Olivia's grand scheme had been to show Weiss a great time, to show her that Olivia had changed from the person she once was. Maybe, just maybe, after all was said and done and the night was coming to a close, she could have worked up the courage to tell her the truth.

Now, her plans had fallen apart. Even if she told Weiss, and the heiress could find it within her heart to forgive her… Would they ever spend time together like this again? Olivia didn't want to lose this, didn't want to lose what they had. Weiss… Weiss was…

' _Perfect…_ ' Olivia hadn't been able to stop herself from voicing the truth earlier. Just like the time with Qrow, her mind had blurted out what she'd been thinking. She'd played it off as well as she could, hoping against hope that Weiss would accept it as simple teasing like always.

Olivia had meant what she said with every fiber of her being, though. She'd never felt this way before. Her heart rate skyrocketed every time Weiss stood by her side. Even now, with only a dozen feet between them, Olivia missed her. Missed the feeling of Weiss's hand in hers.

Olivia set her elbows on the table and leaned forward, scrubbing her face with both hands. ' _Get a hang of yourself, Olivia… You're just…. you're just_ friends _. You don't deserve her. Think about everything you've ever done. Could someone like her_ ever _be with someone like_ you _? You're a terrible person. You've done awful,_ unspeakable _things-_ '

Olivia felt Weiss's presence moving back within range and pulled her hands away, trying to play it off as just being tired. Her heart skipped a beat as Weiss came fully into view, setting down a slice of pizza for Olivia before taking her own seat next to her.

"Thanks, Princess," Olivia spoke kindly, trying to keep up her usual airs. Weiss nodded her acceptance and grabbed her own slice, lips parting to bite into the greasy food. She smiled happily and pulled away, only for a string of cheese to remain connected between the pizza and her lips.

Olivia caught herself staring again, enjoying the cute, simple act of Weiss struggling with her food. She grabbed her own instead and averted her gaze, looking at the crowds around them while biting into it. That didn't stop her from feeling everything Weiss did with her sixth sense though, finely tuned against Olivia's wishes to pay attention to even the most minute of details concerning the heiress.

The day had moved well into the evening since they'd been there. If Olivia had to guess, there was only half an hour of daylight left before the sun passed the horizon. The time to make her decision was approaching, the impossible choice of whether or not to reveal her secret. Olivia searched through her own feelings, desperately trying to work up the courage to do what she'd initially set out to do.

Weiss's foot nudged her lightly beneath the table, pulling Olivia's mind out of the depths. The heiress smiled from around the pizza in her mouth, and took a moment to finish chewing before posing the question she wanted to ask.

"Do you think you could handle a ferris wheel?"

Olivia was momentarily caught off guard. She had to pause and think back to what that even was, mind eventually recalling the large circular ride they'd seen in passing earlier.

"It moved slow enough… I don't think it would be a problem. Why?"

Weiss shifted nervously, biting her lip for a moment before continuing. "Well, the park closes in a couple hours... but I was thinking we could end the day by watching the sunset? What better way to cap off a date?" She shrugged, "If… if you wanted to, that is."

Olivia smirked, trying to keep up her facade. That sounded like a fantastic way to end the evening, truth be told. One last hurrah before her world potentially came crumbling down around her.

"That's a great idea. Do you remember how to get there?"

Weiss nodded, "I had the idea earlier, so I've been keeping an eye out. Once we're done here, it's just a short walk up that trail. After we get through the trees we'll be back on the path with all the rides."

"Sounds like a plan," Olivia agreed, trying not to sound too eager. Being alone with Weiss, away from the crowds after hours spent around so many people? Bliss.

Olivia looked at all the prizes spread out across their table. She smiled apologetically at Weiss, and nodded at them in between bites. "Not that I don't appreciate all we've accomplished, but… do you think we should maybe give this stuff away? There's probably a lot of kids around that could use them more than us..."

Weiss placed a hand to her chest, feigning shock, "Surely you don't mean Barry as well?"

Olivia smirked, grabbing the stuffed Ursa that Weiss had won for her initially, "I would _never_. Those kids would have to take him from my cold, dead hands."

Weiss breathed a sigh of relief, "In that case, I accept." Her eyes roamed across their hoard, "Honestly, it was starting to be a pain to carry all this around anyway."

"You can say that again," Olivia agreed wholeheartedly.

They continued to eat in silence, now with a plan of action in mind and only a limited time to do it. Once they were both finished, Olivia picked up half of the prizes while Weiss grabbed the others. They set off on the path Weiss had pointed out, dispersing prizes along the way to each child they passed. Olivia enjoyed seeing their excitement, and was a little disappointed when they ran out of gifts.

Only Barry remained, tucked beneath Olivia's arm for safekeeping. The skyline was beginning to turn red, the brilliant hues mixing with the darkening blue of the oncoming night sky. The barest hint of stars peeked their way through the deep blue, still hard to make out aside from those that were brightest.

The ferris wheel drew into sight, a massive construct of steel that supported an array of bucket-like seats along the outside edge. Weiss led the way, moving with purpose through the crowds and to the front of the small line. Many people had already started to leave the park, clearing out with the setting sun.

Acutely aware of everything Weiss was doing, Olivia felt her reaching into her pocket to withdraw a wad of lien. She glanced around before sliding it across the podium to the ferris wheel operator, who nodded in turn and gestured for them to enter.

Weiss grinned smugly and waved for Olivia to follow, making her way onto the raised platform and picking out one of the enclosed seats. She opened the small door and stepped inside, waiting for Olivia to join her before securing it.

Olivia raised an eyebrow, "Bribing employees now, are we? Looks like you _have_ been paying attention~"

Weiss flashed her a sheepish smile, "You noticed that?" She shrugged, "There was no guarantee we'd end up at the top. Now there is. We'll have the best seats in the house."

Olivia laughed appreciatively, glad that Weiss was always thinking ten steps ahead.

She was just beginning to get settled on the bench when Weiss slid closer. Olivia's heart froze in her chest when the heiress cuddled against her. A warm, petite hand slipped into Olivia's own, Weiss shifting so that their bodies meshed together. Olivia stared in shock, but Weiss only looked into the distance, acting as if the action was the most natural in the world.

Olivia gulped, trying to gain control over her rapidly beating heart. ' _It's okay. This is fine! She… she's just pr-practicing for the real deal some day!_ ' She couldn't bring herself to protest. Weiss's body felt so soft against her own, a welcome connection if ever there was one.

The ferris wheel shook, stirring to life and reminding Olivia of what they were even doing. For a brief moment, the world had ceased to exist around her. She cleared her throat, and glanced off to the side while waiting for the ferris wheel to move. There was a slight queasiness fluttering through her stomach, but it had nothing to do with the ride itself.

With the grinding of gears, the ferris wheel finally started to turn. Olivia felt it shift beneath them, the seat rising and the world beginning to shrink in comparison to the height they were attaining. Ever so slowly, their ride rose up to the midway point, past the tops of the buildings so that they could see more of the sky. They continued even further though, climbing to the absolute apex so that the world fell away around them.

The sounds of the crowds diminished entirely. A light wind swept everything else away, bringing Olivia and Weiss to a place where it truly felt as if they were alone. The skyline rested before them, brilliant orange and red meeting the deep blue waves of the ocean. Patch could be seen in the distance, matching its namesake by appearing as only a small strip of land on the horizon.

Weiss sighed and leaned against Olivia further, resting her head on the faunus's shoulder. Olivia froze in place, incapable of moving or disturbing the heiress's rest. Her thumb began to move in small circles against the back of Olivia's hand, and she let out another sigh, this one holding a nervous quaver in its tone.

"Hey, Olivia?" Weiss spoke breathlessly, refusing to look in her direction, but instead staring at the steadily lowering sun. "Can… can I ask you something?"

' _Oh no… she couldn't… she wouldn't…!_ ' Olivia's breath hitched in her throat, panic overwhelming every part of her frazzled mind. If Weiss was thinking what Olivia thought she was, if she had been planning this all along in order to… to ask her _out_ …

' _That's ridiculous… isn't it?_ '

It wasn't, though. Even if Olivia had been too distracted by her own feelings to notice, she could see now that Weiss had been enjoying herself just as much. Had been just as nervous throughout the day.

' _I… I need to…_ ' Needed to what? Olivia's mind clawed desperately for answers, for a plan of action. Weiss's feelings… they changed nothing about Olivia's own predicament. There were still secrets she kept, guilt that would do nothing but tear a divide between them if she didn't confess. Olivia couldn't do that to Weiss. She couldn't wind her way deeper into the other girl's heart, only to reveal something so devastating later on.

"Wait," Olivia spoke falteringly, stopping Weiss when she opened her mouth to continue. Her heart sunk in her chest, disappearing into a void from which it might never return. It was now or never. Weiss had forced her hand. If she didn't say something, didn't confess to her sins… she might never have the courage to do so again.

"There's something I have to say first, Weiss… I… I know what you're going to ask and… there's _nothing_ that would make me happier…"

Weiss turned in shock, eyes staring deeply into Olivia's own. Her mouth worked silently, words failing her until she finally managed to speak. "Th-then, you will?"

"If… if you still feel the same way after I tell you about my past… about the things I've done…" Olivia couldn't bear to look into Weiss's eyes any longer. She averted her own in shame, casting them down towards her own feet. She could still see their hands in her periphery, could feel the tremble between them. Olivia wasn't sure who was responsible for it. Herself? Weiss? Both of them?

Olivia inhaled shakily. "Weiss… I'm… I'm not a good person…"

Weiss's eyes frowned in concern, and she replied in barely a whisper. "How could you _say_ that? Olivia, you saved my _life._ "

"I did, but… the things I've done? The people I've…" Olivia couldn't bring herself to say it yet. Her walls held strong, terror over how Weiss would respond, keeping her secrets at bay. "That doesn't make up for it…"

Weiss squeezed Olivia's hand with both of hers, leaning forward to bring herself back into the faunus's field of view. Blue eyes stared fiercely up into her own, locking her gaze in place. "I told you, Olivia. Don't you remember? I told you I would hear you out. Whatever you've done… you can _tell_ me. I won't judge you."

Olivia leaned back, eyes going to the darkening sky so that she could escape those pearls of blue. "It's not that simple, Weiss."

Even without looking, Olivia could feel the disapproval that appeared on Weiss's face. "I _won't_ give up on you, Olivia. We've been teammates for _weeks_. Our relationship might have started out poorly, but you're my _friend_ now! We study and train together almost every day, and… And I want us to be so much more! I… I wouldn't _feel_ this way if you were a bad person!"

"But I _am_ …" Olivia choked out. Her sight was beginning to blur, tears coming unbidden to her eyes. She raised her free hand and wiped a sleeve across them, feeling her heart being torn in two. It was too much. To tell Weiss, to tell _anyone_. Olivia had already been betrayed so deeply. How could she ever trust again? How could she put her life in someone else's hands?

"Just tell me!" Weiss pleaded, tears beginning to fall down her cheeks as well. "Please, Olivia… Just give me a _chance_ …"

Olivia didn't know what to do. She desperately wanted acceptance, craved the very idea of having someone that _knew_ her secrets. But the risk… the risk was so great, it terrified her into inaction. Olivia sat silently, staring at Weiss. An internal struggle raged in her mind, a fight between what she desired, and what she feared most.

"I…" Olivia struggled out, only managing to utter the single word.

Weiss stared into her eyes, silently urging Olivia to continue. Only now could she see the affection on such pure display. Weiss was willing to listen. She'd hardened her resolve, long since knowing that there was something Olivia couldn't bring herself to say. Even still, she remained at her side, wanting nothing more than to help her friend, to _be_ with her.

' _Can I do it?_ '

What other choice was there? Olivia needed to move _on_ with her life. Keeping everything repressed, refusing to trust others, refusing to _heal_. It was no way to live… She was suffering every day, piled beneath so many secrets. They were suffocating, stifling the life she wanted to lead, holding her back. She needed to keep moving forward.

Olivia took a deep breath, gathering her courage and clutching Weiss's hand tightly. She stared into her eyes, trying to dispel her fear. ' _I'll… I'll do it… I'll trust her…_ '

"Weiss… I-"

Olivia was interrupted as the ferris wheel's gears grinded once more. Their small cab shook, distracting her and tearing at her resolve. The ride was ending, motors whirring to life as they started moving again. There was too much to say, too much to explain. Olivia wanted to reveal her secrets, wanted to rid herself of her pent up guilt.

Robbed of their time alone, she could only share a sad smile with Weiss.

"We… we can find somewhere else private to talk. I'll tell you everything, Weiss. Just… not here."

Weiss nodded, raising a hand of her own to wipe the tears from her eyes. "I'll hold you to that, Olivia."

Their cab finally came to a halt back on the ground level. The sun had set completely during their time up above. Now only the stars remained, sparkling dimly while washed out by the city's lights. Weiss opened the small door to step out, and closed it again once Olivia had followed in her wake.

The faunus let out a small laugh, hands once again occupied by the furry Grimm that Weiss had won. Among all the secrets she kept, Olivia would never tell Weiss how _exactly_ the cup had rolled that final inch off the table. The heiress noticed as well and shared in her quiet laugh, the tension between them beginning to ooze away now that they were back on the ground.

"Let's go," Olivia prompted. Her free hand twitched, feeling empty and incomplete without Weiss's in it. The heiress glanced down as well, seeming to have the same feeling. She raised her eyes to smile softly at Olivia, and held her hand out in a silent offer.

' _It might be the last time…_ ' Olivia thought sadly. With quiet reverence, she slipped her hand into Weiss's warm embrace. Olivia squinted her eyes shut, savoring the feeling while a deep yearning overcame her once more.

' _Please, don't be the last time…_ '

They were beginning to set off along the path when Olivia's scroll vibrated in her pocket. She flashed Weiss an apologetic smile and held the stuffed Grimm out, knowing which hand she'd rather free up in order to check who was calling. Weiss accepted Barry and tucked him against her own chest, stopping in place while Olivia reached into her pocket.

' _Ruby?_ ' Olivia saw that it was the younger girl calling. With a brief struggle, she managed to pop open her scroll with one hand.

Immediately, Olivia knew something was wrong. Ruby was panting heavily, her face stricken with fear and tears rolling down her cheeks. There was a brief flicker of relief when she saw Olivia had accepted her call, but it was soon replaced by reality crashing back down around her.

"O-Olivia," Ruby struggled, breath hitching in her throat, "We need your help!"

"Ruby, what's wrong?" Olivia demanded, her heart dropping in her chest to see her leader so distraught.

"They… they have Blake!"

"Who does!?" Weiss spoke up, face frozen in fear.

Ruby struggled to speak, eyes brimming with shame. She finally cried out hoarsely, voice wavering with every syllable.

"The White Fang!"


	66. Bonds

"Alright Ruby, we only have time for one more before it gets dark," Blake sighed. They were standing outside a decrepit warehouse, having only just left it. White Fang markings decorated the exterior. The inside was in complete disarray, cleared of any evidence that might have helped their cause.

The White Fang was meticulous, cautious enough to protect themselves from Hunters and the police. They moved their safehouse frequently, back and forth between a small network of abandoned buildings, factories, and warehouses. Blake and Ruby had already visited over half a dozen, and left with their hands empty every time.

"We can keep going! I'll be _fine_ , Blake!" Ruby protested against the suggestion that they give up. She spun Crescent Rose, compacting it to clip it on to her back. Blake refused to take any chances, and had demanded that they remain on their guard on every approach, regardless of whether or not the buildings looked abandoned.

Blake returned Gambol Shroud to her back and gestured for Ruby to follow, taking a moment to orient herself with where they were in the city. There were only four safehouses left that she knew of. If she had been by herself, she would have kept going, well into the night in order to complete their mission.

"You can't see in the dark, Ruby. The sun's going down soon, and none of the streetlights work where we're going. I'm not going to drag you into a fight when you'll barely be able to _see_."

Ruby crossed her arms with a pout. "I don't want to make Weiss wait, though. You saw how she was when we left."

"And she'll feel even _more_ guilty if something happened to _you_. We aren't arguing about this. You promised to do whatever I said. It was the one rule you had to agree to, otherwise I never would have brought you along in the first place."

Ruby's defiant attitude faltered. "Sorry… I just… I just want to help her out, you know? She's my partner, and I'm her leader. It's _my_ responsibility to make sure everyone is taken care of…"

Blake picked her way through the street, eyes downcast. She sighed and turned her head towards Ruby, flashing the girl a look of understanding, "I know. You're a good leader, Ruby. Don't put too much pressure on yourself though, alright? It's not up to you to solve everyone's problems. You don't need to sacrifice your own safety for Weiss's sake. We'll check one more warehouse, and if the White Fang aren't there, we'll search some more tomorrow. I promise."

After a few quiet seconds, Ruby nodded her acceptance.

They continued on, steering clear of the more populated areas. Even now with the sun going down, there were still all manner of protestors occupying the streets. Blake and Ruby had seen for themselves the damage they caused. Human and faunus establishments alike, defaced in the wake of so much unrest.

' _This is all the White Fang's fault…_ '

Years of tension between humans and faunus was being unleashed. Violence had never been the answer, merely a way of inspiring peace through fear. Now the floodgates had been let loose. Tensions were at an all time high, tempers flaring, only serving to widen the divide.

Blake was ashamed to have ever been a part of it. She never should have gone with Adam, never should have chosen him over her own parents.

It was almost half an hour later before they were nearing the final location for the night. Warehouses surrounded them on every side. Many of them were abandoned, purchased with lien the White Fang had amassed. It helped to keep away any outsiders, people that might have grown suspicious over the activities of those that frequented it.

Blake held up a hand, signalling for Ruby to slow down and hug the wall of a nearby building. If she remembered correctly, only a couple of warehouses were now between them and the safehouse. She offered up a silent prayer, hoping that they would finally find what they'd been searching for.

A distant rumble caught her ear. Blake's bow twitched, ears pivoting beneath as she tried to triangulate the foreign noise. No one should be nearby, not unless they were part of the White Fang themselves. After a few moments, the sound became more distinct. Engines, and a lot of them. Head whipping every which way, Blake grabbed Ruby by the sleeve.

"Blake?" Ruby spoke nervously, pupils having dilated in the increasingly low light. "What is it?"

"Someone's coming." Headlights appeared in the distance, the brief flash of lights turning a corner. They were headed directly for them, right past where the two had chosen to seek refuge.

Blake quickly pulled Ruby behind her, around a nearby corner and out of sight from the passing vehicles. She shrunk against the side of the building, pressing Ruby back against it as well so that their figures would remain in the shadows. The darkness itself would do little for them when it came to remaining out of sight, but with any luck, no one would think to look their way.

Ruby could now hear the trucks as well. She trembled nervously, hand reaching back to rest against her scythe for comfort. Blake's ears twitched more with each passing moment, until finally, four large trucks rumbled past them in the direction of the safehouse.

Blake held her breath.

Thankfully, it didn't appear as if they'd been spotted. No cries of warning erupted from the vehicles, nor screeching of brakes. They continued on their way, eventually pulling to a stop outside the warehouse. Blake and Ruby crept forward, peeking around the corner to get an eye on them once more.

Loud shouts reached their ears, followed by the grinding of metal as the heavy bay doors were rolled up to allow the trucks inside. The warehouse itself was massive, easily one of the largest safehouses the White Fang had to offer. Blake knew it well. It was a staging ground, meant for gathering resources before large scale missions.

A dozen White Fang members could be seen patrolling the grounds, several more within the building. Once the trucks had all been ushered inside, the bay doors grinded to life once more, lowering and cutting off their line of sight into the interior. Even with only a brief glance, Blake knew they had a problem. Large Dust crates were stacked within, bigger than any the White Fang had managed to procure before.

"Blake? What do we do?" Ruby whispered, crouched down next to the faunus so that she could also peek around the corner.

"Let me think…" Blake said in a hushed tone. She pulled Ruby back along with her, wary of being spotted by faunus eyes.

' _There's no way we can do what we set out to, not with so many of them around._ ' The prospect of trying to capture one of them while they were split off and alone was daunting. With so many eyes and ears guarding the building, they were sure to be noticed.

"We'll have to come back another night," Blake sighed.

Ruby stared at her worriedly, "What do you think they're doing?"

"Planning something. Something big. I've never seen so much Dust in the White Fang's hands before."

Ruby's brows pinched together in doubt, fighting to speak up despite agreeing to follow Blake's lead. Her voice was quiet, hesitant with clear indecision. "Shouldn't we find out what they're doing? This is our best chance, before they leave. We could warn Beacon, and put a _stop_ to whatever it is."

Blake bit her lip, glancing back around the corner at all of the guards on patrol. "I don't know, Ruby… There's too much risk…"

Ruby narrowed her eyes, "I'm not going to stand by and let the White Fang hurt more people. Not when there's something we can do about it. This is bigger than us, bigger than Weiss. _Lives_ are at stake."

Blake rubbed a hand against her temple, trying to dispel her nerves. Ruby was right. Even if it wasn't what they'd been expecting, they couldn't just back out now. They couldn't leave without finding out what the White Fang was up to.

With a quiet sigh, Blake nodded her acceptance. " _Don't_ think this changes anything," she warned hurriedly, seeing the determination on Ruby's face, "If I tell you to do something, you _do_ it. No questions asked."

Ruby smirked, "You're the expert. Whatever you say, Blake~ I won't argue."

Blake watched Ruby carefully, measuring her resolve. After a few long seconds of staring into a pair of confident silver eyes, Blake nodded her acquiescence. "Follow me. Our safest bet is to get on the roof. If I remember correctly, there's a few skylights spread out across the building. We'll use those and see what we can see."

Ruby stood up straight and smoothed out her skirt, waiting for Blake to lead the way. The faunus gestured behind her, in the opposite direction of the main road leading to the safehouse. As long as they were careful, they could move along the outskirts of the other buildings to find the best way to access the roof.

Together, they crept through the shadows. Blake was concerned when she noticed the light beginning to fade. It was hard to tell just how much was left with her faunus eyes. Could Ruby see well enough, or was she putting on a brave face? Blake watched her closely, and was glad to see her stepping carefully around any obstacles in their path. Ruby might not have been the quietest, but she wasn't a complete novice when it came to the art of stealth.

"Here should be good," Blake whispered. They'd reach the corner of a nearby building, only one narrow street now separating them from the safehouse. Patrols walked the perimeter, some keeping a better eye out than others.

Now that they were there, the next problem became clear to Blake. The roof of the warehouse was over twenty feet high, the lip of the building's railing another foot higher still. Between her semblance and her acrobatics, Blake was confident she could reach the top.

' _But what about Ruby?_ '

After a moment of consideration, she decided to pose the question to her leader. She turned to find Ruby nervously glancing past her, shrinking into the shadows every time a patrol drew near.

"Ruby, can you get up the side of the building without using Crescent Rose? Without making any noise?"

Ruby looked past her, raising her eyes to the height in question. She frowned, seeming to give it due consideration. "I think I can manage. I've been practicing a lot with my semblance lately. I can kind of… go _up_ now?"

Blake frowned, "Isn't your semblance super speed? What do you mean by 'go up'?"

Ruby shrugged uncertainly, "I'm not sure how I do it… I was thinking about having you guys watch me, but with everything that's happened recently I never really got around to it."

Blake looked doubtfully between Ruby and the building. Could they really risk being discovered on a 'maybe'? On the other hand, Blake was certain that Ruby would argue about being left behind. Despite any promises she'd made, the young huntress was fiercely protective. Being separated… it wouldn't go over very well, either.

"If you're _sure_ you can make it, then I'll trust you. Just keep in mind that we need to be quiet. If that's going to be a problem for you, tell me now."

Ruby stared past her hesitantly. After a few seconds, her resolve began to firm. She looked back to Blake and nodded, heart set on staying close to watch her teammate's back. "I can do it."

"Okay," Blake took Ruby at her word, choosing to believe in her leader. She crept forward, moving closer so that only a foot remained between herself and the edge of their makeshift cover. Her eyes caught on to a member of the patrol, and she shrank back next to Ruby while holding a finger to her lips.

Once the man had passed, Blake gestured Ruby up next to her. "Alright, it's now or never. You'll have to go first. I won't be able to signal the best time for you to go once I'm already on the roof."

Ruby nodded nervously, letting out quiet breaths to psych herself up. With one final push from Blake, Ruby used her semblance to blur across the street. She slowed for only a moment once she reached the wall, placing a foot against the brickwork to give herself upwards momentum. In a flash of red petals, she darted up far enough to reach the ledge. Ruby scrambled against it, pulling herself over the side and out of sight, hiding and waiting for Blake to join her.

Blake breathed a sigh of relief. She'd kept her own ears on alert, measuring how loud Ruby was before pressing on. The young huntress had barely made any noise at all. Nothing close to what it would have taken to alert any of the guards.

Waiting for the next patrol to pass, Blake followed in her leader's wake. She rushed across the street and pushed off from the wall as Ruby had, jumping within range for her semblance to get her the rest of the way. Blake appeared on the rooftop, leaving behind a clone that hung in the air for only a moment before being dispelled.

"Come here often?" Ruby whispered nervously. She was lying on the rooftop where she'd initially disappeared, breathing deeply to calm her nerves. Blake rolled her eyes with a grin, and helped Ruby back on to her feet.

Placing a hand to her lips, Blake gestured for silence. They tiptoed quietly across the rooftop, moving in the direction of the first skylight. Blake was careful to peek slowly at first, wary of drawing any attention. Ruby moved next to her, and followed her lead in glancing cautiously through the window.

The trucks were all parked in a line, the backs opened to allow Dust containers to be loaded within. Dozens of masked White Fang members moved about their tasks, hurriedly packing the trucks with everything they had on hand. Thankfully, the interior was lit, allowing Ruby to also see what was happening below.

A familiar voice began to shout orders, followed by a mess of bright red hair and black horns that immediately caught Blake's eye. She panicked, pushing her hand against Ruby's chest to force her away and out of sight. Blake did the same, shrinking away from the skylight while breathing heavily. Adam was here. She heard him continuing to shout loudly, demanding they move faster.

"Blake, what's wrong?" Ruby asked in a whisper. It was almost silent, even to Blake's ears. She pulled Ruby further away in order to respond.

"I saw Adam inside. We have to be careful, Ruby. Recruits we can handle, but even _with_ our weapons I don't think we'd stand a chance against him."

Ruby rested her hand on Crescent Rose, but eventually nodded her agreement. "What's next, then?"

Blake's eyes rose to the rest of the rooftop. The nearest skylight also looked down into the same room, but the furthest connected to the building's office. It was a place Blake had spent much of her time, the planning grounds for past missions.

Blake gestured Ruby to follow, and crept across the rooftop once more. The pair moved in absolute silence, taking their time and testing their footing with every step. With the size of the building, it took a few minutes to get all the way across, especially at their stagnated pace. It was better than getting caught though, and Blake felt a brief swelling of pride that her leader was managing so well.

Coming up to the skylight, Blake once more took absolute caution in glancing inside. Only one person was within, a red headed woman that wasn't currently wearing a mask like the rest. She sat at the desk, impatiently tapping her fingers against it while a scroll sat open in front of her. From the looks of things, she was waiting for a call.

' _I don't recognize her…_ ' Blake thought worriedly, unsure of who this new woman could be. To be alone in the command room meant she was higher up in the chain. Blake stared apprehensively. She hadn't been gone from the White Fang that long. Who was this person, and how had she climbed the ranks so quickly?

Understanding surged to the forefront. Past conversations with Olivia, and something Adam himself had said the night of the attack now coming to mind. ' _It was a stroke of luck that Widow joined our ranks._ '

Blake backpedaled, pulling Ruby with her as quickly as she dared. Her heart pounded in her chest, nerves causing her body to tremble. There was around thirty feet between themselves and her. How far did her sixth sense reach? Further than Olivia's? Far enough to have noticed them? Blake waited with bated breath, listening for a call to arms, for the signal that would announce they'd been discovered.

Ruby looked like she wanted to speak, but Blake shook her head forcefully. She was on high alert, and refused to be distracted for the moment.

After a minute had passed, Blake felt her nerves beginning to calm. She let out a breath she'd been holding, eyes returning to the skylight. If Widow had noticed, then surely something would have happened by now. The fact that nothing had was the best news Blake could have asked for. She hadn't sensed them, and likely wouldn't as long as they were careful.

Blake put a finger to her lips once more, signalling to Ruby that they shouldn't take any chances. Her leader nodded timidly, and followed Blake as she crept up to the skylight. She didn't dare to look in, so instead only got close enough to listen. If Widow was expecting a call, then maybe she would have an opportunity to overhear their plans.

After a few minutes of waiting in absolute silence, a dull vibration sounded. Widow's chair creaked as she sat up, her fingers no longer drumming against the wooden tabletop. With an indistinct 'click', the scroll popped open to accept the call.

"Finally," Widow spoke in annoyance, "Do you know how long you kept me waiting?"

"I'm sorry. I wasn't aware you were in such a rush. But please, _do_ go on. I'm sure you'll want to waste even more time by complaining."

Blake frowned, trying to recognize who the second voice belonged to. It sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place it. Her ears were better than most, and she prided herself in her own ability to distinguish voices. The source still eluded her, though. Whoever it belonged to, she hadn't heard them speak often enough.

Widow let out an annoyed huff in response, "Fine then. I'll get straight to the point. I need to borrow your little illusionist. Somethings come up. From the sounds of it, Sienna is planning on disavowing the Vale branch. I don't need her support, but if she does go to the public, it will be a brutal blow against morale."

"What are you going to do?"

"Work a little magic. Together, we'll be able to make a fun video. One that has our _own_ Sienna, directly contradicting whatever she announces. One that says she's still supporting us privately. It'll go a long way in convincing new recruits that they're still fighting for the cause."

"Sounds like you'll have your work cut out for you. When do you want her?"

"Whenever you can spare her. The sooner the better, otherwise we'll be letting their doubts settle in. That woman has denied me _more_ than enough for one lifetime. I won't let her put a stop to my efforts here, not again."

There was the sound of a knob rattling, then a loud pounding against the door. Adam's voice shouted out, muffled by the wood. "Widow! We're ready to move out!"

"Sounds like you're busy. I'll message you when she's free. Just make sure you keep your schedule open. I don't want her gone for too long, not with so many eyes on us."

"Don't worry so much. _You're_ the one they care about," Widow chided lightly, letting out a small laugh. The scroll clicked shut and the chair wheels rolled back. Faint steps could be heard, walking across the room before opening the door.

"What's taking so long?" Adam growled out, stepping into the room.

Blake tensed, lowering herself further against the rooftop on instinct alone. She hated to admit it, but Adam scared her. He'd become so much worse than the angry young man she first met. She'd hoped to help change him, once upon a time. That plan had long since failed.

Widow tutted, "Patience, child. Everything is going according to plan. Has all of the Dust been loaded?"

Blake's eyes widened when she heard Adam sigh. "Yes. We're just waiting on you." Widow had calmed him so quickly, so effectively! It had normally taken her _hours_ to work him down from a temper like the one he'd just displayed.

There was an elongated silence after that. Blake shifted nervously, wondering why the conversation had come to a sudden halt. She glanced back at Ruby and saw the confusion in her eyes. She'd likely only heard bits and pieces of the conversation, if that. Ruby raised her eyebrows questioningly, wondering what they were doing next.

"Change of plans, Adam," Widow spoke up finally. Blake leaned closer again, hoping to hear every bit of what they were about to discuss.

"What do you mean-"

"Quiet now," Widow interrupted him, "No arguing. I want you to go without me. Get the shipment to where it needs to be. While you're at it… leave some of the recruits. It's important that we make sure this place is cleared out completely. We wouldn't want to leave any evidence behind, would we?"

Even without seeing him, Blake knew Adam well enough to picture his frustration. Being bossed around like that by someone that should be his inferior? It was a recipe for-

"Whatever you say, Widow. Just make sure you catch up soon."

Blake's breathing stopped. ' _What did… did he just…?_ ' Clearly, she had misinterpreted their dynamic. Was Adam no longer in control? Had Widow usurped him, becoming the true leader of the Vale branch in his stead? Or was something else going on? It only served to frighten her further. Olivia had told her that Widow was dangerous, but even so, she'd thought Adam a close contender.

But now?

Both sets of footsteps faded. The door shut behind them, leaving the room entirely vacant. Blake finally peeked over the edge once again, staring down at the desk in the hopes of gathering information. A few papers were spread out across it, but nothing that looked like a map.

' _Where are they taking all that Dust?_ ' It was the most pressing question, one that hadn't been answered by all she overheard. Considering the fact that Widow planned to clear everything out, this was potentially her only chance to read them before it was too late.

Engines roared to life, followed by the sound of the large bay doors raising again. Blake heard a few shouts, and the slamming of truck doors. Wheels rumbled across the ground, backing out into the street before fading into the distance. Lastly, the bay doors shrieked, contacting the ground with a dull thud that announced they'd fully closed once more.

Blake glanced into the office. It was now or never. Any minute now, Widow might return to collect the papers she'd left behind. Blake needed to see what was on them, needed to learn what valuable insight they might offer.

"Ruby, I'm going in." Blake said, doing her best to sound calm. "I want you to wait up here. Stay out of sight until I get back."

Ruby looked past her fearfully, down into the room. "Are you sure? What if they come back?"

"They probably _will_ , which is why I need to be quick," Blake reached down to undo the latch. She pulled on the handle, opening the skylight so that there was just enough space for her to slip through. It was a long drop to the floor, but initiation had been many times further. She could handle it easily enough, with or without any of her tricks.

Ruby finally nodded, hands twisting together nervously. "Be careful."

Blake flashed the girl one last confident smirk before pulling herself through the open skylight. She dangled off the edge for a moment, waiting for her body to still before letting go. It was a long drop, over a second worth of free fall until her feet connected with the floor. Blake rolled as she landed, displacing some of her inertia in the hopes of deafening the sound that was created.

Immediately, she rushed to the desk. Blake couldn't take the papers with her, otherwise Widow would know someone had been here. She could just as easily change her plans, making whatever Blake learned useless after the fact.

Her eyes scanned the documents, taking a moment to calm her beating heart and focus on what was written. The first paper she grabbed was a list of transactions, statements totaling the amount of lien the White Fang had at their disposal. Blake was already familiar enough with how much resources they typically had, so pushed that one to the side.

The next paper caught her eye immediately. Widow's picture was repeated across it multiple times, each set within a block of text and filigree. They were employee ID badges, ready and waiting to be cut out and laminated. Blake's eyes darted across them, trying to remember each and every one. There was a badge for city hall, the SDC, even _Beacon_.

' _Where did she_ get _all these!?_ ' Blake wondered, staring in surprise.

Blake was taking care to set the paper down exactly as she'd found it when she heard a muffled shout from above. Whipping around in fear, she had only an instant to see the dagger flying towards her face before dipping her head to the side. It streaked past, slamming into the wall with enough force to bury itself to the hilt.

Widow stood at the door, casually tossing a second dagger in one hand. She grimaced, seeing the paper that Blake had just set back down. "Pity. I was _so_ looking forward to using those." Her hand stopped, catching the dagger and staring at its edge. Widow's eyes flickered back up to Blake's, a dangerous grin spreading across her lips. "I suppose no one would ever know if you were dead…"

Blake pulled Gambol Shroud from her back and held it between them, eyeing the dagger in Widow's hands. The sound of steel on steel erupted above, and Blake took a chance to glance back up through the skylight. There was a flicker of red, Ruby in the midst of fighting off the White Fang that had found their way onto the roof.

"Ruby! _Run!_ " Blake shouted out. Gunshots rang out, followed by the sound of bodies impacting heavily. Her leader appeared in the next moment, using the wide blade of her scythe to block bullets being shot in her direction.

Despite the predicament she was in, Ruby glanced fearfully back down into the room. "Blake! I-"

"Run! _Now!_ That's an _order_ , Ruby!"

Ruby's eyes returned, fear and concern for Blake as clear as day along with an unwillingness to leave her behind. "I-... I-!"

" _Go!_ " Blake put as much force into the command as she could, glaring up at Ruby for all she was worth. Her leader's breath hitched, and she darted her head away while tears gathered in her eyes.

"I'll be back!" Ruby promised in a choked shout. There was a momentary blur as her semblance activated, and a flash of red as she burst out of sight. Many footsteps pounded across the roof after her, the White Fang giving chase to try and catch the speedy girl.

Blake let out a shaky breath, returning her focus to the woman before her. Widow hadn't moved from her spot. She only continued to smirk, staring at Blake like she was an interesting piece of meat.

"Are you ready?" Widow mocked sweetly.

Blake moved into a readied stance, eyes dilating as she focused on Widow alone. Letting out one final, deep breath… she nodded.

"Well then."

Widow stepped fully into the room, closing the door behind herself.

"Let's get started~"

* * *

"Damn it, where is she? Ruby!" Olivia called out loudly, cupping her hands together in the hopes her voice would carry further. Weiss was right there at her side, both searching the area that Ruby had said she'd be in.

"Olivia!" Ruby's distant cry echoed from further down. She rounded the corner in a rush, clothes dirtied from whatever fight she'd been in. Tear tracks stained her cheeks, and she let out an audible gasp of relief when her eyes fell on them.

" _Ruby,_ " Olivia sighed, glad to see her safe. "What-"

Olivia didn't get the chance to finish her question. The breath exploded from her lungs as Ruby blurred across the street. She crashed into the faunus, arms encircling her in a fierce hug, body trembling from head to toe and her eyes shut tight. Her tears started anew, leaking down her face to mix with the tracks already there.

Olivia hugged her back just as fiercely, trying to pour every ounce of love she could into their embrace. She knew time was limited. Blake needed to be found, needed to be saved. Even so, she couldn't pull away. Not from the younger girl shivering against her with every fiber of her being.

Olivia raised one hand and stroked it through Ruby's hair. From black roots to red tips, she hoped the action would help sooth her leader. Ruby felt it and hugged her all the tighter, worming her face into the nape of Olivia's neck. Weiss stepped forward as well and placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder, moving it back and forth to slowly massage the tension from her body.

Ever so slowly, Ruby relaxed. She let out a few shaky breaths, and turned her head to wipe her tears off on Olivia's shoulder. The faunus didn't mind. Whatever Ruby needed, Olivia would do for her.

"W-we have to save her…" Ruby whispered out, finally pulling away. Her eyes stared up into Olivia's, pleading for the faunus to tell her everything would be okay.

"What happened, Ruby?" Olivia asked. They needed information, and they needed it fast. It had already been half an hour since Ruby told them where she was, deep within the more crime infested corner of the city. Olivia and Weiss had rushed there as fast as they could, but being forced to navigate through the crowds had slowed them down immensely.

"Blake and I…" Shame appeared in Ruby's eyes. They flickered between the other girls, afraid of being judged. "We were going after the White Fang…"

"What!? Why would you do something so _foolish!?_ " Weiss blurted out in astonishment. She was just as concerned for their teammate, but her nerves were getting the better of her.

Ruby flinched away, recoiling from Weiss and sinking further back into Olivia's arms. She averted her gaze, staring into Olivia's chest to avoid the accusing glare that Weiss was sending her way.

"Weiss…" Olivia spoke softly. Only the name was enough, forcing the heiress to relent. Now wasn't the time for accusations. Olivia nudged Ruby instead, regaining her attention. "Why were you looking for the White Fang, Ruby?"

"We… we wanted to find out why they attacked the club," Ruby glanced at the heiress, "I didn't want Weiss to think they were there for her. We were going to try and… try and capture one of them for answers."

Weiss's demeanor softened. Her previously crossed arms fell down to her sides, and she stared silently at Ruby. A myriad of emotions crossed her face, finally settling on regret for the tone she'd used.

On the other hand, Olivia couldn't stop her eyes from narrowing. "Why didn't you at least ask me to come with you?"

"We didn't think you would let us go…"

"Of _course_ I wouldn't," Olivia scoffed. She felt Ruby beginning to shake again and reigned in her frustration with a deep sigh. "I still would have gone if you'd refused to listen. I would have done my best to keep you both safe…"

"I know… I'm sorry…" Ruby whispered.

"We don't have time for this…" Weiss tried to keep some of the tension out of her voice. She was trying to be gentle for Ruby's sake, but even so, she was right. "Where is Blake? We _need_ to find her."

Ruby nodded agreement. "There was a White Fang safehouse in the warehouse district... We're still close. I think I can still find it from here..."

"Lead the way then, Ruby." Olivia pulled away slowly, letting the young girl find her feet again. Ruby straightened out and nodded timidly, turning on her heel to start walking back up the street.

"Any idea what we're getting ourselves into?" Olivia asked, hoping for whatever information her leader could provide. The more they knew, the better.

"There were maybe a dozen White Fang members left. They attacked me all at once while I was on the roof. Blake had already dropped in through the skylight by then. I never got to see who was in the room with her, but… there was a dagger in the wall behind her, and she had her weapon out. She must have been fighting someone."

Olivia's heart dropped at the mention of a dagger. At the same time, a tiny glimmer of hope remained. "What… what did the dagger look like? Could you describe it?"

Ruby glanced back, sending Olivia an uncertain shrug in the process. "Everything happened kind of fast. Whoever threw it must have been strong though. It was buried pretty far into the wall."

Olivia sighed, ' _Sounds like her…_ ' She wasn't sure how to feel. Olivia was nervous, and scared for Blake's safety, but… ' _Would Widow go back on her word? If Ruby escaped, then she must know I'd find out who was responsible. She knows I'd never forgive her... If I ever even could to begin with._ '

"I should go in alone," Olivia announced, drawing a pair of shocked faces in her direction. Weiss was the first to recover.

"You'll do no such thing!" she argued in surprise, striding closer to look worriedly into Olivia's face. "Blake is our _friend.._. Why do you think we'd ever accept standing on the sidelines when she's in danger?"

Olivia shook her head, busy thinking up an excuse. "Ruby's too shaken up to fight. And you… do you really want to draw the White Fang's attention? A Schnee heiress, walking straight into their hideout?"

"They were _already_ after me, Olivia."

"No, they _weren't_. Nobody is after you, Weiss... I told you already, it was just an unfortunate coincidence. The White Fang wouldn't have been that sloppy. They wouldn't have attacked an entire club when there's much easier ways to get to you."

Weiss crossed her arms in defiance, their entire group now stopped along the desolate sidewalk. Ruby gripped her skirt nervously, looking as if she was trying to speak up, but failing to gather the courage.

Olivia let out a deep breath. Arguing would get them nowhere. Even so, she didn't want to risk bringing Weiss or Ruby into a dangerous situation. She would be better alone, able to cut loose with her full potential instead of hiding her semblance.

Olivia scrubbed a hand across her face. She needed to think, and standing around was getting them _literally_ nowhere. "Let's keep going for now, Ruby."

Ruby was all too ready to comply. She turned back around and continued up the street. Once they reached an intersection, her head turned each way, until she finally seemed to remember the direction. Olivia frowned in concern, seeing Ruby starting to quiver once more. Her head darted every which way, panic setting in and creating a desperate light in her eyes.

"Why do none of these _lights_ work?" Weiss muttered harshly, glaring up at a streetlamp as they passed nearby. Only a dull flicker emanated from it, a weak stream of light washing the street in the barest hues.

Olivia groaned. Of course. With the sun beyond the horizon and the safehouse in the most rundown part of the city, very little light managed to wash across the streets. The moon was nowhere near full, only managing to reflect enough light to let the humans not trip over their own feet. Here and there, an apartment or shop window would light the street faintly. All things considered, it seemed as if it wasn't enough for Ruby to remember the path easily.

They arrived at another intersection, if it could even be called that. The traffic lights were broken, flickering yellow on all sides repeatedly and even going out completely at times. Garbage and refuse littered the streets, some of it stirred up by a light wind that began to pick up. At the center of it all, Ruby anxiously glanced each way. She looked to be truly lost now, incapable of guiding them further.

"Ruby? Where to next?" Weiss asked nervously, also picking up on their leader's indecision.

Fear filled Ruby's voice, "I… I'm not sure… It's so hard to tell now that it's so dark…"

Weiss was silent, both her and Ruby glancing around aimlessly, uncertain of what to do next.

Olivia sighed and raised her eyes to the surrounding buildings. If the White Fang in Vale used more of the same symbols she'd seen before, the same ones she'd learned during her own time with them in Mistral, then there was a chance she could lead them to the safehouse herself. As long as they were within the general vicinity, markings could be found.

Olivia spotted what she'd been hoping for. Etched into one of the streetlights were three long slashes. Each of them converged towards the bottom, not quite intersecting, but giving Olivia a clear idea of where they needed to go based on the direction they faced.

"This way," Olivia said lightly. She placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder and pointed to her right. Ruby stared closely for a few seconds before her eyes finally widened, a glimmer of recognition sparking in them.

"How did you know?" Weiss asked, the barest hint of worry in her voice. She appeared nervous to ask it, eyes staring into Olivia's while hoping for a reasonable explanation.

' _She would have learned about this anyway…_ ' Olivia was still nervous to admit the truth, but maybe it was better that they start off small. After a few moments, she pointed to the streetlight, and the three markings it held.

"The White Fang uses a system of symbols to communicate with their members. Those three slashes are directions, pointing the way to the nearest safehouse. There should be more along the way. We can follow them to figure out where we're going."

"O-oh…" Weiss stammered. Even though Olivia had turned away, she could still feel the heiress's eyes on her back.

' _She's smart… If she hasn't realized already, then she will soon…_ '

"I promise I'll tell you everything later, Weiss. For now... we need to save Blake."

After a few seconds, Weiss nodded her head weakly. Her hand fell to rest on Myrtenaster's handle, and Olivia's shoulders tensed as she walked closer. Weiss only brushed past her, though. She continued forward in the direction Olivia had indicated, only stopping after a dozen feet to turn back to them with a determined eye.

"What are we waiting for? Lead the way, Olivia…"

Olivia took a deep breath, and nodded.

' _At least now we can pick up the pace a little… Please be alright, Blake…_ '

* * *

Frigid water splashed roughly across Blake's face, shocking her awake. Immediately she tried to flail, to defend herself from whatever was happening. Pained flared in her wrists, restraints keeping her from moving her arms out from behind her back. After a few long seconds spent straining against her bindings, she knew it was hopeless.

Judging from her position, she was tied to a chair, arms behind and one ankle strapped to each front chair leg. Blake's eyes were blindfolded. The thick leather was tightly wound across her face, fully blocking any light from reaching her eyes.

"A pleasure for you to join us. Welcome back to the land of the living~"

Blake instantly recognized the voice. Widow, taunting her now that she'd been captured. Blake's entire body ached, the results of their fight being less than favorable. Widow hadn't been tricked by her semblance in the slightest. Just like Olivia, the elder spider faunus was capable of knowing exactly where she was going to appear.

Fear held Blake in its clutches. Fortunately, she at least wasn't gagged. She worked her jaw in small circles, easing the pain she felt. Widow's final blow had been meant to knock her out, not kill her.

"What are you going to do with me?" Blake trembled. She tried to keep her voice steady but failed.

"You mean, what am I going to do with _both_ of you?" Widow teased. Blake heard her step closer. Heard the whisper of steel leaving her belt. It pressed against her, the sharpened blade lightly caressing her exposed flesh.

Despite Blake's fear, she hadn't missed the insinuation Widow had made. Her heart dropped in her chest, and her words came out more faint than ever. "B-Both of us?"

Widow laughed, "You didn't think your little friend was actually going to get _away_ , did you? She's right here with us, ready to be punished if you don't tell me what I want to know."

"Y...You're lying," Blake stammered. There was no way they could have caught up with Ruby, not with her semblance.

"Am I?"

Blake heard Widow step away. It was followed by a dull thud, and the muffled, pained gasp of a young girl.

"No!" Blake cried out in dismay. The voice belonged to Ruby. She was sure of it.

' _They did it… they actually caught her…_ ' Blake felt her body begin to quake. ' _Did Ruby try to come back for me? Did she try to save me, only to get caught as well?_ ' Her breath hitched, and she turned towards the source of the noise.

"Ruby… Ruby, I'm so sorry. I'll get us out of this, okay? I…" Blake choked up, struggling to speak. "I promise…"

There were further whimpers. Ruby sounded as if she was gagged, incapable of communicating anything to Blake beyond groans.

Blake's mind desperately searched for a solution. Some way for them to get out of this. She latched on to one idea, something Olivia had told her weeks before.

"You don't want to do this, Widow. Olivia would never forgive you if you hurt us. Just… just let us be on our way. You can still salvage the situation. Nobody has to know…"

"My daughter told you about me?" Widow sounded both surprised and elated. "What did she-? No, wait. Don't tell me." She laughed harshly, "It likely wasn't anything good, considering she's in the middle of her teenage rebellion~"

' _Teenage rebellion!? You betrayed everyone she knew!_ ' Blake didn't voice her thoughts. Clearly, Widow was unhinged. Even so, if Widow knew who they were then maybe she really wouldn't risk hurting them.

"So…" Blake felt a nugget of hope growing, "You'll let us go? I… _We_ won't say anything…"

Widow sighed. "Unfortunately, that isn't good enough. I need answers. I need to know why you were here. I need to know what you overheard. If you don't tell me…" her voice trailed off in a clear warning, punctuated by Ruby whimpering in fear.

Widow stepped back over to Blake. She felt the dagger pressing against her chest once more, sharpened point digging into her skin. It cut easily, releasing a thin bead of warm blood that trailed down between her breasts. Blake gasped at the slight pain, knowing that if Widow wished, she could kill her in an instant.

"Don't even _think_ about lying to me," Widow warned, "I can feel every beat of your heart. Every time it quickens, every time it _skips_. I'll _know_ if you're trying to deceive me, and if you do… your _friend_ will be the one that pays for it."

"Okay, I'll tell you… Just… don't hurt Ruby... If you're going to hurt anyone, hurt me..." Blake offered herself up shakily.

Widow withdrew the blade, the cold steel leaving Blake's skin as she crossed the room to Ruby once more. Blake heard her leader gasp in shock, breath coming out in brief pants of fear.

"You heroes, always so self-sacrificing. I've dealt with enough of your kind to know how to hit you where it _really_ hurts. You'll always go above and beyond to save those you care for. If you want this little girl to leave without any more bruises, then you'd _better_ start talking."

Blake nodded fiercely. She didn't know what Widow was capable of, but clearly Olivia had been wrong. The older woman was more than willing to hurt them to get what she wanted.

"We… We came here because we wanted to know why you attacked the club. We were going to try and capture one of you for answers."

Widow scoffed, "Look how well _that_ turned out. You really should know your limits, child. This isn't the same White Fang you left. Did you really think you could just stroll in and find the answers you seek?"

"We would have been fine if there hadn't been so many of you here..." Blake replied defensively. "What are you _planning?_ "

There was a brief pause before Widow spoke, her voice coming out in a low, threatening tone. "Do you really think you're in a position to ask _me_ anything? We really should fix that foolish notion..."

Blake's heart dropped, "No! Wait! I'm sorry!"

There was another dull thud, followed by a muffled groan. Ruby retched around the gag in her mouth, then began to quietly sob, faint cries that numbed Blake to the bone.

"I'm sorry! Please, just don't hurt her anymore!"

"Then tell me what I want to know!" Widow fired back furiously.

"Yes! Yes I will!" Blake spoke quickly, wanting more than anything to save Ruby from further torment. "I overheard you talking to someone on your scroll! Something about an illusionist, and- and faking a video of Sienna Khan to show recruits!"

"What else?" Widow asked tightly.

Blake racked her brain, thinking of all the information she could offer. "Uhh… Right! The other person mentioned being watched… That's all I heard, honestly!"

"Hmmm," Widow hummed quietly. "None of that is _particularly_ useful to you..."

Blake began to sigh, but was cut off when Widow spoke again.

"Did you recognize the voice on the scroll?"

Blake's breath caught. "No."

Another thud, this one louder than ever. Blake heard a clatter of wood afterwards, the chair Ruby was strapped to having toppled over by the sounds of it. Blake heard her gasping for air, failing to draw breath while she choked on her gag.

"Stop! I didn't recognize her! I couldn't tell!"

"This is your _own_ fault," Widow spat.

"I told you-" another thud.

"Not to-" another gasp.

" _Lie!_ "

Blake heard something break. The shattering of bone beneath abused flesh. Ruby screamed through her gag, wood clattering as she thrashed in pain. Tears streamed down Blake's face, her heart reduced to a hollow pit while fear for her leader consumed her.

"Please! I'm not lying! The voice was familiar, but I couldn't tell whose it was! I don't know! I don't, _please!_ " Blake cried, chest heaving as she strained against her bindings. They held tightly, sawing into her skin with each attempt. She stared in Ruby's direction, wishing more than anything that she could look into her friend's eyes, to reassure her that _somehow,_ everything would be okay.

After a few minutes, Blake gave up trying to get free. Her skin was rubbed raw, body gasping for air after the fierce struggle. Her head fell, body slumping forward while all of the fight left her body. She could still hear Ruby crying in pain.

"Please…" Blake begged, "You have to believe me… I don't… I don't know… I don't know who it was…"

Widow's footsteps returned. Blake felt the woman's warm breath against her face, likely staring at her closely, considering whether or not she was telling the truth.

' _Whether or not she should kill us…_ '

After a few, long seconds, the heat retreated. Widow pulled away, letting out a soft sigh of her own. Blake frowned in confusion, hearing Ruby's quiet cries fading as well. She turned her head in that direction, ears perked to their fullest while listening for some sign that her leader was still alive. Panic rose anew, and she was just opening her mouth to call out Ruby's name before the blindfold was stripped from her face.

Blake blinked at the sudden light. Widow was standing before her, offering up an apologetic smile. Blake whipped her eyes back to where Ruby had been, only to see that the room was empty. Only Widow and herself were present, the young leader nowhere to be seen.

"My little spider would be upset if I hurt any of you, remember? Your leader escaped. She was never here. I never touched her."

Blake continued to stare, a mixture of emotions welling up inside of her. Lingering despair over believing Ruby had been hurt, anger over being tricked. Both consumed her, and she turned back to glare at Widow, fury boiling in her eyes.

"You… you _bitch!_ "

Widow paused for a moment, then let out a hearty laugh. "Not the first time I've been called that. Let it out if you need to. You've earned it."

Blake struggled against her bonds anew, tipping the chair either way while she fought. "You're heartless! _Disgusting!_ Worse than a Grimm!"

"Also things I've heard before," Widow replied smugly.

Blake stared at the woman, wishing all manner of misfortune to befall her. She wanted her to suffer, to feel the same pain she'd just inflicted. One thought came to mind. The only thing that might get a reaction out of her. Blake quieted, speaking in a low, angry growl.

"Olivia will _never_ love you."

Widow moved faster than Blake could blink. In an instant, the dagger was at her throat, cold steel pressing just hard enough to draw a thin line of blood. Widow's eyes were narrowed, a feral light staring straight into Blake's own.

" _Watch_ what you say. You don't _know_ my daughter. _None_ of you do. I'm the only one that understands her, the only one that can accept her for who she _is_." Widow spoke darkly, "Oh, the _stories_ I could tell you… They would make you tremble in fear, knowing someone capable of such things slept in the same room as you every night."

"I… I don't believe you," Blake breathed out, careful not to disturb the dagger pressing against her neck.

"No?" Widow glared. She pulled back, standing up straight again and sheathing the dagger at her hip. "How about a little wager then? You think you know my daughter so well… Why don't we put those beliefs to the test?"

Blake frowned worriedly, "What do you mean?"

Widow scoffed, "Your friend _escaped_. She promised she would come back for you. Who's the _first_ person she would go to? The only other one connected to the White Fang?"

"Olivia…" Blake answered worriedly.

Widow grinned, " _Exactly_. My little Lotus is probably on her way right now. She'll be angry that you were taken. As much as I hate to admit it… you _have_ managed to worm your way into her heart. She sees you as a friend, one that needs to be _protected_."

Blake's face paled. She remembered the last time Olivia had protected someone. It had ended with a murder, the faunus killing a member of the White Fang in order to save Weiss's life.

Widow smiled, seeing the fear in Blake's eyes. She leaned forward, whispering conspiratorially. "Do you think she felt _bad_ about killing that man? If so, you've never been more wrong. I know her better than anyone. My daughter wouldn't have cared about the life of some nobody, especially not if they were trying to take something away from her." She laughed, "My little spider might have even _enjoyed_ it! It's been awhile after all."

Blake's body shook. She stared defiantly back up into Widow's eyes, but a seed of doubt was blooming in her heart. She had always known that Olivia had a darker side. Blake had seen it for herself when she killed the Nevermore, had tried so hard to ignore it when she brutally wounded the boy in initiation. Could it be true? Was there some part of Olivia that _enjoyed_ the things she'd done?

"You're… you're lying…" Blake argued weakly.

"We'll see," Widow smirked. She reached forward, tugging the blindfold back down around her eyes. Blake fought against it, but was surprised when Widow slipped it down even further. The moment she opened her mouth to protest, the leather was pulled between her teeth instead. Widow reached behind her head and cinched it more tightly so that it wouldn't come loose.

"We wouldn't want you to miss the show, now would we?"

Widow stepped back, watching as Blake struggled against the foreign object in her mouth. She couldn't work it free, couldn't manage to speak around it. All she could do was glare. With a nod of approval, Widow opened the door and looked out.

"You there! Come here!"

There was the shuffling of movement. A White Fang member appeared at the door, looking nervous. He was a fresh recruit, too scared to do anything aside from whatever Widow said.

The woman gestured for him to enter. Once he was inside and waiting for instructions, Widow nodded her chin towards him. "Pull out your gun."

With an air of trepidation, the man complied. He fumbled for a moment, pulling the weapon out and holding it in an inexperienced grip. He waited for further instructions, eyes darting to Blake worriedly.

"Turn off the safety…"

The man did as he was told.

"Aim it at the young lady…"

The man's eyes widened. He hesitated, raising the weapon in a trembling grasp and flinching once it was aimed at Blake.

"Good~" Widow praised. "Now, I want you to _stay_ like that until I get back, alright? Keep an eye on her, and _don't_ pay attention to any of the sounds she makes. She's a crafty one, and could try to escape at _any_ moment. If she does, she _definitely_ won't hesitate to kill you."

The man nodded profusely, eyes locked on Blake. Sweat was already beading on his forehead, reflecting the lights that shined from above. He wiped one sleeve across his face, but kept the gun trained on her otherwise.

Widow nodded her approval before stepping back to the door. Her eyes flicked to Blake, then returned to the recruit. She smiled, " _Perfect._ Now, you kids have fun. And don't go anywhere~!"

The door shut behind her.

Blake was left with a gun in her face.

And a dead man holding it. He just didn't know it yet.


	67. What is Love?

The streets were drenched in shadow, the occasional lamp post flickering to life and offering up some respite from the strain in Weiss's eyes. The moon hung above, casting only a pale light, enough to guide the two humans' uncertain steps and follow in the faunus's wake.

Weiss kept her eyes on Olivia alone, unwavering in their gaze. Not only because she was the sole person capable of escorting them, but because Weiss had steadily realized at least _one_ of the secrets Olivia held so dearly. It was a secret that she couldn't help but reflect on, despite the pressing issues at hand.

' _Olivia was a member of the White Fang._ '

The thought refused to vacate her mind. In retrospect, Weiss didn't know why she hadn't figured it out so many weeks before. The pure contempt that Olivia had shown her when they first met, the fervor with which she'd defended the organization, the pedestal on which she'd raised them. Even her story about being saved should have clued her in. Who wouldn't have felt obligated to repay their debts after such an act?

' _Maybe I just never_ wanted _to know…_ ' Weiss pondered silently. Acknowledging it made it _real_. She'd _enjoyed_ being blissfully unaware.

Given time to think about it during their long trek through the desolate city though, Weiss also realized another important fact on the matter, a fact about herself. It gave her hope, and let the earlier warmth she'd felt rekindle into a raging inferno inside her chest.

Weiss didn't care.

Despite how adamant Olivia was to the contrary, Weiss could tell that deep down, she was a good person. Beneath the anger and the contempt hid a girl that was _afraid_. Terrified of being alone, or rejected by those she was close to. Olivia was just too proud to admit it. Weiss had long since seen with her own eyes the lengths Olivia would go to keep those walls intact. To keep others from seeing that, even though she _was_ strong, there were parts of her that were also fragile, and weak.

If there were more secrets yet to come, more challenges she needed to face in order to be with her… Weiss resolved herself to take them in stride. She didn't want to lose this feeling, didn't want to return to how they'd once been. Weiss cared for Olivia deeply, in a way she never had for someone outside of her family. She made her feel wanted, like she wasn't merely an inconvenience in someone else's life.

If all it took for them to be together was a little acceptance…

"I'm sorry we went behind your back, Weiss…"

The heiress was pulled from her thoughts by the younger girl beside her. She shifted her focus, looking away from Olivia's back to gaze into silver eyes. Ruby's shoulders were sagging, her feet dragging across the pavement while she guiltily fretted with the cloak in her hands. She looked pitiful. Overwhelmed by what had happened, by what she and Blake had done, for having to leave their teammate to the metaphorical wolves.

Weiss raised a hand to wrap it around her leader's shoulders. Ruby tensed for a moment, but relaxed as the heiress began to rub up and down, doing her best to relieve some of her leader's tension. "You don't have to apologize to me, Ruby. You and Blake were trying to help me. Sure, your plan was a little crazy… and I _never_ would have agreed to it, but... you both put yourselves on the line just so that I could _feel_ better. I couldn't ask for better friends."

Ruby's eyes widened, a ripple of relief that brought a smile to her lips. "You really mean that?"

"With all of my heart." Weiss pulled Ruby in for a sideways hug, hoping the action would assuage any doubts she might still have. Ruby let go of her cape and hugged Weiss in return, smothering her face into the heiress's shoulder.

"Thank you, Weiss. Thank you so much."

Weiss laughed, resting her head against Ruby's for the brief moment that they were connected. "Don't sweat it. All we need to do is focus on saving Blake, alright? We'll pull her out of the White Fang's clutches, and be laughing about this soon enough, safe and sound back in the dorm."

Ruby nodded, pulling away to walk with a more confident skip in her step. She lost it a moment later though, as Olivia looked over her shoulder and gestured for them to turn down another street.

"So, umm… Weiss… have you…?" Ruby struggled to speak, glancing nervously between the heiress and Olivia. She seemed afraid to continue, as if whatever she wanted to say might end Weiss's previously voiced desires. Ruby was being cautious, knowing that if Weiss hadn't already put two and two together, she _would_ once the question was asked.

Weiss flashed her a weak smile. "Yes, Ruby. I know, and I don't care. Whether Olivia was in the White Fang or not, she's still our teammate. She's still our friend. Nothing about that changes who she is _now_."

Ruby's eyes widened once more. She stared at Weiss in surprise, mouth twitching while her mind processed what the heiress had just confessed. "You… you really don't _care?_ Then… Do you believe her? About the White Fang not being after you?"

Weiss frowned in thought. She hadn't quite considered that yet.

"Well… Olivia is from Mistral, not Vale. She might know how the White Fang operated there, but who's to say if the one's here aren't different? It seems like too much of a coincidence that they would attack a random bar that just so _happened_ to have the Schnee heiress in it."

"O-Oh…" Ruby glanced away nervously. "So… you _really_ don't care that Olivia was in the White Fang? You aren't just saying that? You don't hold _any_ grudges? You aren't going to treat her differently because of what you know...?"

"No, I won't," Weiss reassured her. "You don't have to worry about the team, Ruby. This isn't going to change anything between us."

Ruby looked at her closely, considering the truth of her words. Her hands fretted with her cloak once more, and her eyes darted away while she worked up the courage to speak.

"T-then I feel like… I feel like it's safe to tell you…"

Weiss's eyebrows raised in surprise, "Tell me what?"

"B…" Ruby managed to speak the single sound before hesitating. Weiss let her face soften, hoping to reassure her leader that whatever she needed to say, things would be okay. Ruby calmed after a few seconds, and took a deep breath before opening her mouth to speak again.

"Blake was in the White Fang, too."

' _Wha-...?_ ' Weiss's feet jarred to a halt, body frozen in place while staring into the fearful eyes of her leader. ' _Blake was…?_ '

Weiss started laughing. She threw a hand over her mouth to stifle the sound, but couldn't quite reign in her emotions. It was ridiculous, absurd, so astronomically unlikely that a _Schnee_ of all people would end up with _two_ White Fang members on her team. Weiss couldn't help herself, and bent over double while fighting to stay quiet.

" _Weiss!?_ " Ruby whispered in bewilderment, confused by how the heiress was reacting. Olivia had stopped ahead of them and was staring back with equal confusion, not privy to the conversation that had been taking place.

Weiss finally managed to suppress her mirth. Her laughter dwindled down into short giggles, a hand still over her mouth to try and quell the sound she produced. "I'm sorry, Ruby, it's just…" She shook her head, incapable of accurately voicing exactly why such a serious topic had left her shaking with laughter. "I don't care if Blake was, either. I'm happy you told me."

"Really?" Ruby's pent up anxiety was expelled in one long exhale. She gathered herself, motioning for the confused Olivia to continue onward while both of them followed behind. "I guess there's nothing else keeping us from telling you the truth, then. The White Fang really _wasn't_ after you, Weiss. Blake told me about it. About what Olivia did."

Weiss frowned, waiting for Ruby to continue.

"The day the three of you went to the cafe? The um…"

"The Daily Grind?"

"Yeah!" Ruby nodded fervently, "The day you went there, the White Fang showed up outside. Olivia pretended like she needed to make a call or something, then went to confront them. She beat them up, and told them to stay away from you."

Weiss's eyes returned to Olivia's back. ' _Even then…?_ ' Doubt still stirred in her mind.

"How are you so sure they would keep their word, though? They could have just pretended like they wouldn't, only to come back for me at the club." Weiss's heart sank a little in her chest, "Maybe… maybe they brought so many because they knew it was going to be a tough fight?"

Ruby shook her head. "The man that attacked me and Blake in the alleyway? He was their leader. Blake told him that Olivia was our teammate. She threatened him, saying Olivia would-... would kill him if he hurt us, _especially_ if he hurt _you_." She fretted for a moment, glancing up to Olivia as well. "He seemed really reluctant to attack us after that. They attacked the club because they were trying to send a message or something… They wanted to prove that the White Fang should be feared. They really weren't after you, Weiss."

A mixture of emotions coursed through Weiss's body. Relief that she really hadn't been responsible, happiness that even back then, Olivia had chosen to keep her safe. A glimmer of unease was born as well. If the leader of the White Fang in Vale considered Olivia a threat… then what might she truly be capable of? What sort of renown must she have among them, to be feared by someone so strong?

It was unsettling, but simultaneously managed to create a feeling of… pride? It was comforting, knowing that Olivia was so protective of _her_. Weiss Schnee. The person who could have ended up being her mortal enemy in different circumstances. If she'd stayed with her father. If she'd never come to Beacon, and still believed all of his heinous lies.

Weiss pulled herself from her own thoughts long enough to pat her leader on the shoulder. "Thank you for telling me, Ruby. That's a big weight off my chest…"

Ruby smiled, "We wanted to tell you before, but Blake was afraid of you finding out about her. Now that you know, there's no more secrets between us! We can all move on, and grow even closer as a team!"

Weiss opened her mouth to agree, but held it in as Olivia's voice carried quietly back to them.

" _Hey!_ "

Both of them looked up to see Olivia crouched at the corner of a building. Her eyes were wide, a finger on her lips urging them to be silent. Nerves stabbed at Weiss's chest. She crouched low next to Ruby, both making their way over to Olivia as quietly as they could, careful not to disturb any of the refuse littering the ground.

Ruby's eyes were wide. She looked at their surroundings, seeming to finally recognize where they were despite the low light. She leaned a little past Olivia, glancing around the corner before retreating quickly.

"This is it. This is definitely it," Ruby whispered. Her hand was on her scythe, feet poised to rush from cover while she shook nervously.

"Wait," Olivia placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her from doing anything rash. "Let me go first."

"But-!" Both Weiss and Ruby began to protest before Olivia flashed them a warning glance.

"I won't go in without you, but I _need_ you to stay here while I take care of the guards outside. There's light in the safehouse, but neither of you can see very well out here. If you trip over something or make noise, you'll just alert the people inside and make saving Blake a whole lot harder."

Weiss shared a look with Ruby. While it wasn't ideal, Olivia did have a point. Weiss was struggling to see much of her surroundings, most details being varying levels of indistinct at the very least. She couldn't imagine Ruby was faring much better, not unless she was secretly a faunus too. If they only ended up jeopardizing Blake by being stubborn…

"Alright, Olivia. We'll stay here for now," Weiss agreed. She stared fiercely into the faunus's eyes the next moment, surprising Olivia and holding her there with an icy glare, "If you even _think_ about going inside without us though…"

Olivia nodded, "I won't. I promise."

Weiss held her gaze for a few moments, judging how sincere the faunus was being. Olivia had suggested she go in alone before, but now she appeared to have caved to their demands. Blake was _their_ teammate too. Weiss would be damned if she was going to sit back and not help save their friend. Ruby seemed to agree, as she was currently staring at Olivia just as fiercely.

Olivia raised her hands, motioning for them to relax. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Whatever you hear, _don't_ leave until then, okay?"

Ruby finally gave up with a sigh, choosing to trust that Olivia wouldn't go back on her word. "Okay. Just… be safe?"

Olivia let out a quiet laugh, "Who do you think you're talking to here? This'll be a piece of cake."

Olivia shot Weiss once last wink before turning away. She peeked out from around the corner of the building, staring off into the distance. In one sudden burst, she sprinted in a low crouch across the street and vanished from sight.

Weiss let out an anxious sigh, crouching next to Ruby and sharing a glance with her leader. They were both too nervous to speak, and chose to silently await Olivia's return. A minute passed, the seconds ticking away while they remained hidden in their temporary cover. Weiss's concern grew with each moment that passed, doubt creasing her forehead as she wondered if Olivia really was going to come back for them, or if she'd tricked them in order to brave it alone.

Weiss was just beginning to shift closer to the edge of the building when a hand fell over her mouth from behind. She gasped into it, body trying to dislodge the hand and turn on her attacker, ready to fight. Her heart pounded in her chest, thoughts straying to what their captors might do to a Schnee once she was within their clutches.

"Ssshhh, guys. It's _me_ ," Olivia's voice reassured them. Only then did Weiss noticed that Ruby was similarly held, Olivia having snuck up behind them to hold their mouths shut. The heiress's body slumped, breaths coming out in short, quick pants.

"Sorry, I don't know how good your sight is right now so I didn't want to risk coming from the front. If you couldn't tell it was me and shouted…" Olivia shrugged, "I didn't want to take that risk."

Weiss huffed, standing to regain some modicum of dignity. "It might be prudent for us to come up with a _signal_ , then. So that on any _future_ occasions, you won't have to resort to such tactics."

Olivia rubbed a hand against the back of her neck, smiling apologetically. "Yeah, that might be a good idea. Who knows what kind of missions we might go on? I just uh… haven't needed anything like that before, you know? My previous partner… well…" She shook her head, eyes downcast, "Time for that later. For now, let's get in there and save Blake."

Weiss and Ruby promptly nodded their acceptance, Ruby rising as well to prepare to follow Olivia. Instead of attempting to sneak further, the faunus instead stepped out into the open. Weiss and Ruby shared a concerned glance, but followed her out into the street all the same.

It was tough to make out many details, but as they approached, Weiss started noticing the bodies lying outside the warehouse. There was a man slumped from the roof, barely suspended by his own weight against the railing. Two more were knocked out in front of the door, laid to rest as if relaxing against the wall behind them. The last was further off, sprawled out near the corner of the building.

"You took all of them out that fast?" Weiss whispered incredulously, awed by Olivia's handiwork.

Olivia shrugged, a touch of pride gracing her lips. "There's a couple more around the sides. I was careful not to hurt them too badly, but it's tough to say when they might wake up. I didn't exactly bring anything to tie them up with, so we're going to have to make this fast. We don't want them waking and coming in behind us while we're still busy inside."

The pair of humans nodded acceptance, following Olivia to the main entryway. She slowed as she approached, crouching lower and taking care not to disturb anything along the way. Weiss mimicked her as well as she could, Ruby doing the same next to her.

Olivia stopped with her back almost touching the wall and raised a finger to her lips. She focused for a moment, then gave them a brief nod. "I can sense five of them in the next room. It's big, and they're pretty spread out. I don't feel Blake yet either, so she's probably deeper inside."

"You don't think they might have taken her somewhere else?" Weiss whispered fearfully, wishing she could sense the same things as Olivia.

Olivia shook her head, "No, I don't think they would." Her eyes turned to their leader, "Any ideas, Ruby? You and Blake already scoped this place out earlier."

Ruby thought for a moment, "The office that Blake dropped into was at the back of the building. We probably just aren't close enough for you to sense it." She bit her lip, and tried to force herself to sound confident, "Blake _has_ to still be here. She just has to be…"

"She will be," Olivia replied calmly, turning to face the door.

"How can you be so sure?" Weiss asked, hoping to gain the same assurity as her teammate.

Olivia paused, looking back over her shoulder. "Because… I know who took her. She would have left Blake here so that I could find her. At least…" a shadow of doubt crossed her face, "I hope so. If not…"

Olivia didn't finish her sentence. She turned to grasp the doorknob firmly, then spared them one final look in preparation. "Ruby, use your semblance to get deeper into the building. Don't go for Blake yet, just attack the White Fang member that's furthest back in the room. Weiss, you go left. There's two on your side. I'll take the right."

Weiss nodded and pulled out Myrtenaster, taking a moment to inspect the Dust chambers. She'd used only a small amount of gravity Dust earlier. There was still plenty left, each type within the cylinders on display. Ruby prepared herself as well, extending Crescent Rose and giving it a skillful flourish. The heiress was breathing heavily, but after taking a few seconds to psych herself up, nodded to Olivia all the same.

Olivia raised her hand, three fingers up. She began to count down, lowering each of them slowly until all that was left was a closed fist. With one quick spin of her wrist, Weiss heard the lock snap. Olivia threw the door open, stepping aside for Ruby to blur in first. The young reaper disappeared into the building, followed by sudden shouts of surprise by those inside.

Weiss ran in next, eyes momentarily blinded when introduced to bright lights once more. She headed to the left all the same, vision adjusting to see the two White Fang members Olivia had warned her about. Both were taken off guard, still flat footed and ill prepared for the attack being orchestrated against them.

Weiss wasn't about to show them any courtesies. They were already reaching for their weapons, one carrying a standard Dust rifle slung around his shoulders while the other reached for a simple sword on his hip. The room itself was fairly open, leaving a straight shot between herself and the faunus. Weiss glared at the one reaching for the sword first, and cast a white glyph beneath her feet to propel herself forward.

Not expecting the sudden burst of speed, the sword wielding faunus was caught in the middle of drawing his weapon. Myrtenaster slammed into his chest, eliciting a large ripple of dark green aura and launching him back into the wall. He crashed into it with a gasp of pain, still not down for the count. Out of the corner of her eye, Weiss could see him struggling back to his feet.

The second faunus managed to pull his gun up. He was sloppy, though, inexperienced in the use of the firearm he held. Weiss cast a glyph to protect herself, only for the gun's safety to click repeatedly. His eyes widened and his mouth opened to swear. While he was reaching for it, Weiss darted across the intervening space. The point of her rapier slashed across the gun, knocking the barrel away from herself and further delaying his attempts to shoot.

The cylinders within Myrtenaster spun into place. Weiss ducked beneath the man's wild swing and stabbed the ground at his feet. Ice erupted from the point she'd touched, spreading out in a thick column that froze him in place. His head was left untouched, eyes free to widen while he stared in open-mouthed shock.

Weiss turned back to the other man just in time to deflect his wild swing. The sword whistled past her head, set off course by a loud clang of steel from her own weapon contacting his. Weiss slashed him across the chest, sidestepped his next attack, then repeated what she'd done to the first. Another column of ice appeared, trapping him within it's clutches.

Weiss breathed heavily from nerves alone. She spun to regard the rest of the room, ready to assist wherever she was needed.

"Oh…"

Ruby had just finished her foe as well. She glanced up and shot Weiss a thumbs up, glad to see she'd also managed to take care of her opponents. Olivia was dusting her hands off, already walking away from the three White Fang she'd sprawled out across the floor.

Olivia froze on her way towards the back of the building. From the awkward angle she was at, Weiss could see her eyes narrow into furious slits. Olivia's shoulders raised, and she stalked towards the back of the building with a fierce determination in her step.

Ruby and Weiss shared a concerned glance, then quickly followed after. Olivia arrived at the back of the building, standing in front of a door that must have led into the office. Weiss stepped up next to her, while Ruby took up the other side. Olivia stared through the door, hand on the knob while hesitating to open it. Weiss could see her struggling internally, anger, doubt, and concern flashing across her face in equal measure.

"Olivia, what's wrong?" Weiss whispered cautiously, looking between the door and her teammate.

Olivia's lip quivered, fighting to hold back her fury while her voice came out in a low, clipped growl. "There's one more inside with Blake. Her aura is gone. He's got her tied to a chair and is hiding behind her." Olivia's voice dropped further, sending a nervous tremor up Weiss's spine. "He's holding a _gun_ to her head."

Ruby gasped fearfully, "What do we _do?_ "

Olivia continued to stare through the door. Her hand clenched and unclenched at her side, seeming to be having a silent debate.

Weiss raised a hand and placed it on her shoulder. " _Whatever_ we do, we do it together."

Olivia looked back at her. For a moment, Weiss was afraid of the rage she saw boiling behind Olivia's eyes. The longer she looked at Weiss though, the more that anger relaxed. Olivia slowly calmed down, and raised a hand to lay it across Weiss's own. After a few more long seconds and one final deep breath, she nodded her acceptance.

"It's your time to shine, Princess."

Weiss's heart dropped in fear. "M-me?" Could she carry that burden? Blake's… Blake's _life_ , in _her_ hands?

Olivia gently squeezed her hand, "I need you to use time dilation. I can _feel_ how afraid he is. His hand is swaying, his body is shaking, and he's staring more towards the door than anything. I don't think he'll shoot immediately if we open it. In that moment… _Ruby_ will strike."

Ruby flinched nervously, "I- _I'm_ going to do it? Why _me?_ "

"Because, between Weiss's time dilation and your _speed_ …? I don't think there's _anything_ that could be faster."

Ruby swallowed, nervously glancing to Weiss to see if she agreed. After taking a moment to think it over… it was their best chance. They didn't know if the man inside could be reasoned with, if he might panic and pull the trigger. With her glyphs, Ruby's speed, and Olivia's sixth sense to guide them? They had a very real chance of pulling it off.

"Okay," Weiss exhaled slowly. "Tell us what to do."

Olivia waited for Ruby to nod as well before taking a moment to hold each of their hands. She grasped them tightly and smiled, trying to instill all of the confidence she could through the contact.

"Listen to me, Ruby, Weiss… I _know_ you're nervous. I _know_ you're scared. You've never done anything like this. Blake's life hangs in the balance, and this is the first time you've had so much responsibility on your shoulders. It's the first time the stakes have ever been _this_ high for you... Even so… I _know_ you can do this."

She turned to stare into the heiress's eyes. "Weiss… you _won't_ fail to control your glyph. We practiced it for so long, and you gained _so_ much control over it. All Ruby needs is a couple _seconds_. That's it. You managed a lot longer than that when we were training."

Olivia's eyes left her, turning to their leader instead, "And Ruby… you just have to _believe_ in yourself. You're one of the most skilled huntresses I've ever seen. If you can't do this, _nobody_ can. I trust you _both_ , and I _know_ Blake does, too. Right now, she's scared and alone. She _needs_ her teammates to save her. She needs her _leader_ to save her."

Olivia eyed them both, "So what do you say, Rainbow? Don't you think it's time we got the band back together again?"

Despite their nerves, Ruby and Weiss both smiled. Ruby spoke in a light laugh, eyes looking at Olivia fondly, "That's the first time you've ever called us Rainbow without _cringing_."

Olivia smiled back, gaze falling to the floor in mild embarrassment, "Yeah, well… I guess I just figured out what's more important."

Weiss squeezed Olivia's hand, pulling her eyes back to her. "Alright… let's do this."

Olivia nodded and let go. Ruby moved to stand in front of the door, Crescent Rose at the ready. Weiss raised Myrtenaster, focusing her aura through the lightning Dust within to begin casting her glyph. It spun to life beneath Ruby's feet, clock hands increasing in speed until it was ready to be unleashed, ready to give Ruby the burst of dilated time she'd need.

Olivia grasped the door handle, ready to pull it open.

"Okay, Ruby. Listen carefully. Blake is around ten feet back, directly in front of you. The man behind her is watching the door from over Blake's _left_ shoulder. The gun is on her _right_ side, pointing at her head. He isn't holding it very steady, so it keeps drifting off target. And… his aura is pretty weak, so if you're going to hit him, do it with the _blunt_ end of your weapon."

Ruby nodded and spun Crescent Rose in her hands, ready to do as Olivia suggested.

"When I open the door, no matter what you see, _don't_ talk. Don't do _anything_ else. Just _go_ …" Olivia's hand flexed on the doorknob, preparing to open it. She looked at them both, flashing one last smile in the hopes of inspiring confidence.

"Are you ready?"

Weiss and Ruby both turned to each other, mutual trust shared in their eyes. Together, they turned back to focus on the task at hand.

Olivia exhaled slowly, "Okay. On three."

"One."

Weiss and Ruby both tensed.

"Two."

The glyph spun even faster beneath Ruby's feet, the light growing as it was charged to max capacity. Olivia gave them one final glance, her hand beginning to spin the knob in preparation.

" _Three._ "

The door was ripped open.

Weiss didn't even see Ruby move. One moment she was there, and the next…

* * *

Blake watched the door being ripped open. She only had time to register a brief instance of surprise to see _Ruby_ standing there instead of Olivia before the girl in red _vanished_.

No more thoughts managed to pass through her mind between then and the loud crash that erupted behind her. There was only the impression of a red blur in her eyes, an after image of the shocking speed that Ruby had attained, and a gust of wind that ruffled her clothes. The gun that had been held against her head clattered to the ground, and only a muttered groan followed in its wake. It was Ruby's voice, Ruby's groan.

Olivia and Weiss charged through in the next moment. Weiss's rapier was drawn, her eyes wide with shock at what they'd all just seen. Olivia was no better. She shakily entered the room, staring past Blake at the muffled groans emanating behind her.

"You didn't tell me it was going to make me _that_ fast!" Ruby muttered angrily. She winced in the next instant, sounding as if she'd just struggled back to her feet. "The guy is fine, by the way… He's gonna have one hell of a headache when he wakes up, though."

Blake's heart skipped. ' _Ruby…_ '

"Mmfmfmfm," Blake called out, trying to draw their attention back to her current predicament. Olivia blinked out of her stupor and rushed over, hands reaching down to tear the straps off her ankles, followed by the bindings around her wrists.

Blake raised her hands and uncinched the leather from around the back of her neck. She gingerly pulled it out of her mouth and groaned, feeling how sore her jaw was after being stuck open for so long.

Ruby came back into view with a wide grin, eyes on Blake alone. "Blake! I'm so glad you're o-"

Ruby didn't manage to speak further. The breath was forcefully expelled from her lungs, Blake having rushed forward to wrap her leader in a desperate hug. Fresh tears fell down her face, and her body shook while she clutched her friend tightly.

"Ruby, I'm glad _you're_ okay! I thought they… that _you_ …" Blake struggled to continue. Relief crashed over her in waves, to have Ruby in her arms, to know that she was _safe_. She was drowning beneath the depths, overcome with a mixture of emotions too powerful to contain.

Ruby was frozen in shock for a few seconds, but her arms wrapped around Blake before long. One hand raised, stroking from the top of her head, down through her long black hair. Ruby accidentally grazed an ear beneath her bow and flinched away, but Blake nuzzled into the contact. Her gentle caress was soothing beyond belief, and as long as it was _Ruby_ touching her ears, she didn't mind so much.

Ruby held her tight and whispered to her that everything would be okay. Her hand returned to stroking through her hair before long, and tentatively rubbed against her ears on occasion. Blake let out a soft sigh to show her appreciation each time, steadily overcoming her turbulent emotions. Once her chest stopped heaving, and her tears had dried, she pulled away with a weak smile.

"What happened, Blake?" Ruby asked worriedly, hands still on her shoulders to offer up whatever comfort she could.

Blake sniffed, trying to relieve herself of the last vestiges of tears. She glanced back towards Olivia, and felt herself choking up for a moment longer before speaking. "It- It was Widow. She captured me. She… she wanted to know what I'd overheard."

"Widow? Who's Widow?" Weiss asked cautiously, glancing back and forth between the two.

A fire had lit behind Olivia's eyes. She had finally noticed the cut on Blake's throat, and the dribble of dried blood running down her chest. Olivia's tone was low, reminding Blake of the older woman that had tormented her. "Widow is… _was_ …" She sighed, "It's complicated... Did she _hurt_ you, Blake? I _swear_ if she did…"

Blake shook her head, suppressing a sob as she recalled the sounds she'd heard. "No, not directly… She used her… her semblance, I guess? She made me think…" Her eyes returned to Ruby's for a moment before falling sadly to the floor, "She made me think Ruby was captured too. She asked me questions, and every time she didn't like one of my answers…"

Blake wiped a sleeve across her face and raised her eyes once more, staring worriedly at the girl in front of her. "It sounded like she was _hurting_ you. I begged her to stop. I told her I was sorry, that I'd told her the _truth_ , but..."

Ruby paled. She pulled Blake forward, back into their hug to hold the faunus while she trembled. "It's okay, Blake. _I'm_ okay. She didn't hurt me. You have nothing to worry about. I'm safe, and now _you're_ safe, and we can all just go home."

Blake nodded acceptance. She wanted to go back to Beacon, to lie down and do her best to forget this day ever happened. Only her time with Ruby was worth remembering. Everything else was just a nightmare waiting to happen.

As they pulled apart to leave, Blake took a moment to look back at the man that had held her hostage. She froze in shock, eyes taking in the damage Ruby had caused. The man was unconscious, suspended off the floor due to his body being sunk so deeply into the wall. There was another imprint next to his, that of a much shorter girl that had slammed into it at the same speed, if not faster.

"Wow…"

Ruby grinned smugly and put her arm around Blake's shoulders, guiding her out. Olivia and Weiss followed in their wake, the two awkwardly silent while they trailed behind. Blake was just glad to have Ruby safe at her side, and accepted her help without complaint.

It was a long walk back. Out of the warehouse, through the slums, and back through the city that had _finally_ grown blessedly quiet in the late hours of the night. Their group steered clear of the few midnight pub crawlers that remained, and eventually found their way to the tarmac. One quick Bullhead ride returned them to the top of Beacon cliff, and soon enough, they were opening their bedroom door. All of them breathed a quiet sigh of relief when they entered, shuffling to various spots to sit down and breathe.

"What a day…" Ruby sighed heavily. She sat down on Weiss's bed instead of jumping up into her own, too tired to make the effort when she wasn't going to sleep quite yet. Her hands reached down and stripped the boots from her feet. The socks came next, all of which were unceremoniously tossed into the corner next to the bookshelf.

Blake did the same on Olivia's bed, letting out a small groan with each shoe she removed. Taking a note from Ruby and figuring they'd earned it, she tossed her shoes into the opposite corner next to the bookshelf. The two shared a glance, both smiling at their brief camaraderie.

"You can say that again," Olivia agreed, stretching her arms out above her head. Weiss caught her eye, and the two exchanged a few meaningful glances before the faunus turned back to her teammates.

"Hey, so… Weiss and I are going to head out. Not far, we aren't leaving Beacon or anything, but… there's something we needed to discuss. Ruby sort of called us in the middle of it and, well, obviously we put it off to help Blake first. Unless you want us to stay here, Blake? Would you be uncomfortable with us leaving, or…?"

Blake was curious as to what the two might need to talk about, but shook her head all the same. "No, I'll be fine. It was just a shock is all, and then when I saw Ruby again…" she shrugged timidly, "All those fears came rushing back. I'll be fine once I get some sleep."

"Ruby?"

"No, you're alright. Just don't stay out too late."

Olivia smiled, "We won't. If you aren't still up by the time we get back… goodnight."

"Goodnight, Olivia," Ruby replied happily.

Weiss opened the door and stepped out into the hall, gesturing for Olivia to follow. The faunus did for a few steps, then paused in thought. She held a hand up for Weiss to wait, then walked to her desk. Blake watched Olivia open up a drawer and pull out a stack of papers. She held them down at her side, and finally exited out into the hall.

The room was quiet for a few moments after they left. Blake stared at the door, unable to quench her curiosity completely. The brief idea to stalk them and find out what they were doing flickered through her mind, but she dismissed it just as readily. Blake didn't want to trample on their trust, nor did she want to invade their privacy. She would ask later, if it came down to it.

"Hey, Blake?" Ruby spoke up timidly. Blake turned to see her fretting with her skirt, eyes raising, but not quite meeting her own.

"Yeah, Ruby? What's up?" Blake asked worriedly.

"Um… so, about earlier… I'm sorry if I, um… shouldn't have been... touching your _ears_ like that. I… I don't know how faunus, umm... culture? Works or anything, so if I crossed a line… I didn't mean to, and I'm _really_ sorry."

Blake laughed lightly, "You're _fine_ , Ruby. There isn't much of a _culture_ or taboo when it comes to that sort of thing, just like there isn't really one concerning human ears. Although I guess… if I had to compare, it _does_ feel nicer when my cat ears are touched. You actually helped me calm down a lot faster because of that. I should be thanking you."

Ruby raised her eyes, "Really? So you didn't mind?"

Blake smiled affectionately, "No, not at all."

Ruby nodded gladly. She looked back down at her hand, staring at it for a moment while flexing her fingers. "I liked it, too. They felt _really_ soft, and the sounds you were making-"

The younger girl froze. Her eyes widened and her cheeks grew bright red. Clearly panicking, she darted her eyes away and jumped up, blurring over to her dresser with a quick burst of her semblance. " _I'm-gonna-go-get-ready-for-bed-mind-if-I-use-the-bathroom-first-okay-cool-see-ya-in-a-few-byyyeee!_ "

Before Blake could respond to the garbled mess of words, Ruby had snagged an arm full of clothes and blurred once more. The bathroom door slammed shut behind her, and Blake was left starring after. The words she'd said finally clicked in her mind, and she felt her own cheeks beginning to heat.

' _They're… soft…?'_

' _...'_

' _Sounds…?_ '

Blake smothered her face in her hands.

* * *

Olivia exhaled nervously, following Weiss as the heiress led her back downstairs and out onto the campus grounds. She stopped once they were outside, gazing back and forth while wondering where they should go. Weiss's eyes caught on to something in the distance, and she set off once more with Olivia on her heels.

The faunus stared at the ground, working up her earlier courage once more. Having some time to come to terms with what she was going to do had helped, but even so, her heart pounded a frenetic beat inside her chest. Olivia could feel her hands shaking slightly, an overabundance of adrenaline coursing through her system. The faunus's fight or flight instincts had kicked in, but she was adamant to do neither. She would sit down with Weiss, with her friend, and reveal her darkest secrets.

Weiss slowed as she approached their destination. After a long walk across the grass, they were both greeted by a bench set beneath one of Beacon's many trees. Small, white flowers bloomed in the grass around them. A light wind blew across the plateau, quietly shaking the leaves above. Now further away from the lights of the city, the stars were even out in full force, pin pricks of light sparkling in the blackened sky.

Weiss gestured for Olivia to sit, then took the place next to her. They didn't hold hands. Weiss didn't offer, and Olivia wasn't sure whether or not she'd accept. She needed to get it all out first, and _hope_ that by some miracle, Weiss could look past all her faults. Past all of her mistakes.

Olivia held her hands together instead, fingers idly rubbing against each other while she thought about what to say. Where should she begin?

"So…" Weiss was the first to speak. Her voice was breathless, just as nervous as the faunus next to her. She paused for a moment, considering how best to ask her question. In a way, that simple act gave Olivia a little more confidence. She wasn't the only one struggling. Wasn't the only one nervous.

"So, was that all you were hiding? Olivia Mandevilla, member of the _infamous_ White Fang?" Weiss spoke with a glimmer of hope in her tone.

Olivia sighed, "Not quite." She reached down to grab the rolled up application from her pocket, and handed it to Weiss with one, shaky hand. "I _used_ to be a member, but… I haven't been for a long time. Not since I was thirteen… That was the year everything was supposed to change. The year everything _did_ change, just... not for the _better_..."

Weiss accepted the application. She looked down at it, staring at the words on the page while not quite sure what to make of them. "What happened? You were accepted into Sanctum, so why didn't you go?"

Olivia stared down into her hands, "Because Widow didn't want me to…"

Weiss's eyes perked up at that. She looked to Olivia, fingers tightening around the application in her hands, "That was the woman that tortured Blake, wasn't it? Did she talk you out of going? Did she…" Weiss paled slightly, "Did she _force_ you not to go?"

Olivia shook her head, "That isn't Widow's style. At least, not where _I'm_ concerned." She let her eyes stray to the paper, memories of her faction washing over her. Olivia's voice choked up for a moment, but she coughed into her hand to clear it, "I know you might not believe me, Weiss. I know you might not _want_ to believe that anyone in the White Fang could be a good person, but… the people in my faction? The ones that took me in, gave me a home, fed me, and trained me to help make a difference in the world…? _They_ were good people. When I told them I was going to apply to Sanctum, they were all so _proud_ of me. When the application came back, and we all gathered around to read it, to find out I'd been accepted? I'd never been happier..."

"It sounds like you cared about them…"

"I _did_..." Olivia agreed sadly. "But, like I said, _Widow_ didn't want me to go. She saw me as a replacement for the daughter she never had… Do you know what her solution was? How she planned on keeping me around so that she wouldn't lose me?"

Weiss could only shake her head.

"She went to the SDC. She _betrayed_ the White Fang. They hired Hunters to capture them, but she used her semblance to turn it into a blood bath instead... Widow had talked everyone into letting me go on one last mission so that I wouldn't be there, but when I got back… They were all dead. Crim, July… _Jace_ … every last one of the people I'd grown to see as my new family..."

Weiss inhaled sharply, eyes widening at the admission. Olivia had spoken of Jace before, if only in passing. She knew Weiss would have some inkling as to how much he meant to her, how much they all must have meant.

"Why… why would she _do_ that?" Weiss asked in confusion.

"To make me stay with her… I didn't know she was the one that betrayed us at the time. The only ones I had to blame were the SDC, and the Hunters that helped them…" Olivia glanced in Weiss's direction, not quite able to meet her eyes. "The idea of still going to Sanctum never even crossed my mind. How could it? I stayed with Widow, and together… We set out to get revenge on the ones responsible…"

Weiss's hand moved closer on the bench. Her fingers twitched, wanting to comfort, but hesitant to reach. Olivia's implications were clear enough, and for the moment, Weiss chose to continue listening.

"Did you?"

Olivia nodded. "It wasn't as easy as I hoped it was going to be. I wanted to get revenge so that I could move on with my life, but… we couldn't get information on the Hunters by ourselves. Widow and I went to a woman in the slums. Little Miss Malachite… She ran a gang, and had the resources to find out what we needed. Unfortunately, we didn't have any lien to _pay_ her. We had to find… alternative methods, to get what we wanted in exchange."

Weiss frowned, "Alternative methods?"

Olivia shuddered, taking a moment to force herself to speak. It was the first, big admission of many. "We offered up our services. Widow and I both had a particular skill set from our time in the White Fang, one that made us very useful to Malachite… We… we killed people for her, Weiss."

Weiss's hand pulled away, hesitantly returning to her own lap. " _Killed…_? Olivia… how could you do that? Why did you think that was okay? Even if you'd grown up in the slums, around so much… so much _death_ …"

Olivia trembled, "It was just… the way things were for us. I let Widow make all of our big decisions. She was the only one I had _left_ , the only one that wasn't _dead_. I was so afraid of disappointing her, terrified of her leaving me… I would've done anything for her." She shrugged weakly, letting out a shaky sigh, "...And that's exactly what I _did_. We worked for Malachite, and in exchange… she gave us the information we needed."

"Things progressed slower than I'd hoped, though. Looking back… maybe Malachite was lying to get the most out of us. Delaying to keep us around for as long as possible, on her payroll. It wasn't much of a secret that I didn't like what we were doing." Olivia's mouth twinged in a brief grimace, "Malachite even took _pity_ on me in the early days. When I wasn't with Widow, she sent me on missions where I didn't _need_ to kill people."

"D...Did you get them all, eventually? The Hunters, I mean…" Weiss asked nervously.

Olivia's hands fretted with each other in her lap, "Most of them. It took a couple years. I was fifteen by the time we'd finally worked our way down to only one person on the list. Malachite said she was having trouble finding him though, and it wasn't until someone _else_ came along that I found out where Nicholas Arc was."

Olivia raised her eyes, looking through the treeline towards where she knew Beacon cliff resided. Beyond it, all of Vale would be stretched out beneath them. "He was _here_. In a little town named Arcus. I was so excited to finally know, to be so close to finishing what I'd started. And that same day…" A soft smile touched her lips, and she was able to glance into Weiss's eyes. "I met Nora and Ren again. We'd met once before then, when I was still just another orphan living on the streets. I helped them get their lien back after they were robbed, and we bonded a bit when I let them stay at my home."

Olivia felt tears gathering in her eyes. She blinked them away, not ready to break down quite yet. There was more to say, more that Weiss needed to know. She took a moment to let out a shuddering breath, reaffirming her resolve.

"We spent some time together. They told me what they'd been up to, and their plans for the future. They were going to go to _Beacon_ when they were old enough, and when I admitted I was a faunus... when I asked if I could come…" Olivia couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face, "They were so _happy_ to know I wanted to go with them. Things were _finally_ looking up. I had one name left, and that would bring me to Vale too! After working so many jobs, I had more than enough lien saved up to hire an airship. I could get away from Mistral, get away from the life I detested so much…"

Weiss's hand bridged the gap. She reached out, placing her own over Olivia's. They weren't holding each other's yet, merely one resting overtop the other. Olivia felt comforted all the same, and let out a shaky sigh before continuing.

"It wasn't meant to be, though…" Olivia's expression darkened sadly, reliving her memories of what happened that day. It was the worst act she'd ever done, caught up in her own happiness after _finally_ having her wishes come true, not caring what she did for her last mission when _freedom_ was whispering her name.

"I-" Olivia paused, but not because she was too afraid to continue. She'd made it this far. It was all or nothing. Instead, she'd stopped because her mind had finally reconsidered what happened that day. She didn't like thinking about it, one of the brightest days that had ended the darkest. But now, with the knowledge of Widow's schemes at the forefront of her mind…

Olivia glared at the ground, and her fist clenched tightly, certain her nails would be drawing blood if not for her aura getting in the way. "Widow _betrayed_ me again. She _knew_ I wanted to leave, knew I'd found out about our last target being in Vale… We attacked members of the Mistral council, and she… _she_ left the camera _on_. The _one_ camera that would let the police pin it on _me!_ They put up wanted posters at every exit to the city, and a bounty on my head, denying me any chance I had to get _out_ of that hell hole!"

Olivia's fury was ablaze. "I was stuck there for two more _years_ because of her! I lost all hope. I didn't know what else to do, so I just- just kept working for _Malachite_. As long as I was _with_ her, as long as I couldn't _leave_ … Widow didn't _care_ about my happiness." Wetness returned to Olivia's eyes, her body shaking as all her memories were washed in a new light. The times they'd spent together, the birthdays celebrated, the comforting days spent off, spent with each other. All that time, all of the _hopelessness_ she'd struggled with, _still_ struggled with to this very day…

Olivia _broke_. Her body quaked, chest heaving as she fought to breath. She tore her hand away from Weiss's, raising both of her own to put her head in her hands, to hide her face from the world. Tears poured unabated, a river of grief washing away every happy moment she'd ever spent with her adoptive mother. It was all fake. It had all been a _lie_. Widow had only ever cared about her if it meant getting what _she_ wanted. Olivia's happiness had always been an afterthought. Always secondary. Just a ploy to make sure she stayed in _line_.

Olivia flinched when she felt Weiss's hand on her back. The heiress was trying to comfort her, but was still hesitant due to Olivia's admissions. She could feel Weiss's confused expression, struggling with her desires to help Olivia, and her knowledge of what the faunus had done.

Olivia fought to control herself, but the emotions coursing through her veins were far too rampant. For several long minutes they sat there, Olivia inconsolable, while Weiss struggled to put her best foot forward. The faunus's sleeves were stained with tears before long, incapable of holding back the tides crashing against her brittle shore. Her walls crumbled into dust.

Olivia wasn't loved. Not by anyone. She was truly alone in the world. She shook uncontrollably, incapable of reigning her emotions back in. Her greatest fear had finally been realized, and it was her own fault for admitting the truth.

Now that Weiss knew… knew about the things she'd done… The heiress would leave her, too. Olivia felt like a fool for ever believing anything different. How could any of her friends _accept_ her? They were too pure, too _good_ for the likes of a monster like herself. Olivia would only pull them down with her in time, staining them with her mere presence, until that innocence was lost forever.

"Y-You don't have to say anything, Weiss. I know how you must feel. I'm- I'm a… I'm a _terrible_ person. I don't deserve _any_ of you. I don't deserve this _team_. These… these _friends_. I've killed so many people, and-... and I need to pay for what I've done."

Olivia's tears finally started to quell. She refused to look at Weiss, instead rubbing a sleeve across her face. "You don't have to worry about me sticking around. I know you don't want me… Widow was right… It was just a fantasy, believing anyone would ever accept me… I'll leave. I'll leave Beacon, and Vale… It might be tough to only have three members in a team, but... Rainbow will be better off without me…"

Olivia moved as if to stand, to run away and never return. She froze as she was held in place. Trembling nervously, she looked back. Weiss's hand gripped her sleeve tightly, keeping her from moving away, keeping her from leaving. Olivia's shoulders raised, knowing what was coming next. Of course Weiss wouldn't let her go without giving her a piece of her mind. She must feel so angry, so _betrayed_ by Olivia's lies. The faunus's heart fell even deeper in her chest.

"W-Weiss… I'm-"

Olivia cut off as Weiss pulled sharply on her sleeve. The heiress's head raised in the same instant, tears in her eyes and a ferocity in her gaze. Olivia was caught off guard, off balance. She couldn't help but fall towards Weiss, back onto the bench and into her arms.

Before Olivia could voice any protests, her surprised gasp was cut short by a heated mashing of lips against her own. It was rough, clumsy, and wet from the tears staining their cheeks. Olivia was too shocked to reciprocate, and could only sit there in stunned silence while Weiss's soft lips pressed against her own for the first time.

' _What… what is…?_ ' Olivia was confused. Stunned beyond belief. What was Weiss doing? There was no way she could… would _ever…?_

After a few seconds, Weiss pulled away, relinquishing her lips from Olivia's own. Her eyes were downcast once more, struggling to speak, struggling to lend a voice to her own feelings. Only her hand remained, still desperately holding on to Olivia's sleeve so that she couldn't leave.

"You're… you're not a bad person, Olivia…"

Olivia's body functions ceased. Her heart stopped in her chest. Her breath caught, and her mind went blank, refusing to believe what Weiss had just said. She could only stare in silence, watching as the heiress worked up her courage.

Weiss's eyes raised back to her own. Two beautiful gems, lighter than a clear blue sky. They sent a weak flutter of life back through Olivia's chest.

"I _won't_ let you go. I won't let Widow _win_. Don't you see what she's done to you? Do you really want to give her the satisfaction of being _right?_ Do you want to let her tear away another chance to change your life, to move _on_ and become a better person?"

Olivia's breath hitched, "O-Of course not, but… Weiss… there's no way you could accept the things I've done… How… Why would you ever...?" She didn't know how to continue. Her mind was still struggling to form thoughts, so surprised by the current turn of events. Deep down, a warmth was beginning to grow. The tiniest spark of hope kindling within, sending small flames licking up towards her frigid heart.

Weiss glared, "And _who_ gets to decide how _I_ feel? You? _Widow?_ " Her hand twisted deeper into Olivia's sleeve, body trembling as she came to a decision. "I _still_ care about you, Olivia. Nothing… nothing's changed that…"

Olivia was dumbstruck. It was too good to be true. Could Weiss really mean what she was saying? Could she… really accept her for who she was…?

"I know… I _know_ it might sound ridiculous, like I'm letting my _heart_ make all of my decisions for me, but…" Weiss stared deeply into Olivia's eyes, trying to convey the truth in her words. One hand raised, pressing softly against her cheek and wiping away the tears that stained it, "You told me once that I shouldn't judge someone until I walked a mile in their shoes… I don't think I could _ever_ bear to walk a mile in yours, Olivia. But… if you'll have me…" Her cheeks tinged red, breath faltering nervously. "I'd… I'd like to walk the next mile _beside_ you…"

' _Weiss…'_

Warmth spread through Olivia's body. An unimaginable heat, starting in her chest and leaking out to all her limbs. Her hands moved of their own accord, raising slowly, trailing hesitantly up Weiss's sides, and down her arms to gently grasp both her hands. In that moment, she didn't have the words to explain how she felt. An overwhelming happiness was building inside her. She needed to convey it somehow, needed to show Weiss what she really meant to her.

Olivia leaned in slowly, nerves holding her back. Was this really okay? Would Weiss want to again? The heiress squeezed Olivia's hands, eyes lowering to the lips moving closer to her own. She leaned forward just as slowly, meeting Olivia in the middle.

They only brushed against each other lightly at first, a timid caress before both of their desires were ignited. Moist lips pressed together. Olivia took her time, hesitantly feeling Weiss out, making sure that what they were doing was what she wanted, too. The heiress reciprocated readily, pushing back against Olivia. A soft sigh escaped Weiss's lips, her hands clutching Olivia's more tightly, pulling her in so that their bodies pressed together.

One of Olivia's hands slipped free. She reached behind, placing it against Weiss's back to hold her, to better control the heated embrace of lips taking place. After a minute, her lips parted open, and Olivia took her chances by carefully exploring out with a delicate tongue.

Weiss flinched at the feeling for a moment, then gradually, slowly, opened her mouth to accept the warm intrusion. Olivia took her time, knowing the heiress was inexperienced and nervous. Everything they were doing was new to her, and the last thing she wanted was to take things too quickly.

When Olivia's tongue began to explore though, Weiss let out a moan of pure satisfaction. Her body relaxed, becoming putty in Olivia's hands. They continued to kiss, tongues dancing back and forth while Weiss confessed her pleasure. Every needy moan sent a vibration through them both, and Olivia found herself reciprocating in kind.

Eventually, they pulled away with a gasp. A thin trail of saliva connected them for just a moment longer. They were both breathing heavily, neither knowing exactly how long the kiss had gone on for, but knowing they needed air. They held each other close, blue eyes staring passionately into magenta while their foreheads pressed together.

Olivia caught her breath first, finally finding the words that she couldn't before. "Weiss… I want you at my side too… For as long as you'll have me. You're the smartest, kindest, most _beautiful_ girl I've ever met. I don't think that'll _ever_ change. Not until the day I die."

Weiss smiled happily, and pulled Olivia in for a hug. The faunus held her just as tightly, struggling to piece together her shattered reality and come to terms with her feelings.

' _Have I… have I ever felt this… whole?_ ' Olivia finally found a word to describe it. The pit that had existed inside her since the day her family died was steadily filling, Weiss's love and acceptance drowning out her sorrows. Olivia couldn't help but bury her face in the nape of Weiss's neck, feeling tears of joy beginning to run down her face.

Olivia needed Weiss to understand what this meant to her, needed her to know that she cherished the heiress, trusted her more than anyone else in the world. One thought did come to mind, one secret still kept, that she had always held in reserve. She didn't need to hide anything from Weiss, did she? The heiress was willing to accept her completely. Every dark secret, every moment of anguish from her past.

Olivia wanted her to know everything. To know _all_ of her.

Olivia pulled away, looking back into Weiss's eyes once more. "Can I show you one more thing? It's… one of the secrets I've held the closest. One that I was too afraid to show anyone, that I only ever used against my enemies… You could _never_ be my enemy, Weiss, but I still want you to know... To know _all_ of me… I would never hurt you… so just… _please_ , don't be afraid?"

Weiss bit her lip. She leaned away, nodding nervously, but trusting Olivia all the same.

With a deep breath, Olivia summoned her semblance. She held only one appendage out, moving it near Weiss so that the heiress was close enough to touch it. Olivia grabbed her hand, and ever so slowly lifted it so that it would rest against the invisible limb.

Weiss's eyes widened. When Olivia let go, the heiress's hand began to gently trail across it. Fingers dipped into the cracks of the chitinous mass, feeling across the hard carapace for herself. Olivia struggled to speak, only able to watch with bated breath as Weiss caressed the appendage.

Weiss was still confused by the feeling beneath her hand. She flashed the faunus a reassuring smile, and slowly reached down to her rapier. Olivia flinched all the same, but the heiress didn't pull it free. Her hand only grasped the handle, the chambers within spinning to life while Weiss concentrated momentarily.

A glyph bloomed into being above them, it's form familiar, yet slightly different to the ones Olivia had seen before. Mist coiled around its edges, the air itself freezing as it came into contact with the silvery white disk. Before long, moisture began to coalesce, and Olivia was shocked to see snow drifting lazily down from above.

Weiss smiled lightly at the surprise on Olivia's face, "I've been practicing like you told me, trying to figure out everything I could do with my semblance. I didn't think this one would ever be useful, but for an occasion like this…?"

Olivia smiled proudly. They both fell into silence as the snow drifted down around them. It began to land on Olivia's appendages, accumulating ever so slowly, revealing them to the heiress's eyes. After a few minutes, each was on display in all their glory. Four massive spider legs held aloft, fifteen feet long and curled around them both so that Weiss could see their true form in their entirety.

Olivia grew scared with Weiss's continued silence. She gave a nervous laugh, and let her eyes fall down to the snow on the ground. "This is what my semblance really is. I can make them cover my limbs instead to make myself stronger, but…" Her shoulders shook, wondering if this had been too much, if the heiress would reject this part of her. Olivia's voice came out in only a whisper, "They're hideous... aren't they...?"

A hand raised to graze against Olivia's cheek. Weiss used it to raise the faunus's chin, eyes locking with the reassuring smile that stared back at her. "They could never be hideous if they're a part of _you_ , Olivia."

Olivia's heart skipped. Relief washed over her, and she pulled Weiss into a fierce hug once more. Her appendages curled around them both, the second time in her life where she wanted more than _anything_ to protect the current moment.

"W-Weiss?"

"Yes?" the heiress hummed, holding Olivia more tightly when she heard the nervousness in the faunus's voice.

"Can I be… just a little bit selfish? When we were at the carnival, you promised to do one thing for me by the end of the night…"

Weiss's breath caught, and she let out a quiet giggle. "I guess I did. Did you want to make your request~?"

"Yes…" Olivia whispered softly, "If you don't mind, can we just… stay like this for a while? This… this is the best moment of my life. I want to cherish it for as long as I can…"

Olivia could feel the smile growing on Weiss's face. She nodded, nuzzling deeper against her and sighing contentedly.

"As you wish. A promise is a promise, and _nothing_ could make me happier."


	68. Visions

The room remained quiet. There was no sound, no _movement_ other than the slow, gentle tapping of Cinder's finger against her crossed forearm. She stood looking out the window, her back turned to the rest. Emerald sat on her bed nearby, waiting with bated breath like the other two occupants of the room. Mercury stood near the door, trying to appear relaxed by casually leaning against the wall. Regardless of his airs, Emerald could see the focus in his eyes. The stillness in his chest.

Surprisingly, Neo was also waiting cautiously. Her typical, playful demeanor had been dropped to the wayside entirely, replaced with a barely suppressed nervousness. Emerald couldn't really blame her. They all knew what Lotus was capable of.

' _If it comes down to a fight…_ '

They had received a call only minutes before. Widow had broken their agreement for how contact should be handled in order to warn them of impending danger. The girl on Lotus's team, Blake, had overheard the conversation between Widow and Cinder the previous night. She knew some small inkling of their plans, and would most likely report it to Ozpin if given the chance.

Emerald waited for Cinder to make her decision. Would they allow Blake to report what information she'd obtained, or put a stop to it? Most of what she'd gleaned wasn't particularly damning, but the mild recognition of Cinder's voice, and the fact that the caller was being watched…? In the mind of someone as shrewd as Ozpin, both could lead down a road that might ruin their plans for obtaining the relic.

But if they killed Lotus's teammate…

Emerald shivered, imagining those invisible limbs piercing her body as they had the young man they'd kidnapped. She didn't want to be anywhere _near_ the assassin. Not when considered an enemy, and certainly not when Emerald's _own_ semblance wouldn't slow her wrath in the _slightest_.

Cinder's finger stopped tapping. It was followed by a collective tensing of shoulders, each other member of the room waiting for the shoe to drop. Which would it be? What decision had she come to?

"Emerald."

Emerald winced, but rose from her place on the bed all the same. She subconsciously smoothed down her clothes, fretting with the material while regaining the will to speak. "Y-yes?"

Cinder turned, amber eyes meeting red while giving her a long, considering look. "How well has your semblance developed? How _far_ can you project your illusions now?"

"Um," Emerald stammered for a moment, caught off guard by the sudden question. "A fair distance. Around a hundred yards, if I'm not being distracted by anything."

"Good," Cinder nodded, a glimmer of a smile reaching her lips. "Unfortunately, Lotus wishes for her teammates to be left unscathed. We'll _abide_ by those terms. We can't allow her teammate to warn Ozpin either, though. The information she has will be far more dangerous in his hands. Therefore, we'll need to… _gently_ , dissuade her from revealing what she knows."

Mercury pulled away from the wall, hesitating as he spoke out of turn, "You want us to _attack_ her? Em could keep us hidden for a while and maybe Neo could disguise us, but… we're on Beacon _grounds_. There's nowhere between their dorms and the CCT that we could-"

"Did I _say_ 'attack'?" Cinder clipped impatiently, cutting off Mercury before he could speak further. "Emerald will use her _semblance_ to dissuade Belladonna. She needn't be harmed."

Mercury nodded, backpedaling slightly upon seeing the heat in Cinder's gaze. Clearly, she didn't like the current situation either.

Emerald took a single step forward, intentionally pulling Cinder's impatience back onto herself. Mercury might have been an ass at times, but his question had been on her mind as well. She was glad he'd been the one to speak up in her stead.

With Cinder's gaze on her, Emerald forced herself to smile confidently.

"Alright. What do you want me to do?"

* * *

" _Blake, please make her stop! She's hurting me!" Ruby cried out._

_Blake fought against the chains that bound her, pain flaring through her limbs with each useless tug. Her own mouth was gagged, incapable of speaking, of reassuring her leader, of telling the red headed woman what she wanted to know. Blake's eyes brimmed with tears as Widow's dagger reared back, preparing for yet another strike. Deep cuts already crossed Ruby's body in every direction. Still, she had the energy to scream as she had when they'd first started._

" _Just tell me what I want to know, and this can all be over~" Widow grinned, blood dripping from the weapon she held aloft._

" _I can't!" Blake tried to scream, muffled by the gag in her mouth. She tugged harder against her bindings, wishing with all her might that she could rip them from the wall._ Anything _to get between Ruby and that dagger. "I'll tell you everything, just stop!"_

 _Blake already knew it was futile. They'd been doing this for so long already. Widow couldn't understand her. Even so, she_ had _to try._

_Widow's eyes left her, returning to Ruby with a manic smile. Blake tried to shut her eyes, too look away, but no matter what she did the vision of Ruby and Widow remained. A tall woman, standing over the cowering body of her dear friend. Blade slick with the blood of previous wounds, she prepared to strike._

_Blake started to scream for what felt like the thousandth time, but before Widow could swing her blade down once more, the door to the room crashed open to slam against the wall. All three of them stopped in surprise, waiting to see what would happen next. Blake stared at the door, hoping for rescue. Her body quivered, shaking from hours physical and emotional exhaustion._

_Blake let out a long sigh of relief when Olivia revealed herself by stepping through the door. Her eyes narrowed as she scanned the room, taking in the situation that had been forced upon her two-_

" _Ah, you're finally here! Help me with these two, won't you~?"_

_Blake's eyes widened, staring in panic as Olivia showed no sign that she was going to help them. She stepped forward and accepted the dagger from Widow, taking a moment to stare at the bloody length of the blade. Heartless eyes raised back to meet Blake's own. They held no pity for her, for those she called friends._

_Widow noticed Blake's fear and grinned more fiercely. "What? Were you naive enough to ever believe she was truly on your side? I told you. I know my little Lotus better than anyone. You were a fool to ever sleep in the same room~"_

_Blake's muffled shouts did nothing to slow Olivia as she stepped closer. Blood dripped from the blade, and she couldn't keep her eyes off it until her 'friend' was standing before her. Blake tore her gaze from the dagger, raising them instead to wordlessly plead with eyes alone, one last time._

_Olivia stared straight back as her hand rose..._

Blake's eyes shot open when the dagger sunk into her chest. She breathed raggedly, hands clutching her sheets in a death grip. Sweat covered her body, a slick sheen that she could feel from head to toe. Blake laid back and closed her eyes, waiting to catch her breath and letting out a rattling sigh. One hand raised to rub her face, trying to dispel the images still floating in her vision.

' _It was only a dream… just a damn dream…_ ' One quick glance showed Ruby to be in the bunk across from her, peacefully sleeping away the early morning hours. Weiss had returned as well, at some point after Ruby and Blake had fallen asleep. She rolled over slightly to peek down, and stared at Olivia while her fellow faunus slept.

' _Get a hold of yourself… Widow was lying. She wants to force us apart. Of_ course _Olivia would never do that._ '

Blake frowned, part of the dream and memories of the previous night stirring to the forefront of her mind. ' _What else did Widow call her? Little Lotus...?_ ' She couldn't quite shake the feeling that she'd heard it before, and not _just_ from Widow. ' _Lotus… Lotus…_ ' Had that name ever been mentioned during Blake's _own_ time during the White Fang?

Resigning herself to try and remember later, Blake let out a quiet sigh and rolled back over. She glanced at Ruby again, trying to wash away the violent images of her dream by staring at the younger girl instead. Ruby was safe. Unharmed and in perfect health. A slight smile curled her leader's lips, enjoying some dream of her own, blissfully unaware of the torment Blake's previous nightmare had subjected her to.

' _It was just a dream…_ '

Blake reminded herself of that fact one last time before pulling the bedsheets off her sweat soaked body. She was in _desperate_ need of a shower. Thankfully, none of the other girls were awake yet, so the bathroom was fair game until further notice. Blake silently hopped down to the rug between their beds and straightened before walking to her dresser.

A minute spent searching through her clothes rewarded her with a comfortable enough outfit. Seeing as it was the weekend and they had no classes to worry about anyway, Blake was more than ready to take it easy.

' _I'll still have to go to the Headmaster's office soon._ ' The sooner the better, in fact. There was a lot of important information about the White Fang's actions that she needed to impart. Even so, Blake didn't want to show up covered in sweat and still in her sleepwear. That would hardly garner Ozpin's confidence.

The badges Widow had obtained, the Dust the White Fang had accumulated, even the voice on the scroll. The Headmaster would need to know all of it if they were going to put a stop to the White Fang's plans. Blake doubted they were good, whatever they were. With Widow apparently in charge, the violence had escalated far beyond anything they'd done in previous years.

Pushing those thoughts away, Blake bundled the clothes up beneath her arm, slung a towel over her shoulder, and entered the bathroom.

She turned the shower on before anything else, adjusting the knobs to what would be the perfect temperature in time. It was part of her ritual, one that she adamantly adhered to, given what Olivia had revealed about herself. The thought of the faunus getting a 'peek' at her while she was in such an exposed state was disconcerting.

Thankfully, Olivia had assured both her and Weiss, in no uncertain terms, that the sound created by the shower would prevent that. Blake trusted her with that much at the very least.

Once the water was running, Blake set her clothes down on the counter and hung her towel on the rack near the curtain. She stripped with relative ease, typically choosing to sleep in only her kimono and panties. It was one of the few vestiges from her time growing up in Menagerie. One of the few she'd chosen to keep.

Blake let them fall to the floor and turned back around to test the water's temperature. Finding it to her liking, she pulled the curtain open further and stepped inside. Immediately, water coursed across her body, and her hands got to work removing the sweat she had worked up in her sleep.

The name Widow had used still tickled the back of her mind, but Blake firmly pushed it away in favor of savoring the moment. Despite the rumors humans had spread about feline faunus, she rather enjoyed the feeling of warm water. It was a commodity that had been _sorely_ lacking during her time in the White Fang. Out in the woods, with only cold rivers and streams to wash herself in. Blake had dreamed of quitting many times over the years, if only to reclaim what was lost.

Making a few last passes to make sure her body was thoroughly cleaned, Blake turned next to her shampoo and squeezed out a sizable helping. Setting the bottle down and spreading it between her hands, she got to work rubbing it into her scalp. Her hair wasn't as thick and lustrous as someone like Yang's, but it still required maintenance.

After a minute, Blake paused when her slender fingers rubbed up against delicate ears. Tentatively, inquisitively, she softly grasped them. Blake tried stroking up and down. She tried rubbing them between her thumb and forefinger, and massaging across the base. She experimented for several minutes, standing beneath the stream of water with her ears in her hands.

Each method refused to yield the same results as the night before, though. No matter what she tried… it wasn't the same as when Ruby touched them. Blake wasn't really sure what to make of that. Adam had certainly never cared or paid attention to her ears. They were just her faunus trait, like any _others_.

' _Maybe it's like tickling…?_ ' Blake thought curiously, slowly beginning to rinse the suds out of her hair. ' _It doesn't feel the same if you do it to yourself?_ '

Memories returned from the night before. Of what Ruby had said about them… Heat spread to her cheeks. For her leader of all people to _compliment_ her faunus trait instead of being _disgusted_ … Blake had seen her fair share of those looks, growing up. Ruby's eyes held none of the revulsion they had. She genuinely seemed to believe they were…

Blake patted her cheeks to distract herself from that train of thought. She returned to rinsing the shampoo out of her hair, firmly ignoring the two ears on top of her head after previous ministrations. They would be clean enough without any further interaction.

Once she'd finished, Blake breathed out a long sigh of relief and stepped out of the shower. She left it running, still wary of Olivia's senses. It wasn't until she'd toweled off and put her clothes on before she finally spun the shower knobs, easing the room back into gradual silence.

' _And_ that's _why…_ '

Without the constant drumming of water on tile, Blake could now hear the murmur of conversation taking place on the other side of the door. She faintly recognized each voice in turn, all of her teammates now also awake. Blake quickened her pace, not knowing if any of the others were eager to use the bathroom themselves, but courteous enough to not make them wait unnecessarily.

Even with that in mind, Blake froze in place as her hand snatched up the final accessory she'd brought with her. It was so ingrained in her routine that she hadn't even noticed. The long, silk bow rested in her hand... She stared at it, feeling that familiar warmth building again when caught with a dawning realization. She didn't _need_ to wear it anymore, not as long as they stayed in the dorm. The secret of her race had been revealed to _all_ of her teammates by now.

Smiling cheerfully, Blake stuffed the bow into her pocket instead. Ears perked and proudly on display, she gathered up her discarded sleepwear and towel, then took one final look at herself before opening the door to step back out into the bedroom.

Three faces turned to greet her, and she nodded back in kind. "Bathrooms free. Hope I didn't keep anyone waiting too long."

Weiss waved her hand dismissively, "Not at all! I'm glad you could join us! We were just discussing some of the… revelations from last night."

' _Revelations?_ ' Blake's ears perked further, happy to be free of their constraints, "Like what?"

"Umm," Ruby's eyes dropped back down to Blake's face when the faunus turned her eyes on her. She twiddled her thumbs nervously, sitting next to Weiss while Olivia remained on her own bed. "So... Weiss knows that Olivia was a member of the White Fang now, and I kind of… told her _you_ were too?"

" _What!?_ " Blake dropped what she was carrying and shrank back in surprise, eyes fearfully darting back to Weiss. A million thoughts raced through her head. Excuses, apologies, promises that she wasn't part of the White Fang anymore. All of them rushed to the forefront and were similarly dispelled by the soft smile that Weiss still bore.

"I don't _care_ , Blake. Ruby assured me that you aren't one of them anymore, and I… I _understand_ why you would have wanted to join them in the past. I'm not mad. You're still my teammate," Weiss smiled reassuringly, "You're still Blake. _Just_ Blake. Right?"

It took Blake a few long seconds to recover from her entire world turning on its head. ' _Weiss doesn't care?_ ' She studied the heiress carefully, but there were no hints of malice in her gaze... Nor of deceit. Weiss really… _really_ … didn't care...

Ever so slowly, Blake's lips twitched into a smile of their own. "That's so good to hear. You wouldn't _believe_ how much I've wanted to tell you. I was just… so afraid of how you'd _react_."

Weiss let out a soft laugh and glanced affectionately towards Olivia, "Well, I've been forced to reconsider a lot of things, as of late. On that note…" She kept looking at Olivia, shared glances alone speaking volumes between the two of them. "Do you want to tell them, or should I?"

"Together?" Olivia suggested with a minute shrug. "They might get the hint before we even get a chance to say it, honestly."

Weiss smiled, "Together." They both stood with some hesitance, stepping into the space between the beds and grasping each other's hands. Blake stared in confusion, watching as Weiss giddily positioned them to face both their other two teammates.

Olivia started slowly, hand raising to rub against the back of her neck. "So… Weiss and I… we're kind of…"

"Dating!" Weiss spoke up excitedly, pulling Olivia even closer so that they were standing shoulder to shoulder. "We talked last night. There were a lot of… feelings, we needed to get through at first, and some we still do… but it- It's official!"

"Oooooh!" Ruby jumped up from bed and rushed forward, gripping both of them in a tight hug, "That's great! I'm so happy for you guys!"

Blake could only stand there while they embraced, dumbstruck by the second bit of news that had been so unceremoniously dropped on her head. ' _Olivia actually said yes!?_ ' She was shocked beyond belief. Never in a million _years_ would she have pictured the spider faunus actually agreeing to date Weiss, let alone wanting to at all!

Blake took a few moments to work her face into a smile, glad that the other three were so distracted with each other. She _wanted_ to be happy for them, _wanted_ to show support, but… something was holding her back.

' _Oh, the stories I could tell you… They would make you tremble in fear, knowing someone capable of such things slept in the same room as you every night._ '

Widow's words came back to haunt her, and she realized why she was having so much trouble smiling. Even if consciously, Blake had _refused_ to believe Widow's lies… part of her couldn't shrug off the small ring of truth they'd held. Blake herself hadn't wanted anything more than a friendship with Olivia for the same reason. She was dangerous, and even though she was trying her hardest to change… Blake couldn't help but see that little spark of Adam left within her.

' _Little Lotus…_ '

If Blake was ever going to get over her fears, then she _needed_ to know more about Olivia's past. She doubted the faunus herself would ever tell her, or any of them for that matter. If she wanted to discover Olivia's secrets… she'd have to seek them out for herself.

' _For now, though…_ '

Blake forced her smile wider and walked over to the trio to clap Weiss on the shoulder. The heiress beamed back, happy to receive Blake's support. "I hope things work out for you two. I really do."

"Thanks, Blake~"

Blake nodded and stepped away to go slip on her shoes. "I guess we should discuss boundaries when I get back? I need to go see the Headmaster first, but I think it'll be important for us to have some clearly defined rules in place when it comes to the dorm."

Ruby separated from their hug, and raised an eyebrow towards Blake along with Weiss. Olivia only chuckled softly, returning her hand to the back of her neck while she grinned.

"What do you mean?" Weiss piped up, a frown on her face.

Blake paused while slipping on her shoe, a tinge of red highlighting her cheeks. She didn't think she'd have to _explain_ that. "Well, umm… you know…"

"Know what?" Weiss's confusion was palpable, and Olivia was offering no assistance. She'd chosen to adopt a confused look of her own instead. Even so, she struggled to keep her grin in check, the corners of her mouth tugging up with every few moments that passed.

"Yeah, Blake. What _ever_ could you mean~?"

Blake finished pulling on her shoes and walked to the door. She opened it, but stopped at the threshold, ready to deliver at least some small form of retribution against Olivia for feigning ignorance.

Blake's eyes locked with Weiss, a small grin gracing her lips. "I _mean_ , if you ever want to recreate what happens on page sixty-four of 'Ninjas of Love', then Ruby and I will need to know when _not_ to come _in_."

After a moment of stunned silence, Weiss's face paled. It then immediately reddened, then paled again. She stared back at Blake, mouth twitching while struggling to speak. After several long seconds, all she could manage was a very faint "O-oh…" before her mind broke, descending into a mess of embarrassment from which she might never recover.

"What's 'Ninjas of Love'!?" Ruby spoke up curiously, eyes glancing back and forth between the smug Blake, the flustered Weiss, and Olivia, who was staring back at her fellow faunus with a touch of pride.

Blake coughed into her hand, "It's just a fun adventure book, nothing to worry yourself over."

"Oooh, can I read it!?" Ruby asked excitedly.

"No!" Blake answered fervently, mirrored almost in the same instant by Weiss who'd forced herself to strangle out the words.

Ruby looked between them, curiosity only piqued by the intensity of their response. As if trying to remain unnoticed, her eyes flickered to the bookshelf, already seeking the book in question.

Olivia put a hand on Ruby's shoulder, "I'm feeling generous, kid. Maybe while Blake is busy and Weiss is indisposed, I'll try and help you find it." She flashed Blake a smug grin, "With my sixth sense and your speed, I'm sure it'll take no time at _all_ to figure out where-" Her eyes darted to the back of the bookshelf, "-Blake and Weiss might have left it."

Blake's eyes widened, and she silently pleaded for mercy while Ruby began thumbing through the books on the shelf. " _Don't do it,_ " She mouthed fearfully, " _Yang will kill us._ "

Olivia smirked, mouthing back, " _She'll kill_ you"

Blake stepped out so that the door would close on its own and held her hands together, praying for Olivia's forgiveness. She was left with only the faunus's smile as a response, and an increasingly frustrated Ruby that had begun pulling out the books supporting Blake's bunk in search of the sacred smut.

The door closed with a click, and Blake could only sigh while hoping for the best. All things considered, it wouldn't be the end of the world if Ruby managed to get her hands on the book. Even with Yang's potential wrath to account for, Ruby was more than old enough to make her own choices in that regard. Stifling them would only lead to situations like Weiss's, where she was clueless about her own desires and body.

Blake frowned, feeling something _else_ stirring inside.

' _Is that… hope? Why am I feeling_ that _of all things?_ '

Part of her already knew, though. Knew that, when she had the time, she would need to sit down and really _think_ about her leader. After the events of the last few days, what the two of them had been through together... Ruby had found a special place in her heart.

Just _where_ that place rested was what she needed to ask herself.

Blake heard something scrape against the floor inside Lion's dorm. Her ears twitched, reminded of the vulnerable state she was in. She quickly glanced around the hallway before reaching into her pocket and fastening her bow around her ears. Blake's heart fell a little in her chest at the continued necessity, but she bore it all the same.

That was just life.

' _But it doesn't_ have _to be_ ,' Blake's mind argued as she began to walk down the hall. ' _Your team accepted you, Lion would accept you just like they did Olivia, the White Fang already knows you're in Beacon. The only other team you even occasionally speak with is team Coffee, and they have a faunus too! Who_ cares _about what the rest of the students think?_ '

' _I do…_ ' Blake thought sadly. She'd been hiding her heritage for so long that it had become second nature by now. Why should she throw away the facade of humanity to instead risk the judgement of so many others? Humans could be downright _cruel_ to those they considered 'other'. She couldn't risk that...

Blake pushed the bleak thoughts from her mind, instead focusing on recalling everything she could about the night before. The scroll conversation, the badges, everything Widow had said about Olivia afterwards. The latter of those she wouldn't reveal to Ozpin, at least, but the rest was fair game. Blake hardly wanted to condemn Olivia before finding out the truth. If she only managed to spread more of Widow's lies, and Olivia ended up being unjustly punished for it…?

' _No. I'll investigate that for myself._ '

If only she could remember why the name Lotus sounded so famili...

Blake frowned, hit by sudden inspiration involving a certain series of _comics_ that she, Ruby, _and_ Olivia enjoyed. ' _Wait… it couldn't be…_ _The_ Black _Lotus...? She wouldn't have taken inspiration from someone like_ that _, would she?_ ' Despite her best efforts, Blake couldn't quite get the idea out of her head.

She hummed briefly in thought, ' _I may have to include Ruby in my investigation. She's talked with Olivia about those comics a lot more than I have. She's also been a fan for a long time. She might know something I don't._ ' Blake pulled out her scroll, opening it to the CCT network while her other hand pressed the door out onto campus open.

' _Maybe if I…_

' _If I…_ '

' _..._ '

Blake's train of thought dwindled into nothing. Her eyes glossily stared past the scroll in her hand, towards what rested at her feet. There beneath her was… _was_...

Three pairs of cold, dead eyes stared back. Their bodies twisted, mangled beyond repair. Blood pooled out from beneath them in every direction, starkly contrasting their pale flesh. Blake could only stare in terror and anguish, completely frozen in place. All she could hear was her own heartbeat, so _deafening_ in her ears that it drowned out all else.

' _N-... No…_ '

Blake collapsed to her knees, dropping her scroll from one limp hand. It clattered against the ground, bouncing down the steps to land in the pool of blood. Tears brimmed unabated in Blake's eyes. She lacked the willpower to blink them away.

The corpses of her teammates, her _friends_ , lay before her. Each expression caught in one of shock, and dismay. Flesh and clothes alike were torn apart as if set upon by Grimm. Only their eyes remained untouched, accusing her, silently screaming that this was _her_ fault. They had ended up like this because of _her_.

"P… _Please…_ "

In an instant, they were gone. The bodies and blood vanished as if caught by the wind, whipping into the air and dissipating into nothing. Blake's blurry eyes followed after, one hand raising weakly as if to stop them. ' _W-wait… what was…?_ '

 _An illusion_.

Blake fiercely blinked back her tears, eyes darting every which way as she did so. That hadn't been real. Of _course_ it hadn't been real. Her team was still upstairs, safe in the _dorm_. Someone had used their semblance to _create_ that illusion, showing her the dead bodies of her team in order to scare her.

' _It was a warning…_ ' Blake retrieved her scroll warily and backed up, eyeing the treeline and walkways nearby as she did so. It was still early in the morning. Only a few other students could be seen in the distance, going about their own business without any regard for her.

Blake had believed previously that the voice on the scroll and the supposed 'illusionist' may have been members of the White Fang. It would have explained her recognition, if only slightly. She didn't know of anyone with a semblance like that, but it had been awhile, and other members would occasionally unlock their semblances through training.

' _But now?_ ' Blake allowed the door to close, shutting herself inside and breathing a sigh of relief when no further visions ailed her.

Even for an illusionist, it was possible, but _unlikely_ that they would have managed to sneak onto campus so early. The Bullheads didn't run after a certain hour, and wouldn't have started back up again yet. Whoever had just used their semblance had to have been on campus since the night before.

' _They're a student…_ '

Blake stepped away, retreating from her plans to notify Ozpin. She would need to wait a while before returning to the dorm as well, to avoid tipping off her teammates that something was wrong. Blake didn't know if she should tell them what happened just yet. Who knew what might constitute a violation in the eyes of her unknown assailant? She didn't want to take that risk lightly. Not when they were so clearly threatening her friends' lives.

Blake sighed, preparing to wait before returning upstairs.

' _This just got a whole lot more complicated…_ '

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a celebration for the ship finally sailing, I got another commission done for Olivia! The art is honestly fantastic, and I couldn't be happier with it! If you'd like to check it out, head over to my twitter page. It's the same username as what I use here!


	69. The Fluff Before the Storm

"Keep looking, kid. It's bound to be here somewhere," Olivia spoke smugly, currently sitting on top of the bookshelf. She was using her body to block line of sight, preventing the younger girl from finding the book she so desperately desired. Ruby was busy flitting about the room instead, searching through each of their desks, under beds, mattresses, and pillows alike.

Two of Olivia's appendages were currently out, devoted to propping up Blake's bunk for safety's sake. Ruby had pulled many of the books used to support it out, leaving the bunk in a precarious position. With an unstable foundation and the small gusts whipped up by Ruby's semblance, Olivia was certain it would have fallen if not for her added support.

Weiss sat on her own bed, nervously protecting it from Ruby while also flashing the occasional, appreciative smile in Olivia's direction. She knew well enough that the faunus had chosen to save them further embarrassment, the earlier teasing more than enough to satiate her playful desires.

Olivia smiled in return, then diverted her eyes back towards the door when she felt Blake approaching. "Ding ding ding! Looks like you're out of time, Ruby."

Blake opened the door and immediately stopped, eyes widening when they fell on the state of their bedroom. Books had been lumped on the floor or stacked precariously on Olivia's bunk, desk drawers were emptied, and every bit of Blake's own bed had been unmade during Ruby's search.

"Ruby. _Rose_ ," Blake spoke sharply. Ruby herself froze in the middle of pulling out another book from between the bedposts, spinning slowly to stare in apprehension while Blake glared in return. Olivia smirked, waiting for the tongue lashing that was sure to come.

It never did, though. Blake, who was typically so protective of her books, stared into Ruby's eyes for a few moments before darting them down to the floor instead. Olivia frowned, seeing a glimmer of something in Blake's eyes. It was immediately blinked away, causing her to question whether or not it had even been there to begin with.

Ruby seemed to notice something was off as well, judging by the timid hand that momentarily raised in Blake's direction. She recovered though, and raised that hand to the back of her neck to rub it like Olivia so often did. Ruby adopted an apologetic smile, and spoke after gazing across the destruction she'd caused.

"Sorry… I got a little ahead of myself. I'll put it back how it was, I promise!"

Blake gave herself a little shake. Her eyes raised, and she nodded towards Ruby in return, "It doesn't look like you actually damaged them." She hesitated, eyebrows drawing together in mild confusion, "You usually treat my books so carefully though. Is something wrong? Why do you want to read _this_ one so badly? You don't even know what it's about."

Ruby's hand paused, eyes flickering to each of her teammates in turn. Her shoulders slumped almost imperceptibly, and she gave a small shrug a few moments later. Her voice came out faintly, "I… I don't know, it just sounded fun? I… I like ninjas I guess…"

' _Hmmm_ ,' Olivia hummed quietly. She crossed her arms, foot idly tapping against the bookshelf. She and Weiss shared a glance, both silently communicating that _neither_ of them bought Ruby's half-baked fib.

"You're not a very good liar, kid."

"That _can't_ be it," Blake added.

"You can tell us if something's wrong, Ruby," Weiss finished off gently.

Ruby's eyes raised to Weiss, studying her for a moment. Her gaze trailed over each of her other teammates as well, seeing a mutual adoration reflected back. Shoulders firming slightly, Ruby bit her lip while considering what she was going to say. After a few moments, she finally spoke in a voice so quiet, even Blake seemed to have some trouble hearing her.

"I'm not a _kid…_ "

Olivia's leg stilled against the bookshelf, hearing the sudden sadness revealed in Ruby's voice. It was paired with a hint of contempt, though that was merely an undercurrent to the more dominant emotion being put on display.

Weiss spoke up first, shifting awkwardly on her mattress, "Well… of _course_ you're not, Ruby… You're a huntress in training, just like the rest of us. You're our _leader._ "

Ruby scowled at the ground, " _Am I?_ We've been at school for a month now, but… I've never really _felt_ like the leader…" Her eyes raised, speaking to Olivia and Weiss more directly, " _All_ of you are always helping me with my schoolwork. Weiss, you keep better track of the schedule and when homework is due... Olivia is always teaching me new things when it comes to fighting, and…"

Ruby's head turned in Blake's direction, eyes dropping to the floor while incapable of meeting her gaze. "You still treat me like a child. When we're in danger, you don't look at me like an _equal_. You don't care that I'm another _huntress_... It's always, 'How do we keep _Ruby_ safe?'... I-…" She blinked to stem the wetness that had appeared in her eyes, "I don't _want_ to be the one who _runs away_ and leaves her _teammates_ behind..."

Ruby sniffed, giving herself a small shake and dragging a sleeve across her face to keep herself together. She shrugged minutely, "So… I guess... When there was _another_ thing that all of you could share, and I was the only one being left out, because I was too _young_ …" She trailed off, incapable of finishing the thought, though her reasoning was clear enough to those present.

The room was still for a few moments, each of them considering what Ruby had said. Olivia grimaced slightly, upset that she had hurt Ruby in any way, but also knowing it would be impossible for her to change the way she saw the younger girl. Ruby was precious, like the surrogate little sister that Olivia never had. She would be damned if she was going to lower her guard, only for Ruby to suffer when Olivia could have prevented it.

' _Should Yang and I have let her look in the club? Should we have let her see the horrors inside, just so she could have the satisfaction of feeling_ included _?_ '

No. That was ridiculous. Olivia opened her mouth to speak, but paused when Blake beat her to the punch.

"I'm sorry, Ruby," Blake spoke softly, the ears beneath her bow drooping down against her head in shame. "I know it must have been hard, leaving me behind like that. Even if it's what I wanted… I would feel terrible as well, if I had to do the same. I didn't mean to force you into making that choice…"

Weiss nodded agreement, "You really _are_ our leader, Ruby. I apologize if we've been making you feel any less than what you deserve… You're not a child anymore, either…" her face reddened, and she glanced in Olivia's direction before returning her attention to their leader, "If it really means that much to you… I wouldn't mind letting you read the book."

Weiss's eyes darted to Blake the next moment, stammering to correct herself, "I-If Blake doesn't mind _either_ , anyway. It's not mine to hand out. I shouldn't offer it up without hearing your thoughts on the matter."

Blake's cheeks colored, and she gave Ruby's suddenly hope-filled eyes a considering stare before finally relenting. She huffed, and gestured in Olivia's direction, "You can read it… but _don't_ tell _Yang_. Gods know what that girl would do to us if she found out."

All eyes turned to Olivia expectantly, and she could only stare in return. She didn't care about whether or not Ruby read the book, that made no difference to her. She just wanted Ruby to be _happy_ , leader or not. At the same time… If that happiness came at a _cost_? If allowing Ruby to fulfill her dreams wound up getting her hurt in the process…?

Olivia wasn't willing to pay that price.

For now though, she'd go with the flow. There was a simple solution to their minor dilemma anyway.

"Why don't you head down into Vale and buy a different copy instead?" Olivia reached a hand down between the bookshelf and the wall, withdrawing the precious smut held within. She hefted the medium sized tome in her hands and idly thumbed through the pages. "I actually wanted to give it a read myself too, since Weiss mentioned it. We won't need to take turns if there's two copies. Your sister can't get mad at us either since you bought it for _yourself_. Everyone wins~"

Ruby paused, lowering her hand and frowning in thought while staring at the book, "I guess that makes sense. Will a bookshop let me buy one like that, though? What if they say I'm too young?"

"Blake can go with you just in case. With her to vouch for you and your Beacon ID on hand, I doubt they'll look too closely into it. Besides," Olivia shrugged nonchalantly, "It's not like you can't find stuff a _thousand_ times more graphic on the CCT. And all you need for that is your _scroll_."

Three sets of eyes stared widely at her.

Olivia's words died in her throat as she realized what she'd said. Her cheeks heated slightly, and she darted her eyes away from the judging looks her team were sending her, "N-Not that _I_ would know. I've always been able to have fun whenever I wanted. Nope, no three month long dry spells for _this_ faunus…"

They continued to stare.

Blake eventually broke the extended silence, coughing into a fist before nodding once Ruby turned her way. "I'd be happy to take you down into Vale. There's a little bookshop that I like going to, and the owner there really won't care if you look a little young. I've, uh… been going there _myself_ for a few years, so…" She shrugged awkwardly.

Ruby smiled, "Sounds like a plan!"

"While we're on the topic of Olivia's promiscuity, though," Blake continued after, glancing to her fellow faunus and Weiss in turn. "We were going to discuss what's acceptable in the dorm, right?"

Weiss's cheeks burned anew, and she couldn't quite keep her eyes from drifting to the floor. Her hands fretted with her clothing, "That, um… That might be for the best. I'm open to suggestions, if anyone has any..."

Olivia smirked, shifting on the bookshelf to better face everyone else. She'd at least spent some time thinking about it during Ruby's frenzied tossing of their room.

"Team Lion decided amongst themselves that Ren and Nora weren't going to fool around in their dorm, but… I don't think we should hold ourselves to the same constraint. The night at the club was the first time they'd gotten any real action for a _month_ , and if it ever comes down to it," she flashed Weiss an apologetic smile, "I _really_ don't want to have to go down into Vale. Passion is usually a spur of the moment kind of thing, you know? Having to wait that long, take a Bullhead, walk through all those people, just to rent a room in some unfamiliar, seedy place? _Not_ very romantic."

Blake hummed in consideration, "That's fair. I wouldn't want to do that either, really… So, I guess we'll need some rules, and a system for when you two want to… have fun?"

Olivia smirked, "Weiss and I can keep most stuff to a minimum when either of you are around. Hugs, brief kisses… Nothing that'll make you too uncomfortable..." She tapped a finger to her chin, "A sock on the door is what I've heard people do in movies, too. Maybe we could just try that?"

"Gods, _no_ ," Weiss whispered, catching their attention. She raised her eyes, glancing between them anxiously. "We shouldn't use _anything_ someone _else_ might recognize. I do _not_ want Team Lion knowing what's happening on the other side of our door. Just _you two_ knowing is already embarrassing enough as it is."

Seeing how flustered Weiss was becoming, Olivia decided to hop off the bookshelf and move to her side instead. She sat next to her on the bed and wrapped an arm around her, hoping it would help to comfort the heiress. Weiss's body was already tense, her more sheltered upbringing coming out in full force when faced with something she'd been raised to see as improper.

Olivia smiled reassuringly, looking into Weiss's eyes while the other girl nervously avoided her's. Olivia's other hand moved to rest on top of the ones in Weiss's lap, grasping both with her own and stilling their nervous fretting. She spoke softly, trying to keep her... _girlfriend_ , relaxed. That thought alone sent a flutter of joy through Olivia's heart. She wanted more than anything for her new partner to feel the same sense of peace.

"Just so we're clear, Weiss… _You_ are in charge here. I'll _never_ be ready until _you're_ ready. The last thing I want is to pressure you into anything you might regret. All we're discussing now is what precautions we should take _if_ it happens. It could be today, or it could be in four _years_ , on the _last_ day we're even _at_ Beacon. All that matters to me is that you're happy."

Olivia hugged her more tightly, feeling Weiss beginning to soften at her touch, "I want to be with _you_. Because you're the _best_ person I've ever met. Sex or no, that won't change how I feel."

After a few moments of silence, an unsteady smile worked its way onto Weiss's lips. Her head turned so that she was staring at Olivia. The hands in her lap reciprocated, finally taking a hold of the faunus's own.

"Do you really mean that? Even if I was never ready, and you were stuck…" Weiss laughed briefly, a hint of red in her cheeks, "Even if you were stuck with just the CCT and Ninjas of _Love_ to get you by?"

Olivia laughed with her, but spoke sincerely, "I'd go through a whole _library_ of smut before I tried to force you to do anything you didn't want to~"

Weiss smiled widely, fingers tightening around Olivia's hand. Her eyes glanced down to the faunus's lips and her breath hitched, body shifting imperceptibly closer as Olivia caught on to how she wanted to respond.

Blake and Ruby both averted their gaze as Weiss leaned forward. Their lips connected, sharing in a long, intimate kiss. Olivia hummed in delight, glad she'd managed to raise her girlfriend's spirits. Weiss smiled in return and kept at it with renewed vigor. After a few moments, a wet tongue slipped free, Weiss being the one to take the initiative this time around. Olivia surprised herself with the moan of pure bliss that escaped her lips. The sound was filled with happiness, and endless _satisfaction_ for the heiress's efforts.

When it had gone on too long, and _both_ girls had lost themselves in each other's embrace? Blake cleared her throat to remind them there were two other people in the room.

Weiss waited a few seconds longer before pulling away with a forlorn sigh, nodding to show her acceptance. She breathed deeply, fighting for a moment to catch her breath. Olivia took that opportunity to lean forward with a secretive grin, and lowered her voice to whisper seductively into Weiss's ear.

" _Please_ don't wait four years. If you think _kissing_ feels good...? You have _no idea_ what else you're missing~"

Weiss cheeks flared red, though her eyes remained locked with Olivia's when the faunus pulled away. She opened her mouth, voice coming out in a breathless stutter, "I-In that case..." the heiress tore her eyes away to look at the other members of their team, "How about we get a doormat?"

"A doormat?" Blake echoed, frowning while considering the idea.

"I-It wouldn't look out of place in front of our door, and we could spin it around to show whether or not it was safe to enter the room. Maybe… if you try to read it and the words are facing towards you, it's safe. If they're upside down, don't come in?"

Olivia shared a glance with the other two. It wasn't a bad idea by any means. It would even be a clear warning from a distance, visible from far enough away that even Blake could avoid hearing anything going on within the room.

"I like it," Ruby chipped in. "And we'll have something we can wipe our shoes on before coming in! Win win!"

"Sounds perfect," Olivia agreed, sharing a small smile with the heiress. She bit her lip a moment later, eyes glancing to Weiss's lips again.

' _Gods that was nice…_ ' As always, her new girlfriend was a quick study.

Weiss noticed and did the same, the two's breath faltering as their previous excitement had yet to truly dwindle.

Blake noticed the continued glances that Weiss and Olivia were sharing. Her hand fell down on Ruby's shoulder, and she started to steer her towards the door. "We'll go ahead and buy a doormat while we're out, then. I'm sure we can find somewhere that sells them near the bookstore."

Ruby beamed, "Ooh! Let's try and get one that has rainbow colors on it, to match our team name!"

"They make them like that?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ruby shrugged, "I'm pretty sure I've seen them before, along with like, flags and stuff." She quickly pulled on her boots and opened the door, now the one to pull Blake along instead. "If not, we'll just go with red!"

Blake slowed long enough to give a polite wave back to the two of them, "Have fun~"

Olivia smirked, "You too."

Blake nodded as the door closed, shutting them off from sight. They could both hear Ruby's excited chatter for a few moments longer, the two fading off into the distance until all that was left was the two of them.

Weiss sighed in relief. She raised her eyes back to Olivia's, appreciation clear to see, "I couldn't really say it while they were here, but… Last night was a lot to take in, so I'm really glad you're willing to take things slowly… Thank you for being so understanding, Olivia."

She waved a hand dismissively, "Forget about it. Take all the time you need, Princess. I'll still be here when you're ready. You've got me _wrapped_ around your finger, anyway… _figuratively_ speaking, of course~"

Weiss laughed happily, a beautiful melody that made Olivia's heart flutter once more. The heiress stared into Olivia's eyes, cheeks slowly heating while working up the courage to speak.

"You know, it's not as if I've never thought about... _it_ …" Her hands fidgeted in her lap, "I mean... sex… with _you_ … I've… well, I've had my eye on you for a couple weeks now…"

"I can't really blame you. I'm kind of _irresistible_ ~" She laughed lightly, glad when Weiss shyly nodded agreement. "That _does_ make me curious, though... When was the first time you started thinking we could be more than just friends?"

Weiss thought about her answer for a few moments. Eventually, a hint of sorrow sparked in her eyes, "It wasn't exactly the most romantic moment, but… When we went to Ruby's home, and I found you outside on the swing…?" She shrugged weakly, "Before then, I thought I had a good idea about who you were. You seemed… unapproachable… A girl that was too stubborn, with a _lot_ of pride, and more than enough strength to back it up. When I saw how lonely you were out there, though… How sad you were, with your shoulders sagging and your hands barely holding the ropes… It was the first time I saw you as someone like _me_. Someone lonely, that wanted to feel loved like everyone else…"

Olivia nodded her agreement. While she never would have admitted it at the time, Weiss's assessment had certainly been on point. "I'm glad you were faster on the uptake than me."

Weiss's eyebrow rose, interested piqued. "When did you finally think of _me_ that way?"

Olivia frowned, "Well, I always thought you were good looking. Before our first spar, when I tried to make you uncomfortable by glancing over while you changed? Let's just say that wasn't the _only_ reason I did it, despite telling myself otherwise. Even so… it wasn't until the night that I found you alone in the arena that I finally stopped caring that you were a Schnee." She smiled, looking down at her hand and flexing her fingers softly, "We were walking back to the dorm... and I realized your hand was still in mine... Even though I pulled away, that was the first time I was really honest with _myself_ about how I felt."

Weiss smiled sadly, "Our time together was the only thing good to come out of that night. Getting the chance to be alone with you while you tried so _hard_ to comfort me… Getting to hug you for as long as I wanted, until I didn't feel quite as awful anymore…?" She shook her head sadly, breath faltering, "You really _are_ a better person than you give yourself credit for, Olivia… I guess if you find it hard to _accept_ that… I'll just have to keep reminding you…~"

Slowly, Weiss leaned forward. They started the same as before, lips softly pressing together while they both sighed with delight. The fire between them rekindled much more quickly however, returning to the passionate kiss they had been caught in the throes of previously. With no Ruby or Blake to stop them, it continued on instead of stopping prematurely.

Olivia was happy to hear Weiss's verdict, moved by her efforts to fight against the faunus's own self-doubt. She pressed back fiercely into Weiss, wanting to show her how much her words truly meant. Their tongues danced eagerly, both communicating through touch and moans alone that in that moment, neither of them could have been happier. Neither of them would have rather been with anyone else.

Olivia allowed her hands to roam while their lips embraced. One lowered delicately along Weiss's side, coming to a gentle stop on her hip. Her other raised, gliding in a similar fashion until it rested just beneath a supple breast. Olivia was so used to using her hands, she had to remind herself not to pursue anything further. Weiss likely wasn't ready for this, not for the next step.

Weiss groaned in appreciation all the same. Her body leaned further forward, and Olivia could feel the heiress's hands against her own body, timidly replicating what she herself had just done.

Weakly, Olivia pulled away from Weiss, breaking only the contact of their kiss. They both panted heavily, Weiss confused by the sudden parting of lips. Staring into her eyes, Olivia removed her hand from Weiss's hip and raised it instead. She gently placed it over the hand beneath her own breast, and watched Weiss's reaction carefully while guiding it higher.

Weiss's breath caught once her hand was properly placed atop Olivia's fleshy mound. The faunus arched her back into the contact, strengthening the hand's pressure while providing better access. She continued to guide Weiss's hand, rubbing it back and forth while encouraging her to take the initiative. Olivia let out a small squeak of delight when Weiss finally squeezed, though the heiress's grasp was still far too timid. She continued to play with it, growing a little more emboldened as time went on.

After a minute, Olivia let out a quiet, satisfied sigh. She leaned forward to share another kiss, then retreated a few moments later. "I just wanted you to know, Weiss… There's no hesitation on my end. As soon as you're ready… Don't be afraid of progressing things further, not on my account."

Weiss raised her eyes to Olivia's own and nodded weakly. Despite the desires Weiss must have been feeling, Olivia could still see the uncertainty held there. The heiress was still struggling with all of her thoughts, the confusing mess of emotions in regards to the girl offering herself to her so freely. Whether or not Olivia was prepared, Weiss needed time to cope with the revelations of the previous night.

Olivia smiled dotingly, and helped Weiss with her decision by pulling the other girl's hand away. Olivia held it in her own instead, and leaned forward to wrap Weiss in an affectionate hug. "For now… How about breakfast? If you wanted to, we could have our first _proper_ date. Wherever you want to go?"

Weiss hugged her in return, burying her face against Olivia's shoulder. She let out a deep breath a few moments later, relaxing against Olivia to let the faunus support her weight, "Actually… Can we stay at Beacon? I know it's not a traditional date, but… I'm still tired from everything we did yesterday. It was a long day, and we stayed up late last night… I was a bit too excited to get much sleep, either... Do you want to get some food from the cafeteria, lie in bed and… maybe watch a movie on my scroll instead?"

Olivia smiled and turned slightly to kiss Weiss affectionately on the cheek.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it's a day late and a little short. I fully planned on writing like crazy on Sunday, riiight up until the day rolled around. I was a bit too depressed to concentrate, knowing that my vacation was about to end and I needed to be at work at 4am the next morning. My week off was nice though. Didn't do much other than relax, just the way I like it~
> 
> Anyway, I'm planning on the next stretch of chapters being mostly fluff. Weiss and Olivia need to grow more comfortable in their new relationship, while Ruby and Blake have some investigating to do. It can't all be terrorist attacks and heavy, interpersonal drama. Need a few light moments to balance it all out, and remember what it is that Olivia's fighting for.
> 
> For those that weren't aware, I started another fic to flesh out an idea I've had rattling around in my head. This one is going to be much shorter than BL. If you could check it out, or consider giving it a follow, I'd greatly appreciate it.
> 
> The summary for those interested...
> 
> "A young girl's happy life is stripped away in a flash. Saved from certain death and adopted into a loving family, she must come to terms with her newfound disability. Over the years, she grows close to her savior's only son. When Jaune runs away to join Beacon, Neo follows in his wake. She must repay her debt by protecting him. Falling in love was just the cherry on top."
> 
> There's two short chapters of setup so far. The next few at least will involve Neo's early years growing up in the Arc family and growing closer to Jaune. Once it gets to Beacon though, it'll be mostly shipping fuel between Neo and Pyrrha while the show's plot continues in the background.
> 
> Regardless, I hope this chapter was a nice way to cap off your day.
> 
> Thanks for reading,
> 
> ~ Sybaen


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